Assembly @ Dance Base hosts the international premiere of R/evolution(s), a contemporary Butoh work directed and choreographed by Conan Amok that reimagines the form for today.

If you’ve never encountered Butoh before, imagine a performance where the body dictates what happens rather than following choreographed steps. Born in Japan in the late 1950s, Butoh rebelled against both Western ballet and traditional Japanese dance, creating space for something raw and strangely beautiful. Deep bass and wadaiko drums build a club‑like ritual atmosphere, inviting audiences to experience Butoh anew.

In this interpretation, harsh lighting and sculptural minimalism replace the traditional white body paint, yet the essence remains. You still see silent screams, faces stretched into impossible shapes, and limbs twisted as if tugged by invisible strings. Movements swing between sudden, violent bursts and glacial slowness.

This performance has no narrative; it doesn’t tell a story so much as expose an inner state.

Performed in three scenes, the first is dark and brooding: four figures move with glacial slowness before contorting, colliding, and discovering what their bodies can and cannot do. Symbolic language arrives in the second scene, allowing thoughts to be externalised.

The final movement brings the most emotional moment: the dancers point first at the audience, then at themselves. The gesture completes the symbolic one; the boundary between self and other crystallises. Full‑fleshed individuals have emerged.

Butoh remains an acquired taste, closer to abstract physical theatre than conventional dance. R/evolution(s) is richly rewarding, however it pushes human bodies to rarely seen degrees of freedom and offers a contemporary reworking of a radical tradition

Reviewed by Nina Gardner

Three and half Stars

Playing at: – DB1 at Assembly @ Dance Base until 30^th August

Tickets and further information can be found following the link below

https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/r-evolution-s

Creatives

Direction, Choreography, and Set Design: Conan Amok
Cast:

Moeka Nagata, Kaya Tsurumi, Mano Hatanaka, Yuki Matsukura