Butoh UK
We organise workshops taught by acclaimed practitioners. We also teach landscape residential in Wales. See updates here.
forthcoming performances or events
Weekly Butoh Classes take place in London and will resume in 2022.
About
the teachers
We invite only the very best and most experienced Butoh Teachers. These have included Atsushi Takenouchi, Yumiko Yoshioka, Ko Murobushi and Masaki Iwana (both now sadly departed this earth), and many others. Our weekly evening classes are taught by Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, Nick Parkin, Yuka Negoro, Yumino Seki and others.
Testimonials
I took my first Butoh classes with Marie-Gabrielle Rotie a decade ago while studying at London College of Fashion on the costume design for performance course.
With no background in dancing, I have discovered new ways in making connections, mental and physical, within my own being. It has been a long and interesting journey which helps me to this day to explore myself in movement and stillness.
Technical skills taught by Marie-Gabrielle to the beautiful sounds, often played live, by Nick Parkin, gave me creative tools to use in improvisations.
Butoh classes became a the central driving force of my creative journey, which lead me to become a performer. I enjoy the exploration of extreme and grotesque as well as something innately natural within my own body.
One of the greatest awards of joining the Butoh classes was meeting likeminded people who often become your friends, artistic collaborators and close acquaintances for life.
Yuliya Krylova
costume designer
creatress
I’d like to start by saying that Butoh UK classes and workshops are not about technique, and this comes down to the fact that Butoh is not a technique in itself. My longterm participation in this group has confirmed to me so. Every session puts in evidence the power that Butoh has in turning the body into a physical mean to explore, not so much movement per se, but the fundamental driving forces that lead us to move, our impulses. In this respect, and in my personal experience, I have found Butoh to act for me as a point of convergence between Philosophy and Physical Movement. Regardless of your physical training or artistic backrground, Butoh UK classes will encourage, and allow you to challenge your habits of movement to unfold some new forms that might even surprise you for feeling more truthful. Needless to say that the extensive expertise of Marie-Gabrielle Rotie and her teaching associates is a key factor in creating the perfect environment for every participant to feel like they’ve embarked on a journey of discoveries.