East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA- Traditional dance, like the "Lingala" dance of the Pepe Kales, Zaiko Langa Langa, Luchana Madilu, Kanda Bongoman and others, was a hit Congolese dance in the East African region in the 1990's.
Since the Lingala time, other traditional dances have cropped to compete at world dance festivals. The Kiganda dance commonly referred to as Olunyege in Buganda, Karimajong dance (Uganda), Kinyarwanda dance in Rwanda, Kikuyu and Kamba dances in Kenya and other regional dances have been taught and, they are competing at the world scene.
But what has been probably left out of the East African dance market has been the Asian dance, the Butoh dance, the commonest dance in Japan.
Japanese dance expert Mr. Tetsuro Fukuhara is going round the world including Kampala and Nairobi performing the Butoh dance at festivals as well as teaching the dance to schools and universities.
The sixty three year old engineering professor decided to quit his profession, engineering, and learnt the Butoh dance after joining the Story Seven Herbs group directed by Tatsumi Hijikata the founder of the Butoh dance also commonly referred to as Space Dance.
He was in Kampala last week for the "Dance Transmission Festival Uganda 2011" to take part in the festival, teach the Butoh dance, as well as raise money for charity organizations in Uganda. He has raised charity funds for the Ntinda School for the Deaf, Ashinaga Children Home, Mulago School for the Deaf and Kigowa Nursery School, all located in Kampala city.
Butoh dance is a step from within. It's a dance that expresses self realization though the body of the individual, direct, and original dance technique. It is a recovery of the wild mankind and a rebirth of the body intoxicated somehow lost in the contemporary world. It is an art which promotes growth and keeps the age-worthy flower blossoming continuously.