Name: Butoh Dance Class
Start: 2025-12-13T15:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-12-13T18:00:00+00:00
Location: Merchant City Yoga

This is my last Butoh class offering of the year, open to newcomers and regulars, with no experience necessary other than that of living in a body and being curious about it.
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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Butoh is an immersive dance form originating in Japan, dubbed the ‘dance of darkness’ and also a 'dance of the womb'. We use gravity and fluid-awareness exercises to dissolve tension and surreal imagery to awaken the Imagination-body, unlocking dancing which is less an ego-expression than the experience of being danced.
Moving-meditation exercises aim to increase our physical honesty and ability to listen to body energies. Then through improvisation we experience how surrendering to images frees our bodies and enables new experiences of our own being.
No prior experience is needed. These workshops are suitable for anyone interested in expanding their notion of what a human body can be, whether or not you consider yourself a dancer. Merchant City Yoga unfortunately has no elevator, but is otherwise a pretty accessible venue, and if you have any questions or anxieties around access needs please email me to discuss.
Paul Michael Henry has studied Butoh dance with renowned teachers including Yoshito Ohno, Yukio Waguri, Kayo Mikami, Seisaku & Yuri, Tadashi Endo, Yumiko Yoshioka, Imre Thormann, Yuko Kaseki, Masaki Iwana and Gyohei Zaitsu. Michael has been teaching and performing internationally for the last fifteen years. These workshops are their synthesis of these experiences and their own private research.