Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Butoh: From Wwii To The West, Caroline Conner

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Butoh is an underground dance movement in Japan that explores the human psyche in unconventional and sometimes grotesque ways. It originated out of the devastation of WWII Japan and rails against the rigidity of society as well as traditional theatre and dance forms. It has ties to Buddhism, in that both view suffering as a natural state of the world, and both may lead to depersonalisation (intentionally or otherwise), which is described as a loss of identity or sense of self. Gone unchecked, this detached exploration of the psyche can lead to personality dissolution, which can be especially problematic to …

One Endless Dance: Tanaka Min's Experimental Practice, John (Zack) Fuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work is the first in-depth study of the work of avant-garde Japanese dancer/choreographer Tanaka Min, and focuses on his extensive innovations in the fields of improvised dance, training, and choreographic method. These interrelated aspects of his experimental practice are intimately concerned with the relation between space and the body, employ collaborative methods, and are strongly influenced by the life and work of Hijikata Tatsumi (widely to considered to be the founder of the butô movement). They are also deeply informed by his choice to live his daily life as an organic vegetable farmer, a choice that I argue constitutes …

Geisha On Fire, Beimeng Fu

Capstones

Masae Satouchi is not an average Japanese woman. When she lived in Shiga Prefecture, a country town an hour away from Kyoto, her ex-boyfriends were uncomfortable with her eccentricity. She liked to wear colorful clothes, they didn’t. “I was too colorful to live in Japan,” she says. Japan is, of course, a modern, industrialized nation. The society, however, is famously conservative and does not allow for much unique self-expression. The situation is particularly difficult for Japanese women. Japan ranks 105 out of 136 in global gender gap index. Most women their quit jobs after having their first child.

Interviews With Forrest Winston Coggan (Fa 454), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Oral Histories

Transcripts of four interviews with Forrest Winston Coggan, dance educator and choreographer. The telephone interviews were done by Meredith Martin, a graudate student in Western Kentucky University's Folk Studies Department. All four interviews are attached to this TopSCHOLAR record.

Martin, Meredith (Fa 454), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 454. Four telephone interviews conducted with dance educator and choreographer Forrest W. Coggan by Meredith Martin, a graduate student in Wetern Kentucky University's Folk Studies Department. Transcripts of these interviews are available on TopSCHOLAR.

The Mikado

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1967 performance of Mikado by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.

The Mikado is the comic opera about the romance between Nanki-Poo, the son of Japan’s Mikado, and Yum-Yum, the ward of the High Executioner of Titipu.