RICARDO FRAYHA
producer

Takao Kawaguchi is a dancer and media artist, and a former member of the Japanese collective Dumb Type. He never learned to dance butoh. He never saw a single performance by Kazuo Ohno, the legendary founder of this primordial Japanese ‘dance of darkness’. And yet, that is exactly what he wishes: to become Kazuo Ohno. In About Kazuo Ohno , Kawaguchi wants, insofar as is possible, to copy the dance master, based solely on what has been preserved in old videotapes. Kawaguchi interrogates the memory, sincerity, and originality of the copy. This is both an honouring and a negation of the essence of butoh. Kawaguchi views the dance as an outsider: he throws himself into Ohno’s outward gestures and facial expressions, but his inner world remains closed to him. Still, the body of the dancer and the spirit of the deceased master gradually melt into one fascinating shape. The closer the copy is to the original, the deeper the chasm between the two.

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TAKAO KAWAGUCHI

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Joined Dumb Type in 1996. Later went solo from year 2000, and has since been exploring live performance crossing the borders between theater, dance, visual and fine arts, collaborating with artists from different disciplines.  Started in 2008 a solo performance series titled A perfect life, the 6th work of which was presented at the 5th Yebisu Eizo Festival at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, in 2013. Recently he approached Butoh in The Sick Dancer (2012). The latter was nominated for NYC Bessie Award in 2016, and currently touring around the world, such as Bienal Sesc de Dança (Campinas), Tanz im August (Berlin), Festival d’Automne (Paris), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), between others.

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ABOUT KAZUO OHNO

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Choreography: Kazuo Ohno, Tatsumi Hijikata | Dance: Takao Kawaguchi | Dramaturgy and video: Naoto Iina | Costumes: Noriko Kitamura | Appearance in video: Yoshito Ohno | Lighting design: Nami Nakayama | Sound operation: Noriaki Coda | Archive materials courtesy of Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio & Canta, Ltd

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Production in Brazil: prod.art.br | Production directors: Ricardo Muniz Fernandes, Ricardo Frayha

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Realisation: Sesc São Paulo

Bienal Sesc de Dança

Campina, SP, Brazil

17/09/2017​