Butoh Artist Talk
Joan Laage

February 22nd, 2025
Lecture | Community Discussion

On February 22nd, the Heritage Museum of Asian Art hosted an insightful lecture and conversation with Joan Laage, the Northwest Butoh pioneer. Participants were treated to a beautiful presentation and lecture done by the artist on the vast history of Butoh, a contemporary Japanese dance theatre.

Butoh (舞踏, Butō), in Japan, was developed around the 1950s as a direct response to Western influence in Japanese culture and politics. It is said to have taken influence from surrealism, neo dada, French mime techniques, ballet, flamenco, and Nuez Tanz (German expressionist dance). It is characterized by its stillness, slow motion, and hyper awareness of the body and its surroundings.

Guests were brought together to admire Laage's extensive past works, as well as other performances from other artists via video taping. This was an unique opportunity to get an understanding of the deep culture behind Butoh from one of the few non-Japanese artists to study under Butoh master, Yoko Ashikawa. Joan Laage's extensive knowledge made it possible for attendees to really grapple with the deep history of Western imperialism in Japan and appreciate the beautiful art performances done by the many artists today.

About the Artist

Joan Laage

Residing in Seattle, Washington for many years, Joan/Kugot is known as the Northwest butoh pioneer. She is one of the few non-Japanese to study and dance under Yoko Ashikawa in her Tokyo-based group, Gnome, in the late 80s. She was also able to study under Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno.

Joan has performed and taught at many festivals, including the first New York butoh festival, Vienna's Hybrid Butoh festival, Paris Butoh Festival (Tenri), and En Chair et En Son Acousmatic Festival in Paris. Joan was invited by Vangeline to present a solo in New York City and was a featured artist at Frankfurt's Winterwerft Festival.

Joan wrote a dissertation on the butoh body and is featured in Tanya Calamoneri's Butoh America. Since living in Krakow from 2004-2006, she has been known as Kugot-- or rooster.

To learn more about Joan, visit her website here!

Photo by Briana Jones