Sunday, October 08, 2006

Butoh saved my day

Last night, straight after seeing the shocking news about Anna Politkovskaja, I went to see my friend's theatre group Naamio & Höyhen (Mask & Feather) perform Hana to Shi - Kukka ja kuolema (Flowers & Death), a Japanese butoh show. Do click on the link and follow up with clicking "pressikuvat", press photos. You won't regret it. I knew just about nothing whatsoever about butoh so didn't know what to expect, and ended up feeling I'd seen every story ever told, in less than an hour: cavalcades of people from throughout the history of man, distorted, suffering, elated, in love, dying, ugly, beautiful, going through every human emotion, heightened and expressed physically. I am quite, quite blown away. They had a great review in Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest daily, which is no mean feat for an independent fringe theatre group. They deserved it wholly. Go see it if you're in town. I cried afterwards.

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