Min Tanaka

Min Tanaka was born in Japan in 1945 where he trained in classical ballet and modern dance for nearly ten years. He learned Butoh, this “dance of the dark body” from the founder of the practice Tatsumi Hijikata, and his future work was to be heavily influenced by it.

In 1974, Min Tanaka began creating his own pieces and developed an emphatic movement style emphasising the psycho-physical unity of the body. During this time, he collaborated with many intellectuals and visual artists around the world. More recently, he has regularly appeared in films.

Min Tanaka’s concerns revolve around the body and its sensitivity to the sensory as well as mental environment, the spiritual body or even the body-poem. All of which combine in Min Tanaka in a unique quest into dance and its origins. One of his recent projects, Locus Focus, is consistent with this approach, primarily based on listening and an extreme attention to both time and space.