Ushio Amagatsu, Japanese Dancer Who Popularized Butoh, Dies at 74

Ushio Amagatsu, an acclaimed dancer and choreographer who brought worldwide visibility to Butoh, a hauntingly minimalist Japanese form of dance theater that arose in the wake of wartime devastation, died on March 25 in Odawara, Japan. He was 74.

The cause of his death, in a hospital, was heart failure, said Semimaru, a founding member of Mr. Amagatsu’s celebrated contemporary dance company, Sankai Juku.

Butoh is an Anglicized version of “buto,” derived from “ankoku buto,” which translates to “dance of darkness.” It draws inspiration from surrealist European art movements like Dadaism.

Butoh was pioneered by Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi…