Bruce Baird lecture (Tatsumi Hijikata)

University of Massachusetts Amherst professor Bruce Baird lectures on transgressive cinema and artists (ex. Tatsumi Hijikata) who employ the physical body as a storytelling performance art tool/device. Amazing Q and A session after the symposia to address audience responses to the many themes of the artist's work. Great book authored on the subject by Baird (based on research done reviewing Hijikata's many creative notebooks).

More to come...

PRESS PLAY BUTTON ABOVE TO VIEW BUTOH MOVEMENT/DANCE CLIP

Bruce Baird is a lecturer in Japanese culture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the author of Dancing in a Pool of Gray Grits, a comprehensive study of Tatsumi Hijikata and Butoh.
Tatsumi Hiikata (1928-1986, pictured above) was the founder of Ankoku-Butoh, a post-war Japanese dance form that was extremely transgressive.  

PRESS PLAY BUTTONS ABOVE& BELOW TO VIEW Q and A session clips

p.s. he would instruct his performers to imagine bugs over various parts of the body to instigate new physical body movements. He is simply amazing. One viewing of his work and I knew that I had never been exposed to anything like THAT before in my life. His work will change what you expect out of experimental art (it will raise any minimalist standards). His work will change what you will expect to see in any constructed visual experience. Trust me, his work captured on 16mm film by Donald Ritchie is like watching pure feelings walking through a park after having been locked away because of a two week rainstorm. Celebration, caution and daring all packed up into one  visual "moment".