BodyWeather is a performance practice that was developed by Japanese dancer and choreographer Min Tanaka in the 1980s. It draws from Butoh philosophy and Japanese as well as Western performance practices, but is also deeply informed by rural context and farm work: Tanaka and his dance company Maijuku developed BodyWeather at the organic farm where they lived and worked from 1985, repopulating the deserted village of Hakushu.
I have been involved in BodyWeather-influenced practice since 2020 in Amsterdam, facilitated by Astarti Athanasiadou, Maria Mavridou, and Stefania Petroula. It influences my own movement practice and research greatly, together with butoh. Out of my projects, ‘House the Balloons’ attends closely to these practices.
As a part of Open Fields – Art and Architecture (Kunst im Öffentlichen Raum), a two-week BodyWeather lab residency was realised by Astarti Athanasiadou and Stéphane Verlet-Bottéro, in collaboration with T. Veneranta, Antti Uimonen, Sophie Krier, and Nicolas Gabriel. The project was organised by Museum Joanneum. Public sharing took place 2/9/2023 at Bio-Bauernhof Liebchen, Neurmarkt in Steiermark (Austria).