Seattle International Butoh Festival

If you’ve ever wanted to see a ghost come to life, attend the Seattle International Butoh Festival—and you’ll see them dance. This contemporary form of Japanese performance is inspired by the grotesque, but its intense beauty comes through in each dancer’s meticulous, slow, hyper-exaggerated movements. The festival brings the avant-garde dance/art form to the Northwest with events in Seattle, Shoreline, and Snohomish, and it is organized by and features performances from Joan Laage’s Seattle-based DAIPANbutoh Collective. The festival also offers an array of international guest artists and masters of the form, including Japan’s Mushimaru Fujieda.