Spring is here.. the warm weather's back... time to get OUTDOORS with the London Butoh Asylum!! New classes this month organised by Tiff Chan, Thursday evenings in Archway, Saturday Mornings in one of London's parks, Special events on MayDay in Oxford and May 22nd at the Horniman Museum Gardens
ABOUT SPRING CLASSES 2010
- Led by Tiff Chan, Spring classes will involve a collaborative effort to bring together the teachings of Itto Morita, who the London Butoh Asylum has trained with for 5 months in 2009-2010, and will share other relaxing Butoh and Bodyweather training methods amongst different people's experiences
The organic formation of a new group identity after the training period with Itto Morita is needed. He will be dearly missed. To prepare for sessions in the parks, we will work on heightening the senses, with elements and visualisations from nature to hold in the mind and body, slow walking meditation, partner and group work, and play between the two dance forms, all of which to continue Itto Morita's legacy of teaching that has primarily made participants feel increasingly relaxed throughout the training.
ABOUT LONDON BUTOH ASYLUM
Workshops organised:
Itto Morita's teaching
Seasons in North London: October-November 2009 (8 weeks) / January-March 2010 (9 weeks)
Single classes: Autumn term at Goldsmith's University
Others' Performances organised:
- Feb 2010 GooSayTen + SichtLautTrio at Oxford Brookes University, co-organised by CafeReason
- Feb 2010 GooSayTen at Albany Theatre
London Butoh Asylum Performances to date:
- May 2010 Mayday Butoh Walk + performance at Godstow Nunnery Ruins, Oxford, co-organised by Cafe Reason
- Feb 2010 "Waking,Walking", London Butoh Asylum + music by A Tactile Bestiary in Trip the Light Fantastic event in collaboration with artist Jane Watt, under Archway Tower
- 2009 "With Balloons", Tiff + Mirei, in Moonwax#2, Islington Chinese Association
- 2009 "untitled", Tiff + Francklin + Binisa, in Moonwax#1, Islington Chinese Association
- Nov 2009 Itto Morita + London Butoh Asylum in Out of the Frying Pan @The Others
Core Members
Tiff Chan - founder/ organiser/ dancer
Mirei Yazawa - organiser/ dancer/ costume + poster design
Shirly Marom - organiser/ dancer
Sona Salami - advising organiser/ dancer/ spiritual consulting
Zac Gvi - music and percussion, leader of A Tactile Bestiary
Coco Fukuhara - dancer/ Butoh, mental health, disability and well-being adviser
Akira Cripps - dancer/ Butoh, mental health, disability and workshop adviser
Lucia Cipriano - dancer/ Butoh adviser
Paul Mackilligin - dancer/ Oxford coordinator from Cafe Reason
Thanks to Ed and Zac for organising our first gig at The Others with Itto, without which the group would probably not have existed,
to Itto for the inspiration and bringing us so close to the spirit of Butoh,
and Ana, Jeannie and Paul for initially introducing me to Butoh.
About Itto Morita
Itto Morita (performing for 20 years) also known as Toshiharu Kasai, a Japanese Butoh dancer/ Dance Therapist/ Professor of body psychology within behavioral and cognitive psychology at Sapporo Gakuin University in Japan. Together with Mika Takeuchi, they form GooSayTen,
website Butoh video clips
Butoh related papers (PDF) by Itto = Toshi Kasai
- A Butoh Dance Method for Psychosomatic Exploration (1999)
- A Note on Butoh Body(2000)
- Perception in Butoh Dance (2003)
- Arm-Standing Exercise for Psychosomatic Training (2005)
- New understandings of Butoh Creation and Creative Autopoietic Butoh - From Subconscious Hidden Observer to Perturbation of Body-Mind System (2009)
About Tiff Chan
Her training consists of short, intense sessions of Butoh teaching by Itto Morita (from Butoh duo GOOSAYTEN, Sapporo), Atsushi Takenouchi (from original group Hoppo-Butoh-Ha, Otaru), and Cafe Reason (Oxford);
Bodyweather teachings of Stuart Lynch (trained with Min Tanaka, founder of Bodyweather) and Oguri (trained with Tatsumi Hijikata and Min Tanaka);
Other influences include the Chinese Qi Gong form The Eight Brocades, Acupressure massage, and the teachings of the Tao Te Ching and Buddha;
She is a Free Improvisation dancer and performance artist as "Kyokaruna", with movement based on 17 years of training in different styles, spanning Contemporary (Cunningham and Graham techniques) African (Ghana, Nigeria), Samba, Jazz, HipHop, Jazz Funk, Tap and Ballet.
Experience and qualifications- CRB checked 2009-2010; trained in Disability Equality at SHAPE; founder of London Butoh Asylum in 2009; workshop leader for the elderly at Islington Chinese Association in "Early Bird Movement and Body Repair" and Health Qigong Eight Brocades since 2009; personal assistant to blind filmmaker since 2009; performed in Grenoble(France), London, Oxford and Brighton; BFA Fine Art from Ruskin School of Fine Art and Drawing, Oxford University specialising in Performance, 2008; born 1987 in Hong Kong.
Fantastic.
DO you have an email I can contact you on.
I am an electronic musician, I run a few independent labels and perform live internationally.
I have really become enamoured by the Butoh asthetic and have been looking for some performers in London to converse with about the possibility of some kind of live Butoh dance/music improvisational performance.
I`d like to talk.
Steve
my email should you be interested is voidloss AT londontechno.co.uk
you can see an edit of imre thorman butoh performances we put together for a label promotion here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWE9BrGSXLo
Posted by: Voidloss | 10/04/2010 at 12:14 AM