Press release from Asheville Butoh Collective:
Noguchi Taiso (Water Body Movement) with Mari Osanai
What: 4-Day Intensive Workshop in Noguchi Taiso (Water Body Movement)
Who: Mari Osanai – Master Teacher
Dates: Thursday thru Sunday, March 8-11, 2018
Times: Th/Fr: 6-9PM, Sa/Su: 1-6PM
Where: New Studio of Dance, 20 Commerce Street, Asheville, NC
Cost: Thursday and Friday $40 each (After Feb 15th $45/each day) / Saturday and Sunday $80 each (After Feb 15th $85/each day) / Full Workshop $225 (After Feb 15th – $240)
Tickets: mari-osanai-asheville.brownpapertickets.comNoguchi Taiso physical training technique was founded in Japan by Michizo Noguchi. This introductory workshop will help you find new ways to improve your movement efficiency, while letting go of unnecessary tensions. Mari explains “it’s not about strength or resistance, or forcing the body to move in a certain way. Instead, it allows the body to melt. It is tender and flexible, and lets us give in to gravity rather than fight it. Noguchi Taiso allows us to find a more natural way to move.
A quote by founder Michizo Noguchi:
“I define Noguchi Taiso as a creation of one’s new self as nature within us. Noguchi Taiso draws from a natural force that exists in our body and that is expressed through and with the natural materials that our bodies are made of. Taiso = Gymnastics is a way of exploring HUMANITY. My whole being is laboratory (atelier), research material (canvas) and scholar (artist).”Dancer, choreographer, teacher Mari Osanai has performed and taught in Japan, Canada, USA, Greece and Germany. Her workshops focus on Noguchi Taiso combined with the influences of her early training in Tai Chi, western dance methods, traditional folk dance in Aomori, Japan (her birthplace), and the connection between one’s thoughts and sensation of weight. Osanai’s approach to movement research and exploration begins with a heightened awareness of gravity’s influence on the body and the body’s connection with the center of the earth.
Exercises in the workshop train the body to embrace its weight and heighten its sensitivity to move from its most relaxed and receptive state. Starting with images, such as washing the body with water, air, sunlight, workshop participants will discover the body’s vital energies rooted in its inherent hydrodynamics. Movement and form result as participants ingest imagery inside their bodies and allow the changes to shift the body’s interior.
Noguchi Taiso training can benefit dancers, actors, somatics practitioners, anyone interested in expanding body awareness and capacity. Workshops are designed for all levels and complete beginners are welcome.
Aspects of Butoh Practice
Dates: Monday Evenings beginning February 5, 2018
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Where: 7 Chicken Alley, Asheville, NC 28801
Cost: $15-20 per class (sliding scale)
Questions: jbgbutoh@gmail.com
More info: ashevillebutoh.com
Aspects of Butoh is an ongoing open-level practice class taught by Julie Gillum. You will have the opportunity to explore butoh with a committed performer and teacher of the form. The class is held EVERY MONDAY through May, except for national holidays.
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