Tatsumi Hijikata’s 1968 costume of “Revolt of the Body” - Photo Matthew Placek
The Recreation of Tatsumi Hijikata's 1968 costume
In 1968 came a turning point in Butoh’s history with a dance solo called Nikutai no hanran (Tatsumi Hijikata and The Japanese - Revolt of the Flesh), performed by the founder of Butoh Tatsumi Hijikata in Tokyo. For the legendary performance, Tatsumi Hijikata wore a spectacular red costume, which was presumably made by hand by his wife, Akiko Motofuji. The long, ruffled costume was inspired by flamenco dance. Since 1968, it has captured the imagination of hundreds of Butoh enthusiasts worldwide. Until now, only black and white photographs were available of this magnificent costume.
Tatsumi Hijikata in Revolt of the Body, 1968, Tokyo. Photo by Tadao Nakatani. All rights reserved.
In 2019, thanks to a Janet Arnold Award of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a loan from the Tatsumi Hijikata Archives, Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute researched how the costume was designed by recreating it. The costume was professionally photographed by Matthew Placeck and recreated by Todd Thomas.
Photos by Matthew Placek of Tatsumi Hijikata’s 1968 costume. All rights reserved.
Hijikata’s legendary costume is a totem of sorts; it holds secrets of the avant-garde art form. Much like Butoh itself, it was born at the confluence of East and West. This costume chronicles the evolution of postmodern art in Japan, and as such, deserved to be carefully studied, and thrown into the limelight once again.
Vangeline wearing the replica of Hijikata’s costume by Todd Thomas. Photos by Matthew Placek. All rights reserved.
In 2019, Butoh artist Vangeline created Hijikata Mon Amour, a solo piece featuring the replica of Tatsumi Hijikata’s costume (recreated by Todd Thomas). The piece premiered October 24 through October 26, 2019, at the New York Butoh Institute Festival at Theater for the New City and received critical acclaim from the New York Press.
“If you’ve seen one Butoh show you’ve seen them all— but you’ve never seen anything like Vangeline. Her bid to plant Butoh in the West, in female form, is ballsy and beautiful, unexpected and right.”
Vangeline in Hijikata Mon Amour - Photo by Michael Blase - October 24, 2019
“A challenging yet triumphant experience for both performer and viewer. Hijikata would have been proud.”
On October 27, 2019, the New York Butoh Institute Festival closed with the viewing of a short film by Hiroshi Nakamura of Hijikata in Nikutai no hanran, and an artist talk with Todd Thomas. The recreated costume was on display.
Costumes are an essential part of the magic of performances. This costume has become part of the legacy of Butoh and is a historical treasure. As such, Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute gave it its rightful place in history by documenting it for future generations.
We are grateful to Takashi Morishita and The Tatsumi Hijikata Archives, who made a generous loan of this historical costume for the duration of the project. This recreation of this historic costume was made possible by a 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Tatsumi Hijikata Archives.
COLLABORATORS
The Hijikata Tatsumi Archive at Keio University is dedicated to the preservation of butoh and Tatsumi Hijikata's heritage. http://www.art-c.keio.ac.jp/en/archives/list-of-archives/hijikata-tatsumi/. We particularly wish to thank Mr. Takashi Morishita, who has supported this project.
Takashi Morishita at the Tatsumi Hijikata Archives in July 2017 (with Vangeline and Shoshana Green. Photo by Azumi Oe)
Todd Thomas. Originally from Murphysboro, Illinois, with roots in Saint Louis Missouri, Todd Thomas is a cross-disciplinary art director, designer and educator who has been based in New York for thirty years. Drawing on over twenty-five years of experience working across the disciplines of art, fashion, and entertainment, Thomas envisions the long- term needs of these diverse creative fields from concept through execution, to branding and disbursement. Working with leading cultural figures, trailblazers and celebrity clientele, Thomas possesses a holistic understanding of how art and design not only delights aesthetically but acts as an economic engine and socio-cultural force that improves lives. Past clients have included Cindy Sherman, Justin Vivian Bond, CR Fashion, Katy Perry, Debbie Harry, Nicki Minaj, Gwen Stephanie, Jennifer Lopez, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Helmut Lang, Vangeline Theater, Versace, Vera Wang, and Kanye West. In addition to his freelance work, Thomas has worked as adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design, a career mentor at the Ali Forney Center, and served as the Senior Director of Barrett Barrera Projects’ New York Office, focusing on developmental and curatorial projects such as Charliewood New York and CHRISTEENE + PJ Raval artist residency featuring Justin Vivian Bond.
