A theater show with a lot to say about nothing

When I asked the chief administrator of Assignment Theater (差事劇團) Jannie Chen about Kuritaro's Between Heaven and Earth butoh performance, what the show is about, she said "Nothing in particular."

"Does it have a theme or subject?"

"No," she said.

"Is there any way you can describe the performance a little?"

"It can't really be described," she replied.

Chen's answers, though not revealing much about the show, does fit the spirit of butoh, a Japanese dance form which has long been shrouded in mystery.

Whether butoh is dance or theater or something else hasn't even been decided. What is known about this creation of the angry and depressed post World War II Japan, is that it is a performance without fixed forms.

"Although I have performed butoh for over 25 years, I still don't understand it. However, I do know that it exists. I can only say that it's beyond description," Kuritaro said.

"Butoh cannot be explained because it throws those who see it into chaos. I think all good butoh performers appear confused and deranged on stage. People cease to be people. They all go nuts. But they are not crazy in a violent way. They are playing with things that we cannot see or listening to music we cannot hear. They've become incomprehensible. I'm also going to become incomprehensible and lose myself in this chaos," Kuritaro said.

The latest major Japanese butoh choreographer to visit Taiwan -- after Kazuo Ohno, and Eiko and Koma, in recent years -- Kuritaro is now in Taipei for Assignment Theater's butoh workshop.