Physical poetry: using Japanese Butо̄ in an EFL poetry performance project

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary project in which English poetry and performance studies were integrated into a poetry performance project for EFL students in a language education programme at a Japanese university. The project used the theories and methods of Butо̄, a contemporary Japanese form of dance and visual art, to guide students through the process of interpretation, journaling, rehearsal, and performance. In Notational Butо̄ practice, performers begin with a piece of literary or visual art, observe the images that stand out most to the performer, make notes about those images’ qualities in a journal, and then reflect on the movement. Our students followed a similar process, accompanied with vocal work, as they memorised excerpts from English poetry. We found that the project helped students create personal connections with the literature and more fully integrate foreign culture experiences into their identity as Japanese speakers of English.

KEYWORDS:

• Performance studies
• literary studies
• interdisciplinary education
• Butō (Butoh)
• EFL education
• poetry

Acknowledgments

Student work used with permission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Butō and Butoh refer to the same Japanese word, originally written as 舞踏. The difference in spelling comes from two different systems of romanisation in use. In this article, the Revised Hepburn romanisation system is used. Difference in spelling is further discussed in Kayo Mikami’s book The Body as a Vessel: Approaching the Methodology of Hijikata Tatsumi’s Ankoku Butō (2016, 17).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sylwia Dobkowska

Sylwia Dobkowska is a lecturer in Theatre Studies at University of Gdańsk in Poland and a visiting researcher at Meio University in Okinawa, Japan. She completed her PhD at the Department of Theatre at Royal Holloway University of London, UK, on a Royal Holloway Research Scholarship. She researches Japanese theatre, and visual representations of language in the form of performance art and graphic design, merging academic theory and design practice. The application of her research in practice can be seen in the recent co-edited publication Justitia: Multidisciplinary Readings of the Work of the Jasmin Vardimon Company. Her portfolio of research and art projects can be accessed on her personal website: www.dobkowska.com.

Meghan Kuckelman

Meghan Kuckelman is an Associate Professor of English Literature at Meio University in Okinawa, Japan, where she is also the Associate Director of the Language Learning Center (LLC). She specialises in American Language Poetry and the phenomenology of reading. Her current research centres on Ivan Illich’s philosophy of conviviality and its potential in literary studies for a reader-centered poetics.