Tony Yap and Diasporic Post-Butoh in Australia
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Non-Traditional Research Output
Curated Exhibition or Event
Document Type
Curated Exhibition
Date of Publication
2023
Research Statement
Research Background
Research began with the task of enhancing the visual documentation linked in to the nationally renowned AusStage online theatre and performance database as part of the ARC-LIEF project led by Flinders University. Videos of the work of Tony Ding Chai Yap and Yumi Umiumare were greatly increased, and additional material on Zen Zen Zo, Frank theatre and De Quincey Company were also increased. The project then moved to this specific output, to produce a gallery and overview of Yap’s career.
Research Contribution
No such critical biography / overview previously existed. The research showed a trajectory leading from Yap’s early “Dionysian” work with IRAA theatre company to his mature and now more lyrical trance dance aesthetic. Tony’s collaborations, notably with Yumi, as well as the landmark production Kagome (audiovisual documentation of which is now online) was identified as crucial to his practice and indicative of Australian butoh as a whole.
Research Significance
Immediately prior to going online, Tony presented some of the creative work examined in the gallery at the 2022 ADSA conference, University of Auckland, where I also presented a summary of this research as a work in progress conference paper. A more evolved version of this is to be presented at the International Federation of Theatre Researchers conference in Manilla, 2024. The research behind this gallery output is also informing my survey monograph on butoh in Australia for the Brill Australian Playwrights Series (see https://brill.com/display/serial/AP?language=en), which has just passed peer and editorial review.
Publication Title
AusStage Gallery
Publisher
AusStage
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
RAS ID
70145
Comments
Marshall, J., W. (2023, February 22). Tony Yap and Diasporic Post-Butoh in Australia. AusStage. https://ausstage.kinsta.cloud/story/tony-yap-and-butoh-in-australia/