Butoh is a contemporary dance form whose origins have been attributed to Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. Bu means ‘dance’ and ‘Toh’ is step. Literally, ‘stamping dance’. Butoh combines dance, theatre and improvisation, as well as influences of Japanese traditional dance and German Expressionist dance (Neue Tanz). While it rejects the extreme formalisation of traditional styles, its intention is to return to the roots of the Japanese soul. Often favouring grotesque imagery performed in white body makeup, it deals with topics of sexuality and death to express the most elemental and intense human emotions. Butoh has pushed the prescribed boundaries of dance to make magical moments in dance history, profoundly impacting dancers and audiences worldwide.