Professional-Inspiration Workshop Series vol.3 “A Point of Transformation – Butoh research workshop with a somatic approach”

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舞踏　Butoh is a form of Japanese avant-garde dance. Butoh emerged from the post war chaos in Japan in the late 50s when the country grappled with a clash between new Western technology and traditional Japanese values. Butoh was called ‘the dance of darkness’. Influenced by German Expressionism, self-identity was radically explored with culturally diverse concepts through bodily expression.

Shifting attention from ‘action’ to ‘active listening’ this 4 day research workshop will make an inquiry into the transformative nature of the temporal body. We will explore unique individual expression through guided improvisations using imagery, experiential anatomy drawn from somatic practice and a Butoh’s perspective such as ma (in between), wabi (simplicity/humbleness), sabi (process of decay) and the shadowy self.

Somatic is the study of a ‘person’ as a functional living body. Integrating the body, mind and emotion whilst using movement as the main exploratory tool. The somatic practice help widen perceptions to elicit complex visceral expression.

The workshop combines studio and outdoor work. Submerging in the landscape we will explore its rhythm, pace and terrain of the rural surroundings of Tavira, Portugal.

Studio time focuses on body awareness drawn from somatic practice whereas outdoor work engages directly with the landscape where the boundaries of life & death become more fluid and the senses are more stimulated. Both are combined to explore Butoh’s perspectives.

Working in groups, pairs and individuals in both dynamic and quiet practice we aim to embody sensation and imagery in dance. Be curious, attentive and playful. Butoh views dance as a living process and pushes the boundaries of what we already know.

Yumino Seki is a UK based Japanese dance artist, Butoh practitioner and qualified somatic movement educator who performs, teaches and makes performances often in collaboration with artists from diverse backgrounds.

She has been interested in authenticity of the temporal body and its complex visceral communication for many years resulting in many pieces, which are site responsive and improvised in nature.

Collaborating with artists from diverse disciplines has given her a broad approach to her dance practice. Her work crosses the boundaries of dance, performance art and installation.

Between 1999-2009 she performed extensively in Europe in Butoh predominantly with Mamu Dance Theatre (Tadashi Endo), TEN PEN CHii (Yumiko Yoshioka) both in Germany and Ariadone (Carlotta Ikeda) in France. In 2012 she qualified in VMI Somatic Practice with Patricia Bardi in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Since 2013 Seki has further developed her Butoh and somatic work and directed cross-discipline, site-specific performances. Her work has been supported by Arts Council England, The Japan Foundation, Cairo, Japan society, Hastings borough council and many more.

She has expanded her collaborative work in theatre, music, film and visual art as live exhibitions including Zadie Xa at The National Gallery, London, 58th Venice Biennale, Art Night London, Dance International Glasgow & Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

“I let my elder sister live in my body. When I am absorbed in creating a dance, she tears off darkness within my body and devours it more than she needs; when she stands up in my body, I sit down automatically; when I fall, she falls….” (Being jealous of dog’s veins)

The workshop looks at Hijikata’s (one of the founders of Ankoku-Butoh) dance body, and how words and images are used by deconstructing the established language structures to let appear the extremely concrete and paradoxical world of this body which senses and always in metamorphosis.

His research of this body can be summarized to the idea of “Suijyaku-tai” (debilitated body).

It is not really a weakened and debilitated body in a normal sense, but it is an awareness of body which is infested by something else.

The workshop consists of experimentation with his text from “Yameru-maihime” (sickened dance princess) and trying exercising with words from Yukio Waguri’s “Butoh-Kaden” (the noted dance score from Hijikata’s rehearsals).

Yuko Kominami Dancer/Choreographer

Born in 1973, Japan. She studied Butoh and dance in Tokyo. After finishing her BA in Japanese history at Waseda University, she did a Professional Diploma in Community Dance Studies and an Independent Study Programme at Laban Centre London from 1998 to 2000. She obtained her MA in Dance Cultures, Histories and Practices from the University of Surrey in 2006. She has been working as an independent dance and performance artist. She has collaborated with other dancers, choreographers, artists, musicians and theatre directors of various landscapes. She has performed her work in prominent festivals such as Festival June Events – Atelier de Paris Carolyn Carlson, Les Repérages Danse à Lille, Festivalul International de Teatru de la Sibiu, Bodyradical in Budapest, Odisha Biennale in India, Venice International Film Festival and so on. She has also worked and performed in countries around the world – including Luxembourg, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Finland, Turkey, U.K. , Japan, China, India and Peru. She currently lives in Portugal.

Her work includes “Ones Voices” (2004) collaboration with Steve Kaspar, “Linnunrata” (2007), “reMEMBRANEce” (2009), “Project O” (2010) collaboration with Rajivan Ayyappan and Emanuela Iacopini, “Mayu” (2011) collaboration with Tomás Tello, “Recollections” (2012) collaboration with Kunihiko Matsuo, “Three Short Stories” (2015) collaboration with Sayoko Onishi, “Dreaming Scarlet Medusa” (2017), “Iwa-kagami”(2018), “Sublimation”(2019) VR project by Karolina Markiewicz and Pascal Piron, “In Ritual” (2021) with Joana von Mayer Trindade.

Her work consists of experiments with movements in-between (movements of becoming) where intensities of individuals intersect. It is a place where extreme existence and inevitable metamorphoses materialize.