Min Tanaka

       Born in 1945, Min Tanaka grew up in suburban Tokyo, where he studied modern dance and performed in several productions. In the early 1970s, he began to create original dance works exploring the meaning of the body and movement through improvisation. In an attempt to free the body from functionalism and conventional aesthetics, his dances were often nude, taking place in urban as well as natural settings. In 1985, Tanaka founded Body Weather Farm, a cooperative environment for dancers and artists who raise crops and animals, exploring the origins of dance through farming life. As Kazue Kobata wrote, "Becoming alert, sensitised, and transmigrating through the history of life as a whole in this very existence is what [Tanaka] tries to achieve through dance." His "lifetime contract" offers the opportunity to witness the constantly evolving forms and emotions in his dance over time.
       Between 1982 and 1986, he worked closely with Tatsumi Hijikata, founder and powerful guiding spirit of Butoh, the contemporary dance tradition which originated in post-WWII Japan. Butoh derives its power from the individual dancer in a mental and physical sense, relying not on a set choreography, but rather on individual improvisation and on the directing of energy from his surroundings to the audience. Tanaka continues to be active in collaborating with visual artists, musicians, opera companies, theatre and dance troupes in Japan and internationally.