Intensive Performance Butoh workshop with Vangeline in New York
August 11-15,, 2025, Monday through Friday
Location:s
August 11
Vangeline Theater studios 11am -5pm
August 12, 13, 14 and 15
at 115 Wooster Street dance studio 2nd floor in Soho
F to Broadway-Lafayette
N/R to Prince Street
Work in Progress Performance Opportunity Friday
Bring a work-in-progress idea and develop your piece with coaching from critically acclaimed butoh dancer and choreographer Vangeline!
Schedule:
11-12:45pm Technique class and warm up
1-2pm lunch break
2-5pm performance coaching on each participant’s piece
Friday; work in progress showing for those interested
Fee:
$350
Vangeline is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in Japanese butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the twenty-first century.
With her all-female dance company, Vangeline’s socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism. Vangeline is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival, which elevates the visibility of women in butoh, and the festival Queer Butoh. She pioneered the award-winning, 15-year running program The Dream a Dream Project, which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State. Her choreographed work has been performed in Chile, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Vangeline is the winner of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award. She is also a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere (a work that began as an artistic commission from Surface Area Dance Theatre with support from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and the Heritage Lottery Fund UK); the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award as well as the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. Her work as an educator, choreographer and curator has been supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, Japan Foundation, New York Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York Council on the Arts, Robert Friedman Foundation, and Asian American Arts Alliance.
Vangeline’s work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”) and Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) to name a few.
Widely regarded as an expert in her field, Vangeline has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania, 'The Letter" (2012-Lionsgate).
In recent years, she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book: Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which explores the intersection of butoh and neuroscience. Her work is the subject of CNN’s “Great Big Story” "Learning to Dance with your Demons.” She is also featured on BBC’s podcast Deeply Human with host Dessa (episode 2 of 12 : Why We Dance).
CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT PAST PARTICIPANTS HAVE TO SAY? LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
“In August 2024 I took Vangeline’s 5-day Butoh Devising Intensive. It was such wonderful container to begin devising a performance piece. I really enjoyed how much freedom Vangeline gave us to create with our own impulses. She also shared with us about her process, which was illuminating, and such a treat to get a glimpse into her world as an artist. I especially enjoyed devising in the same room with other performers. It was fun to have the week end with each person sharing their work in progress. I highly recommend this intensivever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
“The butoh performance intensive workshop with Vangeline was a life-changing experience and very helpful in my journey as an artist. Vangeline created a safe and nurturing environment for students to explore their ideas. From creative brainstorming, to structuring our ideas, to choreography, to practical tips on how to share our work with the world, Vangeline guided us through each step of the process. It was such a pleasure to spend five days immersed in the creative process, and incredibly rewarding to finish the workshop with a first draft of my piece!
I highly recommend this workshop to anyone who wants to deepen their butoh practice and take it to the next level by creating their own performance piece.
”
“Vangelines’ [create your own butoh piece] workshop is a truly supportive and transformational container for people eager to connect with and expand their artistry. Vangeline guides participants through the entire process of creating a butoh piece from conception to presentation while weaving some foundational butoh practices and providing a steady stream of support and feedback. The workshop has inspired me to continue and deepen my butoh practice and has helped me in reorganizing myself, both internally and externally. It is an artistic and spiritual training ground where you will receive tools and guidance to navigate the realms of butoh, performance art, and the world at large.”