Experimental Series #3 at SOL GALLERY
Photo by Brett Walker
Experimentation Series #3
舞踏の森33・Forest of Butoh 33
VIDEO・DANCE ・CONVERSATION・DRINKS
A living archive of 33 years of Butoh, Transformation, Migration and Artistic mischief.
30June-12 July 2026
＠SOL Gallery, Fitzroy
Solo Butoh Performance by Yumi Umiumare
2 (Thur) July 7pm
9 (Thur) July 7pm
11(Sat) July 7pm- EXTRA SHOW added!!
“What is Butoh? “Artist Talk and Mini Lecture
7(Tue) July @7pm
Featuring special international guest Rosemary Candelario (scholar-artist, Butoh dancer, and Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin) in conversation with Yumi Umiumare.
The evening includes:
A short introduction to the history of Butoh
Artist talks and insights into their creative practices
Short demonstration
Discussion: What is Butoh?
Audience Q&A
Forest of Butoh 33 is an immersive installation of archival video works, costumes and new durational performances drawn from Yumi Umiumare’s extensive practice since migrating from Japan to Australia in 1993.
Accompanied by artist talks, live events and guest lectures on Butoh, the exhibition offers a rare insight into over three decades of artistic experimentation, transformation and cultural exchange.
Over the past 33 years, Yumi has explored the Japanese avant-garde art form Butoh, originally known as Ankoku Butoh, or the Dance of Darkness. After training in classical ballet, she encountered Butoh in the 1970s and was drawn to its radical possibilities during the mid-1980s. Arriving in Australia in 1993, and describing herself as a "mental refugee" from Japan, Yumi embarked on a lifelong journey of artistic experimentation, creating an extraordinary body of performance works and collaborations with artists, communities and non-artists alike.
Today, Yumi continues to spread the "Butoh bug" across Australia and internationally, fostering connections within a vibrant global Butoh community. One of Australia's leading Butoh practitioners, she is renowned for a distinctive ‘punk’ performance language that fuses Butoh, cabaret, ritual and Japanese tea ceremony traditions with raw physicality and irreverent humour.
Throughout the exhibition, Yumi will activate the space through a series of durational performance experiments.
(FREE EVENT)
Performance Dates & Times
3(Fri)July between 1-5pm
4(Sat)July between 1-5pm
5(Sun)July between 1-5pm
10(Fri)July between 1-5pm
11(Sat)July between 1-5pm
12(Sun) July between 1-5pm