As the U.S. continues its war :
muzak & soundbites tells us to sleep...
to ignore earths' cries for help...
We must resist
using our hearts & bodies to stop this madness of empire.
Join us in movement to end the occupation and for future peace...
Corpus Delicti, butoh performance lab, invites you to our weekly workshop of butoh movement & awareness.
We meet on Saturdays from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. It's FREE and open to all.
Bronson Canyon Park in Hollywood (see directions below)
Our workshop introduces butoh through a series of breath & movement exercises. We focus the class on discovering and nurturing an ancient energy within oneself that connects to a larger group dynamic. The first 15 minutes will be stretching, moving into
If you have witnessed Corpus Delicti performances at Anti-War rallies or in a theater/gallery space, you may have come into contact with the power of this expression. Please visit our website for more information at
http://www.corpusbutoh.org Contact us to rsvp for the workshop at
corpusdance@interactivejungle.com In Love and Resistance,
Carla & Joe
co-directors
Corpus Delicti
We transform the spirit of resistance to Butoh dance/theater as it brings forth the "body of evidence" for crimes against the peoples of the earth.
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WORKSHOP DETAILS
Every Saturday from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Bronson Canyon Park in Hollywood
directions: Canyon Drive is located North of Franklin Ave, between Bronson & Van Ness
101 Northbound exit Gower, head north to Franklin, make right on Franklin
101 Southbound exit Vine, head north to Franklin, make right on Franklin
Please Bring Loose Clothing, Enough Water and an Open Mind...
Yahoo Map for directions (copy & paste complete url)
http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&ed=cHi0.up_0TpaC46KcJP3pI_afjMvSHDht5FtVDunrDnoGmtQRXuKKoXULq2kRxVQVL83oprhtz6qBGl6G0cPmo99.qw1KORw3gZ3HH2lrbYs4APvDKlvyQ--&csz=Los+Angeles,+CA+90029&country=us&cs=5&name=&desc=&poititle=&poi=&uz=90029&ds=n&BFKey=&BFCat=&BFClient=&mag=9&off=e
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BUTOH and PROTEST
We will use the avant garde dance form of Butoh to express our common intent. Butoh was created as a latent response to post-war anxiety and reconstruction in Japan during the late 1950's, an anxiety that peaked in 1959 when the U.S. Japan Mutual Defense Treaty (which allowed Americans to maintain military bases in Japan) was renewed despite intense protest.
"Our view was that imperialism, the Vietnam War, and other distortions and atrocities of our century had resulted from the pervasive and dehumanizing power of modernity.
Modernity had to be transcended in order to effectively address the political issues of our time. Powerless to directly influence the course of events – to block renewal of the Security Treaty or end the war in Vietnam, for instance – the best alternative was to create
a politically effective kind of theatre capable of transcending the modern."
David Goodman, creator of the avant-garde theatre magazine
Concerned Theatre Japan
Butoh's main founder, Tatsumi Hijikata (1928 –1986) transformed this discontentment into an artistic form that addressed intense alienation and personal liberation while subverting both Japanese and Western dance traditions. By allowing the subconscious to speak through the body, the "dance of darkness" became a way of re-connecting to nature and its cycles in the midst of the frenetic speed of modernization. Butoh's aesthetic evokes a primal, mythological presence - conjuring a story that incorporates both ancient & contemporary
sensibilities. The effect is often a poetic assault of the senses as well as soothing awareness which comes from shedding off layers of conditioning.
"The reason that we suffer from anxiety is that we are unable to live with our fears. Anxiety is something created by adults. The dancer, through the butoh spirit, confronts the origins of his fears; a dance which crawls towards the bowels of the earth."
Hijikata Tatsumi (quoted in Viala and Masson-Sekine)
The confrontational, yet poetic and non-violent, nature of the form loans itself to issues of injustice and oppression. As our work in street performances, theatre, and installations attest, the result can be a powerful experience for the viewer.