ButohBAR 番狂わせ OUT of ORDER
In Partnership with Abbotsford Convent
Now in it’s sixth year, the annual ButohOUT! event is a one-of-a-kind arts experience in Melbourne, Australia. Created and run by much-lauded artists Yumi Umiumare and Taka Takiguchi 滝口貴, in 2023 this three month long production (starting in September) consists of five workshops – ranging from Introduction to Butoh through to Form and Dramaturgy and a Peek-A-Butoh Workshop for Kids and Families – and will culminate in a fantastical finale season running from the 15th to the 19th of November; ButohBAR 番狂わせ OUT of ORDER.
Originally called the Dance of Darkness, Butoh has it’s roots in post-WWII Japan. Emerging as a response to the social and cultural turmoil of the time, classic styles of Butoh sought to express the trauma, anxiety, and confusion of this era through movement, sound, and visual imagery. Often shocking, grotesque, and surreal, Butoh challenges the norms of conventional performance styles and offers a way to explore new forms of expression and adaptation in the face of uncertain and unexpected challenges.
Reviving the 70s/80s era where Butoh thrived in nightclubs and strip joints, ButohBAR 番狂わせ OUT of ORDER summons the raw spirit of those times. Embracing the metaphor of a human world “out of order” the work reflects on our own post-pandemic existence. This mesmerising show will feature dance, song, poetry, and visual arts woven together by the hypnotic artform of Butoh.
An electric evening for audiences that offers guerrilla performances, roving installation, Out of Order Karaoke, online interactions with Hokkaido ButohBAR in Japan, sake and food by Tamura Sake Bar, and more, this limited season event is not to be missed.
Transforming the Abbotsford Convent Industrial School, ButohBAR 番狂わせ OUT of ORDER is an invitation to confront and celebrate being “Out of Order”. An exciting partnership with Tamura Sake Bar
(www.tamurasakebar.com) in Fitzroy is in place for the season and the show will feature a bespoke menu, with audience members being served food and drink by Butoh waiters during intermission.
This elaborate, immersive setting for the show is about shining a light on aspects of life that can be difficult to “chew”, “swallow”, and “digest” while exploring the healing power and comfort food… and also the destructive nature of over-indulgence.
Bringing together an extraordinary 20+ cast for this bizarre experiment, ButohBAR 番狂わせ OUT of ORDER will feature recent graduate performers gleaned from the ButohOUT! training workshops alongside seasoned professionals Emma Bathgate, Hal Tanaka (Online), Willow J Conway, and Yumi Umiumare, with guest artists Maude Davey, Moira Finucane, Weave Movement Theatre, and Dan West also a part of the season.
In collaboration with the Hokkaido Butoh Festival, this years’ finale performance for ButohOUT! will also be an international event. Renowned Butoh artist and Hokkaido Butoh Festival co-founder Hal Tanaka will join the show nightly via livestream, performing at various locations around Japan.
The only creative platform of its kind in Australia focusing on the distinctive art form of Butoh, ButohOUT! has woven its way into the fabric of the Melbourne art scene since 2017. It has built a unique Artists-led creative and laboratory space across Victoria, providing artists and community members of all ages a creative ground. It celebrates diversity and authentic expression through the idiosyncratic artform of Butoh and continuously aims to actualise a vision for a radically inclusive artistic practice.
Their latest season, ButohBAR 番狂わせ OUT of ORDER promises a surreal, funny, and electrifying night out for audiences and runs for five nights only this November. Tickets now selling!
This season is proudly supported by Creative Australia, Abbotsford Convent, Auspicious Arts Projects and ImPermanence Productions
Praise for past ButohOUT! seasons:
“It has a kind of giddy enthusiasm that is hard to resist.” – The Age (Odd Hours, 2021)
“… an earnest celebration of otherness and abnormality.” – The Age (Colour-Fool, 2021)
“Yumi Umiumare and the ButohOUT! Ensemble elegantly place, embrace, displace and reinstate their audience in and out of layered worlds…” – Australian Stage (Colour-Fool, 2021)
“…like Samuel Beckett meets Beyoncé via Eraserhead.” – Daily Review (Forbidden Laughter, 2019)
15 – 19 November 2023
Abbotsford Convent (Industrial School):
1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford VIC www.butohout.com
