Obecni ciałem. Warsztat polskich tancerzy butō

In the book Present with the body. e technique of Polish buto dancers I cover the practices of Polish buto dancers and I create a model of buto training. e analysis of available material led me to the conclusion that buto’s substance is not the aesthetics of a dance act (improvisation, performance) but the specific training practices that are at its core. In the first chapter of the book I present the current state of research in the field of buto: the history and development of the modern Japanese dance form and its critical analyses with particular consideration of the buto technique analysis. In my dissertation I used the few available works of buto technique researchers (Kayo Mikami, Lee Rhizome, Toshiharu Kasai, Sondra Horton Fraleigh) who use non-standard terminology and pay special attention to different aspects of the training process. I also underline the transcultural potential of the genre, which is visible both in the universality of its psychosomatic training and in its proneness to all types of hybridization. e research process, which resulted in the creation of a training model, was divided into two steps. e pivots of the preliminary phase of the research were artistic biographies of Polish buto dancers with particular attention devoted to the psychophysical practices which involve bodymind practices and the so-called buto techniques. After analysing the source literature I carried out a series of interviews with the Polish artists, I took part in the genre acts as an expert observer and, finally, I participated in buto workshops with both Polish and Japanese dancers. I was mainly interested in the artists’ explicit and tacit knowledge of buto. I inquired about buto’s perception and definition and its different training practices. At the core of my research was the question of previous psychophysical practices which predestined artists to engage in 302 SUMMARY buto. In the second stage of the research (during the analysis of the gathered data) I created a general model of buto training sessions on the grounds of the individual trainings I observed. In the process of construction and analysis of the integrated training model I implemented an interdisciplinary approach. e knowledge employed includes the fields of cultural studies, cultural anthropology, psychology, philosophy as well as neurobiology and cognitive sciences. e second chapter presents the training practices of the Polish dancers and performers who are involved in buto: Paweł Dudzinski, Justyna Jan-Krukowska, Sylwia Hanff, Krzysztof Jerzak, e Amareya eatre (Katarzyna Julia Pastuszak, Agnieszka Kaminska, Aleksandra Sliwinska), Tomasz Bazan ( e Maat Project eatre), Aleksandra Capiga-Łochowicz, TO-EN (Anna Brałkowska), Irena Lipinska and Katarzyna Zejmo, Iwona Wojnicka, Miho Iwata, Rui Takayuki Ishihara. I focused on the unique psychophysical discipline preferred by particular artists. e training practices of the Polish buto dancers include methods and techniques of different provenance. Among them are the methods and techniques explored mainly from the stage-adaptation point of view which function in different types of performing arts, mind-body disciplines as well as body and movement therapy. All these practices are used creatively by the Polish dancers and are integrated with the so-called buto techniques. rough the analysis of detailed models I was able to create a general training model of buto of the Polish dancers. e technique of the Polish buto dancer includes techniques which aim at reaching the psychophysical state known by the Japanese theorists and practitioners as buto-tai (the buto body). Movement (dance) has its origin in the kinetic reaction to the stimuli coming from the surrounding environment, updates of the contents saved in the memory of the body or/and embodiment of the mentally created contents. e techniques which are used in the integrated buto training are a tool of self-change and its catalyst. I analysed the sequence of the stages which create the process and the structure of buto training. I observed three main steps: intro, following and embodiment. In the first one (intro) I singled out endurance training and mindfulness training which are both aimed at achieving the state of total presence (in other words the buto body, buto- tai). In the second stage (following) the dancer explores the stimuli coming from the inside of his or her body (among other things the data gathered in SUMMARY the body’s memory) and from the outside (for example sensory excitement of the body). e core of the third stage (embodiment) are the ideokinetic and ideodynamic reactions which constitute the primary method of work in buto: working with images (the tools are the so-called buto-fu, buto notations). e dancer’s and the viewer’s transformation, which occurs as a result of the above-mentioned methods, is the essence of buto. e process of ceaseless transformation and the experience of transformation are both present in the buto training practice and the stage practice. is is why I finally present the possibility of applying the category of performativity, in the Erika Fischer-Lichte approach, and the phenomenon of neurobiological empathy which is at source of the simultaneity of transformation in all participants of an event (a play, stage improvisation, performance).

Magdalena Zamorska