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
Taketeru Kudo
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.
Related Articles
Company’s annual holiday twist on The Nutcracker features a flavoursome assortment of styles, from classical ballet to hip hop to ’60s swing
Dreamlike Taiwanese show explores freedom and oppression, with Ling Zi becoming everything from spiky weapons to shivering life forces all their own
Presented by DanceHouse, Taiwan’s Hung Dance draws on the headpieces of Chinese opera to conjure calligraphy, weapons, and birds in flight
The local arts and culture scene has bright gifts in store this season, from music by candlelight to wintry ballets
New production comes as a result of the street dancer’s Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award win earlier this year
This spin on Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker features a flavoursome assortment of styles, ranging from classical ballet to hip hop
Quebecois choreographer Audrey Gaussiran’s work tours to Alliance Française Vancouver’s V-Unframed and the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts
Dancers Omer Backley-Astrachan and Jana Castillo explore the importance of connection and trust
Company looks sharp across opening program of eclectic, full-throttle LILA, mysterious SWAY, and epic BOLERO X
Renowned Indigenous choreographer Santee Smith brings her haunting yet hopeful piece to The Cultch and Urban Ink’s TRANSFORM Festival
Presented by RBC, production features more than 250 performers and a live Tchaikovsky score played by members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra
Production explores identity as the dancers’ movements influence a highly reactive digital projection onstage
OURO Collective’s second annual festival features mainstage performances at Massey Theatre by the likes of TARANTISM and RubberLegz
Presented by Ballet BC at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the production puts a fantastical twist on the classic story, all set to Tchaikovsky’s score
Ahead of a premiere at Ballet BC’s TRILOGY, the fast-rising Italian-born choreographer reflects on a creative journey that began locally and led her around the globe
Co-producer Lia Grainger reflects on the storied life of Oscar Nieto, who helped establish flamenco’s presence in Vancouver
Dance and digital art combine onstage with a colourful projection that reacts to the movements of five dancers
Seven artists are on an empowering mission to reclaim Indigenous sexuality from the effects of colonization
The anticipated performance, a captivating cry for freedom, marks the first time DanceHouse presents a Taiwanese work
Mainstage performances presented by OURO Collective include Greece’s TARANTISM, German-American B-boy RubberLegz, and more
Montreal choreographer’s post-pandemic piece, inspired by a type of molecule secreted by moving bodies, comes to the Firehall Arts Centre
Exhilarating double bill featuring a virtuosic classic and a historic West Coast premiere lands here February 9 and 10, 2026
Junior company features eight dancers training with Modus Operandi and Arts Umbrella Dance Company
New exhibition and performance series opens with WTM / What’s the Move? art party featuring Lucy M. May, ĀNANDAM dance theatre, and more
