Ankoku Butoh, the ‘dance of darkness’, emerged in Japan following the second world war and is known for its unique intensity and ability to transform dancers through the hidden forces flowing through an empty body. Atsushi Takenouchi and Paul Michael Henry are internationally renowned Butoh dancers offering a rare double bill of dance as metamorphosis and prayer. This is Atsushi’s first visit to Scotland, and these performances coincide with an open three-day workshop of JINEN Butoh, his personal dance evolution, at Tramway Glasgow.
HIBI – Atsushi Takenouchi
Live music: Hiroko Komiya
Old tree shape.
Its shape is the agglomeration of the days that have been lived.
Even if it dies, the shape and skeleton do not change.
Its form is dance.
I want to be that kind of tree which is praying between earth and sky.
I keep chasing the magic which transforms everyday life into the life of dance.
——–
Atsushi Takenouchi began his Butoh journey in 1980 with the Hoppo-Butoh-ha company in Hokkaido. His final
piece with the company, Takazashiki (1984), was created with the direct guidance of Butoh founder Tatsumi
Hijikata. In 1986, he created his own path: Jinen Butoh — as a universal expression of nature, earth, and ancient
memories, embracing the rhythms of life itself. From 1996 to 1999, embarked on a three-year Jinen tour across
Japan, performing over 600 site-specific improvisations rooted in natural landscapes and sacred spaces. Around
this time, he learned the spirit of the universe of Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno.
Since 2002, based in Europe, working on solo Butoh and collaboration projects with dancers and actors, with giving workshops internationally. His presence extends into film, notably Ridden by Nature, an award-winning environmental art dance film by Kiah Keya.
From 2015 to 2020, he directed an intensive Jinen Butoh school in Italy. Today, he devotes himself fully to
transmitting Jinen Butoh through seasonal intensive workshops held both in nature and studio spaces — living his
art as a continuous dialogue with life itself. In 2021, Compiling these experiences into a book, he published
Atsushi Takenouchi: Jinen Butoh, a book about his Butoh life, workshop contents and his Butoh performance works.
BELONG – Paul Michael Henry
A spine
Head on top
Mist below
And out of every pore
Beseech, open, remember
Worm your way
Myself I offer
To you to belong
No big words, no pretend
Survival
Through stillness, shrieking, piss, shame
Take heart
It doesn’t seem like it
But we are here to belong
We belong to here and here:
Us
This is clear
This is clear
I remember now.
——–
Paul Michael Henry is a dancer, musician, writer, and director based in Glasgow. Their work is informed by Butoh dance, punk rock and ritual, and is performed all over the world. Their themes are political, social & spiritual, dealing with love, neglect of the body, destruction of the environment and atrophy of the soul in consumerist society.
Michael has trained and performed with many of the most respected Butoh masters in Japan and Europe, including Yoshito Ohno, Yukio Waguri, Masaki Iwana, Kayo Mikami, Seisaku & Yuri, Atsushi Takenouchi, Tadashi Endo, Yumiko Yoshioka, Imre Thormann, Moe Yamamoto, Yuko Kaseki and Gyohei Zaitsu. In 2025 they published Excuse Me I am Expanding, their doctorate from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland / University of St. Andrews, exploring Butoh dance and ecological selfhood. They are also Artistic Director and creator of UNFIX, an evolving and experimental festival platforming ecologically committed performance, dance, music, film and discussion. UNFIX is intended as a contribution to the waking up of the human species to our predicament in an age of climate change, ecological threat and massive inequality. It is based in Glasgow and is ongoing there and in New York City, Bologna and Tokyo.
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