Over the past decades, Butoh has profoundly influenced contemporary dance, performance art, somatic practices, improvisation, and interdisciplinary creation. Its greatest contribution is not a recognizable visual language, but a radical shift in how we understand the body: not as an instrument to control or perfect, but as a living, sensing, transforming presence. My own research, developed through more than twenty years of artistic practice, direct apprenticeship with Yoshito Ohno, and the ongoing development of Poetry in Motion, approaches Butoh as a living methodology of embodiment. Rather than transmitting a style, I am interested in cultivating perception, imagination, sensitivity, and the body's innate capacity for transformation. When we look at a Japanese garden in Kyoto, we are often struck by its simplicity. There are very few elements. The space appears almost empty and still. Yet if we truly observe, listen, and contemplate, we begin to perceive an extraordinary vitality. Within that apparent emptiness lives an infinite richness. Likewise, when we turn our attention inward with care and precision, we discover our own inner landscape: forests, rivers, animals, memories, sensations, sounds, colours, and countless possibilities waiting to be embodied. This workshop invites participants to transform lived experience into poetic expression, allowing the body to become not simply a body that dances, but a body inhabited by presence. Not a thousand movements. One movement that truly comes from within. xxxx next line Inner Content In the Japanese language, there are several words for “body,” each carrying different philosophical meanings. Some common terms are: Shintai / 身体 the concrete, living body Nikutai / 肉体 the flesh body Bodi / ボディ the body understood through a more Western or European perspective Karada / からだ a more fluid word, moving between the physical body and the lived body Yoshito Ohno often preferred the word Karada, but he wrote it in his own way: 空体 / Karada Kara / 空 — emptiness Da / 体 — body, form, existence This points toward the idea of an empty, available body — not empty as absence, but empty as openness. A body that can receive, transform, and become. For me, this is one of the deepest teachings of Butoh: the body is not a fixed identity, but a place of incarnation, transformation, and poetic possibility. Intention of the Workshop The intention of this workshop is not to teach “Butoh style,” but to invite participants into a deeper relationship with body, mind, space, imagination, and presence. Through precise physical practice, breath, perception, imagery, improvisation, and composition, we cultivate a body that can listen, receive, transform, and respond. From this place, dance becomes more than movement. It becomes a way of inhabiting life. Objectives Open and sharpen the perception of body, mind, and space Develop inner connection within the physical and energetic structure of the body Discover the relationship between body, imagination, emotion, and presence Explore different movement qualities, textures, rhythms, and states Deepen the relationship between body, space, nature, objects, people, and environment Cultivate sensitivity, generosity, delicacy, and attention toward oneself and others Develop movement that arises from within rather than from imitation Explore stillness, transformation, and poetic expression through the body Cherish life through movement, gesture, presence, and dance Who Is It For? This workshop is open to beginners as well as professional artists. It is addressed to dancers, performers, choreographers, directors, actors, musicians, composers, writers, visual artists, pedagogues, somatic practitioners, and anyone interested in deepening the relationship between the physical body and a subtler body of perception, imagination, and presence. No previous experience in Butoh is required. General Program Theoretical Research History and origins of Butoh Etymology and philosophical foundations Butoh as embodiment, not style Body definitions in Japanese culture The concepts of Karada, emptiness, transformation, and incarnation Conversations between Butoh and contemporary dance Rituality in Butoh and contemporary performing arts Misunderstandings between “Butoh” and “Butoh style” Practical Methodology 1. The Beauty of Blank Space 余白の美 — Toward a neutral body-mind Warm-up and preparation Alignment Breathing Yoga asana Body scanning Gross body / subtle body Opening the body part by part Space expansion and air capturing Radial body and radial space Sense of touch Small, big, height, depth Centripetal and centrifugal movement Opening the perception of time Time-shaping tools 2. Kihon / Basics Standing / 立つ / tatsu Walking / 歩く / aruku Twisting / 絞る / shiboru Standing and sinking Falling and re-standing Inner anatomical connections Subtle energetic connections Jointing Creation of body parts: eyes, feet, pelvis, hands Deconstruction and recreation 3. Metamorphosis Entering the experiential journey of Butoh Working with physical materials Exploring textures, colours, weight, breath, and density Embodying images, paintings, video art, and natural elements Embodying sound, smell, taste, and memory Moving between physical and metaphysical levels of experience Transformation of body, imagination, and presence 4. Creative Process / Improvisation / Performance Creation Movement vocabulary Building solo and group performance material Scores and inner dramaturgy Improvisation and structured improvisation Relationship with music Relationship with objects Relationship with costume Drawing the light Appearing and disappearing in space Solo, duet, and group composition Final performance or presentation XXXX leave space and next next line XXXXXXX This work is an invitation to encounter Butoh not as a style to reproduce, but as a living path of embodiment — a practice through which the body becomes available to presence, transformation, and poetic life.