AceShowbiz -

Antony and the Johnsons have debuted a music video to support "The Spirit Was Gone", a song taken from their newly-released studio album "Swanlights". The clip pays homage to Kazuo Ohno, a pioneer of Japanese dance form known as butoh, and director Peter Sempel made the tribute using archive footage.

This is not the first time the group pay tribute to Kazuo Ohno. In 2009, they used an image of the late dancer performing in 1977 as cover art of their album "The Crying Light". They were deeply saddened when Kazuo died in June this year. Offering condolence, Antony said, "I want to express my sorrow at the passing of Kazuo Ohno, who died today in a hospital in Yokohama at the age of 103. He was my hero and my teacher."

"I feel so honored to have had the opportunity to meet him and get a little closer to his family and his work earlier this year when we visited the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio in Japan. I thank him for awakening a sense of a child inside me. I will dream of him forever, and I will search for his footsteps in the dust of life before me. I wish only for his flourishing joy."

Antony and the Johnsons' "The Spirit Was Gone" music video