Nakajima Natsu
{{Short description|Japanese dancer (1943–2024)}}
Nakajima Natsu (1943 – 3 March 2024) was a Japanese dancer and one of the first female butoh dancers. She studied with Ohno Kazuo and worked with Hijikata Tatsumi. She also founded the dance company Muteki-sha in 1969.
Life and career
Nakajima was born in 1943 in Sakhalin, which was occupied by Japan at the time.{{Cite book|title=Ankoku Butoh: The Premodern and Postmodern Influences on the Dances of Utter Darkness|last=Klein|first=Susan|publisher=Cornell University East Asia Papers|year=1989|isbn=|location=|pages=55}}
In 1955, she began to study classical ballet, and entered the Ohno Kazuo Dance Institute in 1962. Unlike her mentor and long-time collaborator Hijikata Tatsumi, Nakajima toured extensively outside of Japan and became not only one of the first female butoh dancers, but also one of the first to introduce the form to audiences outside of Japan.{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theater|last=George-Graves|first=Nadine|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=|location=|pages=551}} She directed and choreographed the second-generation butoh dance group Muteki-sha.{{Cite book|title=Ankoku Butoh|last=Klein|first=Susan|publisher=Cornell University East Asia Papers|year=1989|isbn=|location=|pages=55}}
Nakajima appeared in films as well as theater productions, including Adachi Masao's 1969 film Sexual Play and the 1990 documentary Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0620048/ {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}}
Nakajima died on 3 March 2024, at the age of 80.{{cite web |title=Natsu Nakajima & Mutekisha Dance Company |url=https://mutekisha.wixsite.com/butoh |website=Natsu Nakajima & Mutekisha Dance Company |access-date=5 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305190934/https://mutekisha.wixsite.com/butoh |archive-date=5 March 2024 |quote=Natsu Nakajima passed away on March 3rd in 2024 at age 80.}}{{cite news |title=Nakajima, Natsu |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/births-marriages-and-deaths-march-8-2024-mg0hs8rmz |access-date=8 March 2024 |work=The Times |date=8 March 2024}}
Dance philosophy
Nakajima, like most butoh choreographers, resisted literal interpretations or expressions of the dance's gestures.{{Cite book|title=Ankoku Butoh|last=Klein|first=Susan|publisher=Cornell East Asia Papers|year=1989|isbn=|location=|pages=21}} However, she articulated her dance philosophy, emphasizing the energy and freedom of butoh. Natsu said "Butoh should reject any notion of symbolism, message, or formalism, and only express its energy and freedom. It is not art that I aspire to, but love."{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theater|last=George-Graves|first=Nadine|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=|location=|pages=551}}
References
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