Performance Butoh Workshop
With Vangeline
Receptivity | Noguchi Taiso | Nervous System
Join us for a supportive Butoh workshop with Vangeline with a performance opportunity.
Taught by:
Vangeline – teacher, choreographer, and dancer based in New York, specializing in Japanese Butoh.
• Artistic Director of Vangeline Theater / New York Butoh Institute
• Founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival
About the Workshop:
Vangeline’s Butoh workshops are internationally acclaimed for their unique blend of traditional Butoh with scientific and somatic approaches. This workshop focuses on receptivity, Noguchi Taiso, and the nervous system, with special attention to activating the parasympathetic nervous system — the part responsible for rest, digestion, and relaxation.
Through Butoh and Noguchi Taiso (Noguchi Gymnastics), participants will learn to move with minimal muscular effort and maximum fluidity, cultivating a state of receptivity that allows for deeper physical and emotional release. This work helps down-regulate stress responses, encourages presence and relaxation, and can transform one’s relationship to movement — whether you are a performer seeking to refine your craft or someone exploring embodiment and creative expression.
Open to:
Dancers, actors, performance artists, and non-performers interested in movement, creativity, and somatic exploration.
Dates:
Friday, December 4, 6pm to 8pm
Saturday, December 5, 12 pm to 4pm
Sunday, December 6, 12 pm to 4pm workshop—-Performance 5pm
To participate in the performance, students need to take the full workshop.
Location:
The Dance Hub
Located in Cleveland's historic Twist Drill Building.
4700 Lakeside Ave E, 4th Floor
Cleveland Ohio, 44114
Fees:
3 days: $185
Friday only: $40
Saturday only $80
Sunday $80
Vangeline is a New York–based teacher, choreographer, and dancer specializing in Japanese Butoh. She is the artistic director of Vangeline Theater / New York Butoh Institute and is widely recognized for her rigorous, research-driven approach to Butoh and for expanding the form’s relevance in the 21st century. Her work actively champions diversity and inclusion, creating space for historically underrepresented voices while carrying forward the legacy of Butoh through contemporary research, activism, and performance.
Through her all-female dance company, Vangeline creates socially engaged, innovative choreographic works that unite Butoh with activism. She is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival, dedicated to uplifting women in Butoh, and Queer Butoh, a festival centering LGBTQ+ voices within the form. She is also the visionary behind The Dream a Dream Project, an award-winning program now in its 18th year that brings Butoh into correctional facilities across New York State.
At the heart of Vangeline’s philosophy is the belief that Butoh can serve as a tool for both personal and collective transformation. Her work reflects a deep commitment to integrating the full spectrum of human experience—beauty and darkness alike—while reintegrating voices historically marginalized by society.
Vangeline’s choreography has been presented internationally in Chile, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. She is the recipient of a 2026 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award for her upcoming work Unforgotten: Butoh for 9/11, and a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award for The Slowest Wave, a groundbreaking project exploring the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. Additional honors include a 2022–2023 Gibney Dance in Process Residency, a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Fellowship in Choreography for Elsewhere, the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award, and the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Her work has been widely acclaimed both nationally and internationally, with critics praising its power, precision, and emotional resonance. Reviews have appeared in publications including The New York Times (“captivating”) and The Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”), to name just a few.
Widely regarded as an authority in her field, Vangeline has taught at Princeton University (Princeton Atelier), Cornell University, NYU, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence College, and Duke University. Her work extends into film, including a starring role opposite James Franco and Winona Ryder in Jay Anania’s feature film The Letter (Lionsgate, 2012). She has also been commissioned by 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 examines the relationship between Butoh and neuroscience. She led the first-ever scientific study measuring the effects of Butoh on the brain (The Slowest Wave). Her work has been featured on CNN’s Great Big Story (“Learning to Dance with Your Demons”), the BBC’s Deeply Human podcast with Dessa, and in her own podcast, Butoh Musing with Vangeline.
She was recently awarded a prestigious fellowship at Wadham College, University of Oxford, for the 2026–2027 academic year. She looks forward to performing MAN WOMAN at the Schwarzman Centre, University of Oxford, in September 2025 and premiering her new solo NAIAD METAL at Lincoln Center in August 2026.
Cancellations for all classes must be made one month before the workshop date.
After November 4, 2026, this workshop is non-refundable.
Students who do not attend the class will not receive any form of credit or exchange.
18 years of age minimum.
Any questions? Contact local organizer Genevieve at genevievejencson@gmail.com
Photos of Vangeline teaching in Singapore by Nic Wong.