Butoh Dance and Music, The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow (review – 4 Stars)

Ankoku Butoh, the ‘dance of darkness’ arose from the ashes of World War Two as an intense and transformative dance technique using the forces that flow through an empty body to engage in movement. This double bill of dance included Scotland’s own internationally renowned practitioner of the artform, Paul Michael Henry and the very first visit to Scotland of Atsushi Takenouchi who was also leading a three-day workshop at the Tramway of JINEN Butoh – his own evolutionary version of this masterful form of dance. 

Butoh is challenging: it is not something that looks only for repeated patterns and spectacle, but investigates how body, breath, motion, voice and movement is moulded to explore themes. For Paul Michael Henry their work comes from punk rock and ritual thematically looking at the political, social and spiritual, dealing with love, neglect of the body, destruction of the environment and the atrophy of our soul within the consumerist society. For Atsushi Takenouchi, it’s the themes of nature, earth and ancient memories which embrace the rhythms of life. Lofty ideals and high-minded values are central to this artform, so it can take a lot of thinking to appreciate it. 

The first part of the evening was musical, and our musician, dressed in full Pierrot, began with looping breath and then vocal sounds before landing on top of what felt like an industrial soundscape. The stage was filled with microphone stands and the paraphernalia of making music. Initially, I found it challenging until the poetry voiced by Paul Michael Henry emerged as voiceover and a striking song was performed. It was a beautiful and haunting rendition of a melody that lingered. The entire performance – from the looping to the song – was theatrical in the way it challenged, soothed and then delivered – I had no need to decode just enjoy the journey.

Paul Michael Henry’s Belong followed with the stage cleared leaving one microphone on a stand down stage right. The bleakness of the backdrop matched the performance in movement. Forced to concentrate on the moves and not the periphery, Paul Michael Henry entered in white chalk like make-up suggesting partially hidden emotions which accentuated their expressions. 

Their movement was dynamic, abrupt, drawing you into the horror of things they have seen and their face responds to. There is emotion and a vibrancy when they perform, the movement draws from emotion and pulls it into a physicality that is difficult not to be affected by. 

When they start to sing, the tone and balance match perfectly the way in which they balance onstage. They are an impressive physical specimen which underpins the philosophy – this is lived as well as performed.  It is captivating, that challenges the views that you may hold of nature. I was enthralled.

Atsushi Takenouchi glided onstage for his performance of Hibi, closing the evening off, accompanied musically by Hiroko Kiyomoya. This was his first performance on a Scottish stage, on his very first visit to Scotland. 

Atsushi Takenouchi began with a song from behind, quietening the audience. The silence was instant. I watched intently the small movements in my eyeline. I was so heavily concentrated on these minor movements that it was a major surprise for me when I realised he was now onstage – he got there with poise and grace. 

Hibi is not a storyline or a narrative, but rather an emotional journey through movement and the body’s connection to nature. There was a majesty that came with each movement, holding our attention before diverting and moving it off to somewhere else – a new threat perceived that threw him to the back of the stage, a leap that ended upon the floor and saw him emerge unscathed and defiant. 

There were facial movements and expressions that told us of a wide variety of emotions throughout, be they fear or surprise or delight. Like Paul Michael Henry before him, Atsushi Takenouchi dispensed with most of his clothes and became exposed and more expressive like he was removing the shackles of expectation. It was softer than with Paul Michael Henry but equal to the task of giving us Butoh as something of ourselves. It was a profoundly exemplar of the art form and its ability to show and teach emotional intelligence. 

The evening was mellow and lacked urgency leaving gaps between each action which could have been more focussed and shorter, however something moved in that room, and it was much more than just the two bodies onstage. Challenging, enthralling and delightful. 

Butoh Dance and Music, The Old Hairdressers (Glasgow)

Review Date: Thursday 22^nd January 2026

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