These tables are intended to compare and contrast a possible theory of
Butoh and a complementary theory of the Antibody for a fuller
understanding of both. In the context of the 588 Current, the movement
practitioner must embrace both, playing one against the other, the way a
dancer plays with the attraction and resistance to gravity.
SENSATION / TRANSGRESSION: The dancer proceeds from awareness of
sensation, i.e. awareness of the body. Sensation is the key to the
dance; it precedes questions of physical action and attention to form.
The formless precedes the form. From the standpoint of the Antibody,
transgression produces sensation. That is, as soon as the body moves
out of its standard, civilized movement habits, it is transgressive and
becomes sensate.
REACTION / ABSORPTION: The dancer always moves in reaction to some
imagined stimulus, rather than from willed intention. This enables the
dancer to shake off the human form and become other. The movement of
the dancer in theatrical space clearly shows the presence and influence
of invisible elements. The dancer creates a new world by moving
according to internal rather than external forces. From the standpoint
of the Antibody, the dancer consumes the space around himself/herself.
The entire body is felt as a devouring mouth, the skin is entirely
porous and translucent. The dancer encounters invisible entities and
obstacles while moving through space; these invisible elements are
absorbed, and this process of devouring is the dance.
SYMPATHY / ANTIPATHY: To become other, the dancer approaches the target
sympathetically. If the target is a wolf, the dancer enters into a
rapport with the wolf, and acquires the wolf's qualities through
sympathetic action. This is different than mimicry: mimesis is the
domain of the clown. Mimicry in fact is a form of aggressive action, a
form of antipathy that is in the nature of the Antibody. The Antibody
orientates itself as an enemy in space. It is repulsed by what it must
confront, but confronts it nonetheless. Before the confrontation
occurs, the dancer is moved by the impulses of fear/desire, and the
confrontation itself involves the forces of sex/death. The Antibody is
resolutely antipathic in its essence, and seeks to return every object
to its negative, abstract origin.
HOMEOPATHY / ALLOPATHY: In becoming the other, the dancer heals the
self. The dancer ingests poison to expel it, becomes diseased in order
to be rid of disease. The Antibody strikes against the symptoms
produced by civilization: it attacks the structures of steel and absorbs
them. The Antibody welcomes the most perverse uses of surgery and
actively innovates new surgical procedures, if in imagination only. The
Antibody is akin to a self-regenerating amputee: through a process of
continual self-mutilation the body is continually remade and born anew.
BECOMING / BEING: Being is formless, and becoming is a process of
taking on form. The dancer can become anything, if s/he realizes the
self as nothing. The self moves into the world of manifestation and
acquires a body; the dancer moves toward the world of the unmanifest by
continually re-making the human body.
DEVOURING / INCORPORATION: The Antibody is a lone being in a field of
war. The predator is defined by what it eats, what space it inhabits.
The Antibody incorporates the characteristics of its prey, and includes
them as new additions to its arsenal. Each encounter of blood leaves an
invisible inscription on the translucent surface of its body, readable
only to itself. The eyes give away nothing: they are a mask of
blindness or a predatory stare.