Taketeru Kudo explores the depths of isolation in The Foot on the Edge of Knife, March 15 to 18

At Vancouver International Dance Festival, Japanese artist unveils work created during Tokyo’s extended COVID lockdown

Vancouver International Dance Festival presents Taketeru Kudo’s The Foot on the Edge of Knife from March 15 to 18 at the ANNEX

TOKYO DANCE ARTIST Taketeru Kudo started crafting The Foot on the Edge of Knife during Japan’s extended lockdown in Tokyo in 2021. And butoh seems like the perfect darkly beautiful art form to express all that he was feeling.

Working in isolation, Kudo worked with 100-odd pieces of music sent to him by composer Masaru Soga, working night after night alone to create the piece vividly titled The Foot on the Edge of Knife.

Catch the show at this year’s Vancouver International Dance Festival and find out if it taps the same isolation, desperation, and the knife-edge of confinement of COVID lockdowns here. It marks the first time the solo will be seen in North America.

Kudo is recognized around the world for his butoh, establishing his own troupe, Tokyo Gien-kan, but with a history of dancing in butoh groups like Sankai Juku.

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