This paper examines the percussion instrument as a body prosthetic in performance and the implicit relation to the philosophical premises and the praxial outcomes of butō Japanese dance. A fundamental aspect of butō training is the notion of ‘Ma’ (間), a word that points at the in-betweenness of phenomenological reality, standing for pause, gap, or emptiness; ‘Ma’ is a notion which pertain to the philosophical predicaments of the Kyoto School, and its main actor Kitaro Nishida. Through a comparative analysis of butō, and practices of percussion in musical contexts, bringing into play Nishida’s philosophical predicaments, this research establishes a correspondence between the two performative realities: communicating vessels of bodily transformation, both in butō and in percussive music practises, requires a re-evaluation and re-definition of the boundaries of the body, its emplacement and haptics, a spatial and temporal re-colocation of the kinetic and proprioceptive momentum in performance. This investigation looks into Hijikata Tatsumi ankoku butō method of body transformation, suggesting a trajectory which connects the latter with the intensification, magnification, and metamorphosis of the body in musical performance through traditional devices such as percussion instruments, and innovative venues of experimentation, such as kinetic devices, virtual and augmented reality, midi devices, etc. This paper will inquire into the phenomenological aspects of temporal and spatial perception of the body in performance, the perceptual reverberation of a body modified, elongated, re-engineered, by instrumental prosthetics in music, and by a body trained to overcome its own physical boundaries, in Hijikata’s butō.

Authors:
Pellegrini Sascia, School of the Arts of Singapore, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Dr pellegrini sascia is a School Teacher/Instructor at School of the Arts of Singapore in Singapore

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