For the first time in the Gambian cultural history, Régina Groeger, a French butoh dancer will be on the stage in The Gambia. This great event is scheduled for Sunday 25th March, 2007, in Fajara Beach.

Butoh is a performing art dance which is originated in post World War II, in Japan and was first performed in 1959, by Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikita. ‘‘An avant-gardist dance which is meant to promote the ideas of peace, liberty and International Understanding’’, said Régina, a veritable icone of this surrealistic dance.

According to her, this is part of a big project which is aimed at putting butoh dance in the centre stage of cultural activities in Africa. ‘‘There is a real commitment to spread the influence of butoh during the years 2005-2015’’, she explained. She also noted that the most unconventional aspect of butoh is its movements and the preparation that the dancer undergoes to prepare for the dance. ‘‘It is a dance that has much to do with meditation or martial art training, as it does to dance in the conventionnal sense’’, she pointed out. That is to say there is a constant duality between the body and the open space.

She went on to say that butoh dance is a directing of energy to the audience from one’s surroundings. ‘‘To dance butoh is to dance like no other dance on earth. It has no physical technique or common terminology for the dance itself’’, she indicated.