No previous experience in dance or movement practice is required. This course is open to and welcomes all students who are interested in liberating their bodies from socially pre-conditioned selves, and investigating the physical embodiment of transformation. By studying some principles, cultural contexts and practices of butoh, which originated in Japan as a contemporary avant-garde dance form, we aim to break pre-fixed images of our bodies and selves, and search for alternate and original ways of being and moving.
Students will also be working with guest artist, Kota Yamazaki, throughout the course.
Learning Outcomes:
-Be able to apply principles of butoh to your own practice and vision while understanding its culturally specific elements
-Cultivate a new approach and active relationship to a body
-Be able to tackle philosophical questions through somatic experience
-Expand your perspective on the potentiality of performing arts
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Corequisites: Dance or Drama lab assignment if students sign up for 4 or more credits in dance.
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 2
M/Th 10:00AM - 11:50AM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Course Frequency: Once a year
Categories: 2000 , All courses , Dance , Drama , Fully In-Person , Two Credit , Updates
Tags: butoh , Japanese culture , kota yamazaki , movement technique , somatic practice , Zen and Buddhism philosophy