Intensive Butoh Training in Japan

Firstly - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to all my Boosted donors for giving me some financial support so I can have an intensive Butoh (avant-garde dance-theatre style) initiation down on Yakushima Island with Sensei Mushimaru Fujieda. It’s been 11 days, and I’m already at 30%, which has filled me with so much gratitude and made me feel like my dream is that little bit closer. Arriving in Tokyo brought back so many memories from my trip to Japan in ‘23. The thing I’m most aware of when disembarking are the smells. Japan has this distinct, smoky smell that weirdly feels like home. I travelled to Osaka straight away for my first day at residency #1 at FUTRWORKS in Umeda/Osaka. This is basically a digital nomadic residency / co-working space run by the loveliest group of people, including some escapees of the Oceanic variety who’ve been in Japan for 17+ years, and I can see why.

I taught pilates to our nomad group in Umekita Park / うめきた公園で! It’s been really special getting to share fitness with digital nomads, and it's something I’ll be focusing on more while I journey. Then - work for the day.

I’d been invited to a dance class with a Butoh practitioner and street dancer through another dancer I’d contacted. Aryuu-San & Sensei Nas Wataru were so welcoming. We worked with very simple explorations of using hands and giving them a gentle massage. Sensei Nas’ philosophy is about treating everything with kindness and trying to transmute non-sustainable energies into something more regulated. Sensei-Nas has a background in street dance, Butoh, and contemporary dance but has started to move away from rigid technical practice and focus more on using dance as a means of healing, expression, and community-building. I gained so much value and learning from his class, and after the hecticness of travelling, it was nice to be in a dance studio moving the (very sore) bod. There were so many other exercises that I simply can’t explain in words. To conclude, the three of us did and improvisation jam. I’m looking forward to getting deeper into practice in May down on Yakushima.

Post class, the 3 of us got some kai (Izakaya) and talked all things philosophy - from folk dance practices and rituals to appropriation of Butoh (I’m trying to be sooooo careful not to do this) to our shared interests in dance. Post-lunch (it was a 4 hour lunch), Aryuu-San and I made our way to Osaka-Ko (the docks in Osaka near the Aquarium) to film a little dance jam in the dusk.

All in all this week has been a super rich, adventure-fuelled time. I don’t know when sleep will happen, but so far, I’ve been loving every moment despite missing the wonderful support network I have in Aotearoa. Japan truly feels like a home I’ve not had.

Here's a wee improv jam from Sunday just gone:

https://youtu.be/5XtT4_n7mUw?feature=shared