Unbearable Darkness is a project that speaks to and speculates on Tatsumi Hijikata, the legendary founder of the Butoh dance movement in Japan in the 1960s. Throughout this project, how memory and immateriality transmit into worlds of desire, belonging, and representation has been questioned. Among them, a choreographic question is put forth in Unbearable Darkness: How does a ghost choreograph? Are there any technological possibilities to dance with Hijikata again?
In parts a film travelogue, a cybernetic Butoh-dance experiment, and a paranormal encounter, Unbearable Darkness was first created in 2018 as a theatrical dance performance. The performance was created with a 3-year research process into the histories of Japanese Butoh dance and the cultural conditions of Japanese shamanism.
Tatsumi Hijikata (9 March 1928 – 21 January 1986) was a Japanese choreographer, and the founder of Butoh. Butoh arose in Japan at the end of the 1950s, encompassing a diverse range of techniques including dance, performance, theatre, and movement. Hijikata would often refer to his form of physical expression as Ankoku Butō (“dance of darkness”). Choy Ka Fai invoked Hijikata’s spirit on his 31st death anniversary in 2017 at his tomb to reignite hope for our choreographic futures. His spirit is now based in Ito city, on the eastern shore of Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
The Wind That Cuts the Body is a metaphoric translation of the mythology of “Kamaitachi”, a weasel-like demon, who haunts rice fields and slashes people with a sickle. The research based exhibition attempts to inform and invent possible narratives beyond the 60 years of international cult mystification that capsulate the poetic beauty and the darkness of Butoh dance culture. It features rare audio-visual documents from the Tatsumi Hijikata Archive in Tokyo and from the artist’s expeditions, interviews, and documentary sketches. Choy went so far as to interview the spirit of Hijikata through a Japanese sharman itako as part of his investigation.
Unbearable Darkness Game Demo is an experimental third-person, 4 non-action, documentary adventure game inspired by the afterlives of Butoh master Tatsumi Hijikata. It is a recollection of thoughts, movements, and a expedition into the world of Butoh. How can the digital, virtual, immaterial, and non-human expressions collapse or expand the idea of wandering? Unbearable Darkness Game Demo departs into a world of of speculative documentary, rendered dreams, and paranormal dance experience.
"I remember I was at your memorial service and I felt that we remember you too much. There is too much attachment to you and to Butoh. I question: how do we deal with this attachment? Is forgetting the only way to move on? How do we create or innovate? Your ghost, the ghost of Butoh, is immense and omnipresent. Nobody forgets."
Excerpts from an Email to the Spirits of Tatsumi Hijikata by Choy Ka Fai
Unbearable Darkness Game Demo was developed with the support of National Gallery Singapore and #TakeCareResidenzen initiative of Fonds Darstellende Kunste. It was presented at Digital Corporeality / CLab Taipei and ARTSG 2023 Film program Fabricated Realities curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong.
Butoh is a forgery. Forgery is an intention to imitate, both in dance and in nature. Forgery is an attempt to look like something. To look like Butoh is not difficult. Forgery is different from imitation. Imitation is the need to reproduce a copy. Forgery is creative: you steal what is good, trendy, or popular and relieve yourself of the responsibility to reproduce a copy simply because you have no copyright. There is no fake Butoh. But there can be empty Butoh. If everyone can be an artist, it must be that Butoh can be everyone.
Everyone can Butoh is a self-service performance for one user made for the mobile phone. It is inspired by Tatsumi Hijikata’s Butoh Notation (Butoh-Fu) as recorded by Yukio Waguri and remixed by Choy Ka Fai. Programmed by Brandon Tay with Spark AR app. Blink your eyes to interact.
Commissioned by Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer and 1000 Scores.
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UnBearable Darkness premiered at tanzhaus nrw Düssendolf in 2018 and has since toured to Kyoto Experiment, Taipei Arts Festival, Liveworks Festival Sydney, and Impulstanz Vienna.
Concept, Design and Direction: Choy Ka Fai/ Choreographic Presence and Paranormal Performance: Spirit of Tatsumi Hijikata
Dramaturgy: Tang Fu Kuen/ Dance Engineering, Motion Capture and Performance: Neji Pijin/ Research, Voice and Performance: Tomoko Inoue/ Visual Design and Technology: Brandon Tay/ Music: Raffael Seyfried/ Costumes: Rie Usui/ Lighting Design and Technical Direction: Ray Tseng/ Tour Manager: Tammo Walter / Company Manager: Mara Nedelcu
UnBearable Darkness is a production of Choy Ka Fai, co-produced by Kyoto Experiment and tanzhaus nrw as part of MOCCA – Motion Capturing Creative Area, a project of Hochschule Düsseldorf, LAVAlabs, Velamed GmbH
The Performance is Supported by Kunststiftung NRW by NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ Koproduktionsförderung Tanz, supported by Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien and The Saison Foundation. The research was supported by TPAM – Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama, The Saison Foundation, The Japan Foundation Asia Center and Hijikata Tatsumi Archive at Keio University Art Center.
The Wind Thats Cuts the Body is supported by NTU - CCA Center for Contemporary Art Singapore. Unbearable Darkness Game Demo is supported by the National Gallery of Singapore and Fonds Darstellende Kunste. Everyone can Butoh is commissioned by Tanz Im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer and 1000 Scores