‘Make those Seattleites drive to Bellingham’: Whatcom County gets its first Butoh festival

Now in its fourth year, the Salish Sea Butoh Festival will have a new location: Bellingham.

The festival celebrates Butoh, a form of Japanese dance theater that originated in the mid-20th century. It has been held in Port Townsend since its inception in 2021.

“During that time, there was a lot of isolation, there was a lot of anxiety. It was a very difficult time for humanity, and people felt very disconnected,” Iván Daniel Espinosa, the festival’s executive producer, said in a phone call with the Bellingham Herald. “So part of the motivation, looking back in retrospect, for this festival, was a desire to cultivate community through the arts and bring people together in an uplifting, inspiring way.”

What is Butoh?

The genre is characterized by “intense, obscure movements performed by dancers with shaved heads and their entire bodies painted in white,” according to Tokyo Weekender, and “was born out of the confusion and desperation felt after World War II and the atomic bomb attacks on Japan.”

Butoh was received warmly in Europe, leading to the next generation of the art form largely developing overseas, according to the New York Butoh Institute. The most recent iteration of the genre, which the institute calls “third and fourth wave” Butoh, is characterized as “cross-cultural exchange between Japanese practitioners and non-Japanese.”

“It’s an art form that, in a way, is a quintessential embodiment of the melting pot,” Espinosa said. “Because, even though it’s uniquely Japanese and does incorporate Japanese and East Asian influences, it also incorporates German expressionism, European surrealism, French existentialism, American modern dance influences. So the Japanese founders of Butoh, they mixed it all together and created a very unique art form.”

The festival has grown each year that it’s been held in Port Townsend. But after the organizers received an invitation from the Lookout Arts Quarry, they decided to relocate to Whatcom County. The group was also drawn to Bellingham because of its access to nature and its convenience for out-of-state attendees flying into Seattle or Vancouver, Espinosa said.

“I am very passionate as an artist, about ecology and our relationship to nature and the earth. That has been one of the primary focuses of Salish Sea Butoh Festival from the very beginning… Bellingham is known for its vibrant ecosystems, and it has a unique landscape,” Espinosa said. “So we’re excited to explore that landscape and dance with the forests and the waters of Bellingham.”

Why the Butoh festival chose Bellingham

Butoh has had a presence in Washington for decades, although it’s largely been confined to Seattle, which Espinosa described as an “anchor for Butoh.” The city hosts a long-running annual Butoh festival and witnessed one of the most dramatic events of the early days of Butoh in the U.S. — in 1985, a dancer from the Sankai Juku troupe died during a Seattle performance after a rope snapped while he was suspended six stories in the air.

The Salish Sea Butoh Festival’s organizers specifically wanted to hold their event outside of a major city in order to give it a different atmosphere.

“What happens is that Seattle gets all the attention, but then people forget about the other beautiful cities and towns in Washington,” Espinosa said. “And so we want to share it and widen the reach and reach out to communities outside of King County. That was really important to us – make those Seattleites drive to Bellingham instead of the Bellingham people having to always go to Seattle.”

Festival participants will spend nine days at Lookout Arts Quarry, in what Espinosa described as a summer camp-like environment, from Aug. 12 to 20. Parts of the festival will be open to the public as well, with a pair of performances scheduled for Aug. 16 and 17 at the Firehouse Arts and Events Center in Fairhaven.

“All these urban festivals, people just go and take the four hour class, and then they go back home and they go back to their lives,” Espinosa said. “And, you know, that’s fine. But we wanted to have a more immersive experience where people can go on retreat and really immerse in the workshops and then have conversations at the campsite.”

How to watch, buy tickets

The festival has a public-facing side as well, with a pair of performances scheduled for Aug. 16 and 17 at the Firehouse Arts and Events Center in Fairhaven. Performers include Tadashi Endo, a dancer and choreographer well into his ‘70s, and Joan Laage, who was instrumental in the growth of Seattle’s Butoh scene.

“The first night celebrates the younger generation of Butoh, what we call Gen X Butoh… Then the Saturday performances celebrate the elders, the senior generation,” Espinosa said.

According to Espinosa, the shows are worthwhile even for people who aren’t familiar with Butoh.

“It’s a very unique opportunity to come see a dance form that is unlike anything else out there. We’re not talking about the Nutcracker. We’re not talking about Romeo and Juliet,” Espinosa said. “We’re talking about an extremely unique art form that rarely comes to Bellingham.”

Both shows start at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available online and cost $20.

This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 10:58 AM.