Butoh Curious Chi

A very red photo. Sara Zalek is in a leans over an inflatable mannequin on the floor. They have a full bodysuit on so their face cannot be seen. They strike a dramatic pose holding a material which hovers over the mannequin.

Butoh Body Monthly Class

By

Sara D Zalek

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1–2 minutes

To read

Sara Zalek. Photo by Ricardo Adame

Next classes are Sundays August 23 & September 20.

Come experience our next Butoh Body Dance class at the Japanese Culture Center. Look for our classes (about) every third Saturday or Sunday evening of the month in 2026. Be sure to reserve your spot and register online.

This workshop lights on ideas of the transformative body and the importance of the lived moment in order to experience some essential concepts in Butoh. We experiment with distortions in timing, using imagery of abstract and grotesque; we explore how presence and space can be activated on different temporalities. Applying these techniques can expand our vocabulary of embodied movement. This workshop encourages participants to find beauty in the horror of the grimace, to transform themselves from one state to another, and to move from deeply internal impulses to find more unique expressions in outer movements. We will work with forms, images, and Butoh fu from the lineage of Tatsumi Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno, Akira Kasai, Yumiko Yoshioka, Yukio Waguri, and other descendants of these Butoh traditions.

There will be time during class for reflection using automatic writing and/or drawing exercises and short improvised showings to more fully integrate ideas into usable material for making strong choreographic and (life) decisions.

It’s adult play! This is a supportive environment to start an individual and collective process of investigation through creative movement. We will open and expand our awareness, move with our subtler senses, create and witness our personal body language.

I share over twenty years of study and performance in Butoh, including Noguchi Taiso, Tai Chi/Daoyin, Thai massage, performance art, improvisation, and somatic therapies. Currently enrolled in I lead using visual and sensation-based prompts and giving cues to encourage improvisation and deep listening. A twist on some classic Butoh exercises with an ever-changing curiosity towards evolution.
More about me: www.saratonin.com

Next classes: August 23, September 20

Be sure to reserve your spot and register online. Use the Student Discount if you are short on funds ❤ . There is a staircase at the entrance of about 20 stairs.

Japanese Culture Center

Hiroko Tamano

This 1 minute excerpt gives a taste of Butoh legend Hiroko Tamano’s teaching, philosophies, and movement. In the “Dance of Life: a Prayer in 4 Directions”, Hiroko has built upon this Indigenous practice learned from Txi Wizz (Canadian Buffoon) over 40 years ago.

She has imbued it with her own movements and philosophy as a gift of healing and empowerment to an anxious world. In her words, “this dance form gives ‘presentness’,” and awareness of the directions “gives ‘no confusion’ to the prayer.”

Dance of Life