Bartabas, the horses and Butoh

Ko Murobushi










Bartabas







A few weeks ago I read an article about the equestrian artist Bartabas. I was fascinated by his beliefs in the nature of the horse and how our relationship with him is a partnership. Bartabas is based in Versailles, close to Paris. There he trains his horses according to his principles.
















Recently he collaborated with Ko Murobushi, a Japanese practitioner of the art/discipline known as Butoh.This movement began in Japan after the second World War as a reaction against traditional forms of dance and theatre in Japan. It was essentially subversive, associated with grotesque images and decay. Its founder, Hijikata, was influenced by European writers such as Genet and Artaud and by the Japanese writer Mishima. It seems also to be about putting the body under such extreme pressure that it can access a different kind of energy, and even relate to the beings of animals. As Hijikata said, "The tendency I speak of involved extricating the pure life which is dormant in our bodies".

Bartabas wanted to find out if he could teach his horses to "empty out himself and his energy before he starts to move". He taught the horses over 2 years to breathe differently and to become very calm and focussed. He said that when successful he was able to give the horse freedom to be more himself without so much reliance by the trainer on traditional techniques.















I saw Bartabas and Murobushi perform at Sadlers Wells theatre in London recently in "The Centaur and the Animal". The stage floor was covered in a bed of sand and the horses moved silently on stage. Horse and rider related to the solo butoh performance by Murobushi. This was an extraordinary display of control and expression. Bartabas finished the work by riding one of his horses in a beautifully fluent display of dressage. But mostly he was riding with no bridle.