Ko Murobushi

Born in Tokyo. Dancer and choreographer. Studied under Tatsumi Hijikata in 1969. In 1972, he was a founding member of Dairakudakan. From 1974, he was the editor and the publisher of the butoh newspaper Hageshii Kisetsu (La Saison Violente). The same year, he founded the all-female butoh company “Ariadone no Kai.” In 1976, he founded the all-male butoh group “Sebi.” In 1978, he contributed to making butoh known in Europe with the performance of “The Last Paradise – Gate to the Other Side” in Paris, and the European tour of “Zarathustra.” From then on, Murobushi performed all over the world, with Europe as his base. In 2000, Murobushi resumed his activities in Japan. In parallel to his solo pursuits, he formed the all-male group “Ko&Edge co.” and released many popular works. In addition, he was highly acclaimed for his training of the next generation of dancers, exploring the meaning of “dance” with many dancers around the world, including those of ImPulsTanz.
He passed away in Mexico in 2015.
An avid reader of literature and philosophy, he left behind a vast collection of notebooks, diaries and creation notes, in which he recorded thoughts complementing his dance. A selection of those texts was published as Murobushi Ko Collection (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2018).