When we look death in the face we learn a little more about living. This is what grief has taught me, but not only that.

Butoh dance has repeatedly allowed me to dance in the face of death. Indeed, as Hijikata Tatsumi says, the body of a butoh dancer is like a corpse desperately holding on. With our dance, which is life and death together, Ohno Kazuo teaches, we must be grateful for all those deaths that have allowed us to be here at this moment. The dance, then, is like a prayer to existence.

Every step of butoh is always held in the balance between life and death, breaking through walls, playing with the invisible.

Today I think the pain we face when we are faced with death is an initiation. Death is an experience that restores an essential connection with our ancestors. In the face of horror at what disappears we find ourselves having to answer the questions that humanity has always asked. Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?

In this episode I present you a reflection about dance as death education.