butoh dance group sankai juku unfurling from ropes at the top of the shubert theatre (new haven), lowering themselves to the street below, 1984.
the following year, the group was in seattle, performing the same routine from the six storey mutual life building. the rope holding 31 year old yoshiyuki takada broke and he died from the fall.
in sankai juku's art, death was an inevitable existential consequence of being born. the seattle accident, however, was caused by a used rope and possibly negligence. instead of using their own rope for the hanging event, which had been performed safely over a hundred times elsewhere, the group obtained three-quarter-inch hemp from local promoters. they required secondhand ropes because new ones twirl as they pay out. before the seattle performance, only one of the four ropes had been stress-tested, and yoshiyuki takada's was not.