Born in Ohio, Matthew Placek relocated to New York City in 1997 to pursue his interests in photography, video, and installation. His commitment to capturing presence, whether as a sense of place, the passage of time, or the relationships between people, has led to his multimedia output. His practice is durational and also engaged with the archive. Of primary concern to Placek is negotiating uninterrupted concentration from both his viewers and subjects, which he does through expanding the formal and conceptual notions of portraiture. As attention spans diminish due to the spatio-temporal dislocations of the era, the frenzied use of cell phones and social media, Placek is interested in cultivating a moment with the sitter that lasts longer than a glance and can generate immersive and resonant experiences.
Matthew Placek has collaborated with notable contemporary artists such as Marina Abramović, Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Vanessa Beecroft, Richard Prince, Brice Marden, Cindy Sherman, James Ivory, and Yoko Ono. His individual and collaborative work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Kitchen, Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, Galleria Lia Rumma, the Sundance Film Festival’s “New Frontier,” The Toronto International Film Festival, The Stockholm International Film Festival, The National Young Arts Foundation and the National Monument Fort Jay at Governors Island. Placek has been awarded grants from The National Young Arts Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He has been in residence at The Pocantico Center at the Rockefeller estate and Marfa, Texas. http://www.matthewplacek.com/
About The Society Of Antiquaries London
The Society’s mission is the “encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries." The Society of Antiquaries of London Royal Charter (1751). The Society was founded in 1707 and today our 3,000 Fellows include many distinguished archaeologists and art and architectural historians holding positions of responsibility across the cultural heritage. The Fellowship is international in its reach and its interests are inclusive of all aspects of the material past. As a registered charity (207237), the Society’s principal objectives are to foster public understanding of that heritage, to support research and communicate the results and to engage in the formulation of public policy on the care of our historic environment and cultural property. https://www.sal.org.uk/about-us/
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
(TNC) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. One of New York’s most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC’s Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch, Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Vin Diesel, Oscar Nuñez, Laurence Holder, Romulus Linney and Academy Award Winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. TNC also presents plays by multi-ethnic/multi-disciplinary theater companies who have no permanent home. Among the well-known companies that have been presented by TNC are Mabou Mines, the Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and COBU, the Japanese women’s drumming, and dance group. TNC seeks to develop theater audiences and inspire future theater artists from the often-overlooked low-income minority communities of New York City by producing minority writers from around the world and by bringing the community into theater and theater into the community through its many free Festivals. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 42 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor’s Stop The Violence award. www.theaterforthenewcity.net
VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form into the future. The Vangeline Theater is home to the New York Butoh Institute, dedicated to the advancement of Butoh in the 21st century. www.vangeline.com
Vangeline
Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form Butoh. She is the Artistic Director of the Vangeline Theater (New York), a dance firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century, and the founder of the New York Butoh Institute.
She is a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography. Vangeline's work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”), Los Angeles Times, (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) and LA Weekly to name a few. Widely regarded as an expert in her field, Vangeline has lectured about butoh at Cornell University, New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). She has taught and performed in Japan, Chile, Hong Kong, the UK, Denmark, Germany, France, the U.S, and Taiwan.
Vangeline is the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance's Beth Silverman-Yam Social Action Award and the winner of the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, 'The letter' (2012-Lionsgate). She has performed with/for Grammy Award Winning artists SKRILLEX and Esperanza Spalding, and she is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival. She is the author of a forthcoming book about Butoh.
The recreation of this costume was made possible by a Janet Arnold ward from the Society from the Antiquaries of London.
This program was supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
This program was also made possible by funding from the Robert Friedman Foundation; Society from the Antiquaries of London; The Tatsumi Hijikata Archives and in-kind support from Triskelion Arts.