The body cannot just be the body of biology, a body of organs. This body dreams; it is traversed by memories – voluntary, and involuntary. When walking, the body is always on the verge of falling. Are we moving, or are we moved? There seems to be a close correspondence between power and the power to be affected. The body’s power to act corresponds to sensitivity to other bodies. We will explore these themes through butoh practice, dreamwork and  zen meditation.

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The ‘body without organs’ refers to the writing of Antonin Artaud who was a great inspiration to the founder of Butoh Tatsumi Hijikata, and in turn the term is taken up by philosophers Deleuze and Guattari. Butoh asks that we work with both the material and immaterial body, and encourages an open and sensitised relation to space, body and time.

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this workshop is suitable for beginners and also anyone who is interested in the intersections of butoh, movement, philosophy, Zen and dreamwork.  

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Marie-Gabrielle Rotie encountered Butoh in 1993, and this has informed her 35-year career as a performer, choreographer and movement coach. Her work spans her own company work, funded by Arts Council of England, touring nationally and internationally. More recently she has been working as a movement choreographer for film, notably ‘The Northman’ and ‘Nosferatu’ for Director Robert Eggers. She is senior lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths University of London. She is producer for www.butohuk.com

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Manu Bazzano is an author, psychotherapist, internationally recognized lecturer and facilitator with a PhD in Philosophy. He was an ordained Zen Buddhist priest and is a Dharma holder within the White Plum Asanga founded by Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He’s been practicing Butoh since the late 1990s mainly under with Marie-Gabrielle Rotie and started performing in 2019. His forthcoming book is Difference and Multiplicity: Adventures in Philosophy and Psychotherapy.

www.manubazzano.com​​​