<art of Carleton College’s Visualizing Japanese Theater, an interdisciplinary celebration of Japanese traditions in visual art, drama and dance, there will be a Subbody Butoh dance workshop and performance led by Kats D. Fukasawa at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 5 in the Carleton Art Gallery.
Students enrolled in dance professor Judith Howard’s winter course will collaborate with Fukasawa to perform “The End of Days: An Experimental Butoh Performance.” The dance performance emphasizes the subconscious body, or Subbody, to convey movements free from ego and daily preoccupations. Audience participation is required in this free, public workshop.
Subbody Butoh Method was developed by Rhizome Lee, a Japanese Butoh practitioner, and emphasizes exploration of the subconscious realm in the production of dance. The workshop is a group process that requires individuals to listen to their innermost bodily signals that might otherwise be ignored in daily life. Attention to these subtle body signals supposedly gives rise to novel movements by establishing communication between oneself and the environment.
Fukasawa has studied this dance method under Rhizome Lee for the last six years, and spent six months at Subbody Butoh School Himalaya in Dharamsala, India in 2007, and three months there in 2008. He has studied with other Butoh masters, such as Katsura Kan, Akira Kasai, and Kim Itoh. In addition to his studies, Fukasawa also performs and teaches Subbody Butoh regularly in Minneapolis and abroad, and is a practitioner of Shiatsu and Qigong.
The Art Gallery is located on the lower level of the Music and Drama Center on the Carleton College campus, on the corner of First and Winona Streets in Northfield, Minnesota. For more information on the workshop and performance, please contact assistant professor of dance Judith Howard at (507) 222-4486.