Yumi and the Art of Butoh

Synopsis

Yumi is a ballet student in Japan, Yumi Umiumare was cautioned not to look like a Butoh dancer when performing. Wanting to understand, she went to see a Butoh performance and was amazed and shocked by the dark and twisted performance. This film explores Yumi nearly 30 years later, now a celebrated Melbourne-based Butoh artist, teaching the community the often misunderstood and obscure art of Butoh.

Credits

A film by

Samad Shiarz & Alice Palmer

 

Archive footage and photographs

Yumi Umiumare’s personal collection

and

The Internet Archive

 

Music

‘Before the Dawn’

‘Dasshoku Hora!’

‘ENTRANCE’

‘Quiapo Dream’,

Yumi Umiumare, Permission from author

Defecting to dance in America

Internet Archive, Public Domain

 

With thanks to

Paul Ritchard and Alan Nguyen

 

Studio Instructor

Rohan Spong

 

Created as part of Real to Reel

Studio School of Media and Communication

RMIT

2021

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