THOT Butoh Dance's - Photoshoot during the rehearsals.

 Hi guys! Today I bring you this compilation made by our colleague Gerardo Arenas and I during the rehearsal of a wonderful dance style called "Butoh". This rehearsal was carried out by the dance group THOT, directed by the master Juan Carlos Linares and performed around by 10 passionate people who love this peculiar art. And why do I say it's peculiar? Perhaps some might ask, but the Butoh itself is loaded with so many connotations making it difficult to understand for some people and grotesque and uncomfortable for others. 

 Now, for an easier understanding of the subject, I will explain it briefly: Butoh Dance's purpose is to remind us of the beauty that exist in the death, the pain or the suffering we have experienced at some point in our lives. These dance techniques emerges in Japan after the war, after Hiroshima's and Nagasaki's attacks, its founders were Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata. Personally, I think Butoh can be sort of a trance that allows expressing many things with the body that cannot be said with words.  

  Dancers' improvisations based on their feelings are Butoh's fundamental elements, endorsing Kazuo Ohno himself at some point: "It is the soul that dances, the body follows him". The lack of specific dialogues and costumes (although there are certain common elements to see as pale bodies and semi-nudity, seeking homogeneity between both sexes) allows the body as such to be the greater means of communication with the public. The flow of the movements can be very slow, rigid or coarse, with exaggerated facial expressions full of energy. This is a discipline that requires a lot of practice, it is not just about making "strange movements" and that’s it. It demands precision in the postures, which are full of symbolism.  

    The guys in this group invited us to witness an essay where we could appreciate the dynamics of prepasignifica entreration prior to the functions. We took the chance to record a little step by step, from the warm up to the execution of the concepts on stage. His work is called "Que la inocencia te valga" (Don’t care about the innocence) and was recently presented at La Casa Del Artista (Artist’s House), here in Caracas. In the near future they will resume the season of functions, so I recommend all those interested, be attentive to their social networks to attend their works, I assure you that they will enjoy and open their minds to new ways of seeing the art.