Cast
Carlotta Ikeda — Choreographer
Ko Murobushi — Dancer
Hitomi Urata — Dancer
Yumi Fujitani — Dancer
Yukari Nio — Dancer
Sabine Seume — Dancer
Christine Choo — Dancer
Léone Cats Baril — Dancer
Ariadone Company
Program notes
Immersion in Carlotta Ikeda’s world, Japanese choreographer of Butoh dance.
Butoh is a Japanese dance that was created after World War II, in reaction to the Hiroshima traumatism in a society in complete mutation. Butoh is usually danced with a body almost nude, painted in white and with a shaven head. This “dance of darkness” was invented by Tatsumi Hijikata and is known for slow and highly controlled movements, for its poetry and its minimalism, and for grotesque images, taboo subjects and extreme or absurd environments.
Carlotta Ikeda is a Butoh Japanese dancer and choreographer. In 1974, she founded the Ariadone Company, a Butoh troupe exclusively for women. In 1993, she created Aï-Amour, a piece for two dancers. Swiss movie maker Kamal Musale’s Aï-Amour, Carlotta Ikeda and her Butoh, is based on it. This movie, produced in 1994, is composed of three parts: a documentary, extracts of the showThe Langage of the Sphinx, and a fiction. Shot in Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and France, it shows the work and creation universe of Japanese choreographer Carlotta Ikeda and of her collaboration with dancer Ko Murobushi and the Ariodone Company. It takes the spectator through the chaotic world of Butoh dance. For this movie, Kamal Musale won the silver FIPA in Nice in 1995.