Butoh & Embodied Research Workshops
Expanding the legacy of Butoh with classes in London, Berlin and internationally
Classes, Workshops, Events
Join our workshops to explore somatic practices and deepen your understanding of the body in contemporary Butoh art and dance.
Butoh Dance Body Shop
Colet House, London
📍 The Study Society, Colet House, London
Workshop 1: 8 February
📅 11:00 – 18:00 Early Bird (by 28/01) £65 / then £75
Workshop 2: 15 March
📅 10.30 - 17.30 Early Bird (by 25/02): £75 then £85
Includes admission to Ecstatic Dance of Darkness
Workshop 3: 5 July
📅 10.30 - 17.30 Early Bird (by 2/06): £75 then £85
Includes admission to Ecstatic Dance of EcstaticDarkness
Workshop 4: 13 December
📅 10.30 - 17.30 Early Bird (by 25/11): £75 then £85
Residential Retreat in Arctic Sapmí Sweden, 2027
📅 April (dates TBC)
What if we were the end ones?
Sapmì Sweden 2027
Residential Workshop with Dominique Savitri Bonarjee
📍 Moskosel Creative Lab, Norbotten, Sweden
📅 (dates TBC) April, 2027 | residential
What if we were the end ones?
How can we prepare ourselves for the way in which endings transform us? What do we learn when something, someone, a state, a situation, a desire, a dream... ends?
How can we prepare to for that unknown state and self — how can we be reborn, again and again?
In this residential workshop we embark on a pedagogy of recognizing the patterns and expectations that make up the stability we think we know. By learning to physically encounter our fears, and imagine what seems unimaginable, we start to befriend the unknown.
Rooted in Butoh’s exploration of darkness, shadow, and the unconscious, we will dive into the darkness, as a way to face collapse and death — and through it, rediscover our aliveness.
Held in the sub-Arctic, in a place surrounded by forests, lakes, and under the aurora borealis, our gathering becomes a threshold space for ritual, imagination, and renewal.
The workshop unfolds through:
Meditation, warm-ups, and somatic inquiry.
Imaginal work, improvisation, and dance.
Ritual-making through micro-phenomenology, poetry, chant, and embodied research.
Explorations of death and rebirth rituals, mutating traditions in dialogue with the Sapmì landscape.
A final collective sharing and witnessing of our imaginal discoveries.
Participate in an Embodiment Hackathon, deep dive with the Embodied Theory Lab research workshops, and learn about cross-discilinary gatherings that unpack the fascinating intersections of Butoh, embodiment theory, non-linear time, electronics and biofeedback sensors, computational technologies and AI.
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Embodiment Hackathon
One-to-one sessions with Savitri
If you are student with valid ID please contact us for student rates.
London classes takes place in the top studio of Colet House, home to The Study Society — a centre of nondual spiritual practice founded by P.D. Ouspensky, author of The Fourth Way. An evocative setting for this dance of shadows and renewal as the year comes to a close.
Berlin classes take place at Backsteinboot, an art space situated on an island and comprising of art studios, and hosting exhibitions, public workshops, and sound and dance events.
Classes are facilitated by Dominique Savitri Bonarjee (chi/mer). Chi studied with seminal Butoh dancers in Japan over a period of 3 years and is the author of Butoh as Heard by a Dancer (Routledge, 2024). Her practice of “mutation” unfolds Butoh beyond its postwar origins, entwining eco-somatic approaches with ancient wisdom traditions to open pathways of communion with the nonhuman, energy and the elemental.
No prior dance experience is required — all levels are welcome.
We offer tailored one-to-one sessions in embodied inquiry, somatic healing, and energy work, drawing on Butoh dance, Indian ritual research, and the Tai Chi Chuan energy practices.
Sessions can be held online or in-person.
They can support:
Artists, dancers, and performers seeking mentoring and guidance in developing their practice.
Individuals wishing to reconnect with the body as a source of healing, imagination, and transformation.
Anyone curious about exploring movement as a path toward self-knowledge, creativity, and renewal.
Sessions are flexible and shaped around your needs. Group sessions can also be arranged at a reduced rate.
Rates start from £45/hour (with flexibility for artistic projects).
Please contact me directly with your inquiry and to discuss what feels right for you.
Please send an email for questions and bookings.
Weekly Group Practice
Energy Ecology and Wu-Wei through Wudang Tai Chi Chaun
Creative eco-somatics weekly group combining elements of Taoist martial arts, Tai Chi and Qi Gong. We will practice the traditional forms and in the last half hour, expand upon the them to improvise with our own ecopoetic imaginaries, as a way to practice embodied resonance and harmony. More info >>
Online, Wednesdays 11.00am -12.00 pm UK time
£ 10 / class (when booked as a set of 4) £ 12.50 drop-in.
Register to join the class.
Ecstatic Dark Dance
“They should instead drop a ladder deep into their own bodies and climb down it. Let them pluck the darkness from within their own bodies and eat it.” — Tatsumi Hijikata
Open Level Class with Dominique Savitri Bonarjee
📍 Colet House, London
📅 8 December
Ecstatic Dance of Darkness is a new Butoh Mutations collective dance and free-movement jam, introduced this year as part of the London series of classes.
The session offers an open-form, non-judgemental dance space. It is a place for Butoh Mutations participants to improvise and deepen their practice, and also an invitation for those who are simply curious — including people with no prior experience of Butoh or dance — to dip into what Butoh founder, Tatsumi Hijikata, called the dance of darkness.
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