Tatsumi Hijikata (1928 – 1986, Japan) was a Japanese choreographer, director, and teacher, and is credited as the father of butoh - literally “dance of darkness”- alongside Kazuo Ohno. He began to develop this dance form after moving to Tokyo in the mid-50s. The genre is known to be highly choreographed with stylised gestures that grew out of a rebellion against traditional dance and theater.
Butoh was, in part, a reaction to the horrors of the Second World War and was influenced by the clash between Japanese esthetics and Western modern dance and explored taboo subjects at the time, such as homosexuality, drawing scandal and outrage from its audiences. Hijikata grew up with a fascination for the abject that was laced throughout his oeuvre and created the space for an experimentation outside of the zeitgeist’s boundaries. His work culminated in the Asbestos Hall, a space dedicated to sharing art and collaborating, where he spent a lot of time writing, teaching, and creating.