bio kasai

Akira Kasai (*1943) initially studied modern dance and classical ballet. He then decided to change course completely and began working with the Butoh founders Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata in 1963. In the 1960s, he tried to come closer to spiritual existence by sublimating his physical body and exhausting it through dance. In 1971 he founded a school of dance: Tenshi-kann (the House of Angels). Alongside his work on his solo performances, he mainly concentrated on teaching. His work Tenshi-ron (The Theory of Angels) on Butoh was published in 1972. In 1979 he moved to Germany, where he stayed for six years, studying anthroposophy and the theories of movement of Rudolf Steiner. He returned to Japan in 1985 and founded a school for eurhythmics in Tokyo in 1991. In 1994, he returned to choreographing his own works. He carefully carefully studied the younger generation of dancers and their techniques and developed new areas of expressivity and receptivity. Kasai's last performance in Berlin was at IN TRANSIT 2004 with his solo piece Handsome Blue Sky.