ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the complexities of transcultural performance making as manifested during the Deluge project, a long-term collaboration between Australian and Korean artists that aimed to combine aspects of butoh with pansori–a Korean form of epic narrative expressed through song and verse. During the Deluge project, referred to the phenomenon as "keeping one eye open," a phrase that emerged during Park Younghee's description of some shamans who quite literally undertake their rituals with one eye trained on their audience. As a way of counteracting what she saw as the problematic inward gaze of butoh, Younghee encouraged the ensemble to use the image of "making space" inside them for the audience to "come in" and experience the work. Twenty-one performing artists participated in these creative development cycles over the five years of the project, with artistic practices ranging from butoh and pansori to contemporary music, contemporary dance, and martial arts all forming part of the fabric of the finished work.
