Artist Review: This Performance Artist Exists Between Her Imagination and The Present Moment

Megan Janet White is an installation Butoh artist, movement researcher and fashion stylist. She finds the essence of life in the in-between state. Some would say Megan is the epiphany of a creative human being. Observing and experiencing the world with child-like curiosity, she best identifies with the process – not the end result.

Butoh was born in the late 1950’s and is a Japanese dance form also referred to as ‘anti theatre’. The founders, Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo, developed Butoh as a rebellion against traditional Japanese and Western dance and theatre styles of the time.

Butoh is traditionally performed with micro, hyper-controlled movement. The process involves ‘filling’ the body with layers of imagery, often absurd, playful and grotesque; distilling the mind and allowing the body to translate this.

You are moving and you are being moved.

Megan has over 20 years of experience in countless creative mediums. She is a practicing conceptual artist, creative director, costume designer, Oki-do yoga instructor, Butoh artist and teacher. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw inspiration from and this is evident in her work which builds an eclectic physical and metaphorical composition within and around the body. Each of her performances are inspired by the last with every piece of costuming preserved to re-use in a new way. The choreography is always shifting, yet derived from the solid foundations of her practice.

Creativity is perceived and practiced in many ways. For Megan, creativity is a baby. A baby learns to walk through falling many times and it is the falling that provides a place to build upon, where the magic happens and where the alchemy is created.

Among the many projects Megan has underway, she is the co-director of Theatre Of Thunder; an atmospheric, immersive performance ensemble who have an impressive portfolio of projects and performances with the likes of Metro Arts, Jungle Love Festival, 2High Festival, Concrete Jungle and many more.

More on Megan:

Wesbite : Theatre of Thunder  | Haiku Arts & Yoga
Instagram: @theatreofthunder | @theatreofthunder_stormbodies  | @haikuarts