<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Paul and Colleagues,<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>This phenomenon actually started quite early with Hijikata and Motofuji (Hijikata's wife) appearing in the experimental films of Donald Richie and Hosoe Eiko. Then Ono and Hijikata starred in several films in the late 60's and early 70's. (This is in addition to the experimental films of dances such as those by Iimura Takahiko which were announced on this list a few months ago.) IMDB lists five films for Hijikata, but there are at least 10 including movies by Ishii Tereuo, and Shinoda. Ono appeared in <FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">"The Potrait of Mr.O" (1969), "Mandala of Mr.O" (1971) and "Mr.O's Book of the Dead" (1973), directed by Chiaki Nagano, and then in a couple of other works over the years.</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">I haven't seen all of these films, but generally the directors use the dancers when they want to depict someone who is crazed or out of the ordinary, and considering the predilections of the dancers, this is no surprise. </FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">By the time of someone like Suzuki Seijun, the butoh-esque dancer becomes almost another trope to use.</FONT></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>There is also the issue of how to pay the rent. During the 60's and 70's most butoh dancers were only performing one time a year and hoping to pay the theater with the box office receipts, but often paying out of their own pockets. What is more, the more famous ones willingly or unwillingly soon became the "masters" as disciples flocked to them, and they found themselves with the need to feed a bunch of young starving dancer aspirants who were sleeping on the floors of their houses. So, a side business in the movies could look pretty attractive. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>As to others who have made the jump, guessing from the number of dancers who show up in Suzuki movies, its not just Maro. Also, Murobushi Ko has appeared in a couple of movies in Europe. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Best,</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Bruce </DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Apr 26, 2007, at 8:33 PM, Paul Roquet wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Here is one question I've had floating around since the festival:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">While in the audience in Frankfurt I was surprised to see Min Tanaka popping up both as the aging drag queen in La Maison de Himiko, and as the voice of a yakuza in the anime Tekkon Kinkreet. Tanaka made his film debut a few years back in a couple of Yoji Yamada jidai-geki. Akaji Maro has also been active as an actor for some time now. I was wondering, besides the more experimental films of Hijikata and Ohno, if anyone knows of other examples of butoh dancers shifting into acting work. In a way it makes perfect sense as a career trajectory - all that weighty presence, at least in Tanaka's case, really works up on screen.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Thanks again to everyone for the fantastic conference!</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Paul Roquet</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">UC Berkeley</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Bruce Baird</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Assistant Professor</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Asian Languages and Literatures</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">But</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">ô</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">, Japanese Theater, Intellectual History</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ; font-family: Helvetica; "><BR style="; font-family: Helvetica; "></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">7</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">17 Herter Hall</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">161 Presidents Drive</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Amherst, MA 01003-9312</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Phone: 413-577-4992</SPAN></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px">Fax: 413-545-4975<FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"></FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; "><A href="mailto:baird@asianlan.umass.edu">baird@asianlan.umass.edu</A></SPAN></FONT></P><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>