I’m proud to present an experimental video that I shot with the lovely and talented Chieh Huang. This video merges the concept of spirit photography as well as the Japanese dance form known as Butoh. The experiment was to apply the practical effect (featured at the end of the film) with the haunting movement of Butoh. The song featured is by Francis Bebey, titled “Sanza Tristesse.”

Visit Chieh’s awesome website https://chi3hhuang.com/

Butoh (舞踏, Butō) is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders, Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. The art form is known to “resist fixity” and is difficult to define; notably, founder Hijikata Tatsumi viewed the formalization of butoh with “distress.” Common features of the art form include playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, and extreme or absurd environments. It is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion. However, with time butoh groups are increasingly being formed around the world, with their various aesthetic ideals and intentions.