Dates: 13th-14th December 2025
Time: 10h-18h (including lunch break)
Venue: EDEN***** studio 150.2, Breite Strasse 43, 13187 Berlin
Fee: 200€ Contact&booking: bookforbutoh@gmail.com
THE GROUNDING
When another tells you: ‘You need to be more grounded!’ What do you do? How is it possible to use ourselves in a different way and change our relationship to the earth? And what new ways of moving can grow when we start from our connection to the floor? Dancing from our roots. In this co-facilitated workshop Natsuko Kono (JP/DE) & WilL Dickie (UK) will draw on over 25 years shared experience in performer training practices. After meeting to dance Butoh in London 2006, their careers as artists have grown from their commitment to creating performances grounded by deep body work. Over a long weekend you will be guided through training exercises from both Butoh and the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. We will start by building your capacity to sense the floor and your centre, and extend into working with music, improvisation and imagery. Natsuko and WilL are excited to keep building on their workshops in 2022 & 2024 where they are developing their own cross over approach to Butoh and Suzuki training. Tatsumi Hijikata and Tadashi Suzuki were very aware of each other’s work. Both drew on classical Japanese approaches to the energetics of the performing body - groundedness, centering, sense of space etc… Both also broke with tradition, using the energy they found in performers and themselves to craft radical contemporary performances. Natsuko and WilL want to go further in supporting performers of all backgrounds to safely access hidden resources within themselves. States of presence that allow them to become powerful, committed and visceral performance makers.
All welcome
The workshop will be given in English.
For details of the practices you will encounter please read our biographies.
BIOGRAPHY
Natsuko Kono is a Butoh Dancer, Dance Teacher and Choreographer Born and grew up in Kobe, Japan Studied Performing Arts, Dance at the Birkbeck University of London. Worked with Butoh Artists Yumiko Yoshioka, Katsura Kan, Tadashi Endo in their dance productions and in an Opera by Doris Dörrie. Performed as a solo artist at Paris Butoh Festival, Dublin Butoh Festival, Moving Bodies Festival, Sommerwerft Frankfurt International Theatre Festival, BIG Butoh International Gathering 2024, TRA2025 and more. Invited for Butoh workshops held in France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, Poland, Serbia, Romania and Japan. Dances Anna Homler’s ‘Breadwoman’ since 2015 and invited for Music Festivals in Europe. Has lived and worked in Berlin/Rügen since 2015 Founded ‘Butoh Initiative’ in 2016 as a long-term training project
natsuko-kono.wixsite.com/urbanbutoh
WilL Dickie is an artist and performance maker based in Liverpool (UK). As a facilitator he has lead artists, learning disabled movers & arts students in his practice internationally. His training includes the Indian Martial Art Kalaripayattu, as taught by Theatre Director Phillip Zarrilli(US/UK). The Nobbs Suzuki Praxis, as taught by John Nobbs and Jacqui Carrol of OzFrank(AUS). And Butoh Dance, as taught by Tadashi Endo(JP/GER). As a director/choreographer his recent works include THE SECRET GARDEN (2024, Regents Park Open Air Theatre London), CLUBHOUSE DUSK (2023, Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts) and ECHO IN THE DARK (2022 by Hanna Tuulikki, Hospitalfields Scotland), and his own work B4 HISTORY WE DANCED (2017/2019). His one man show WHITE SUN toured the UK in 2022/3. Previous touring performance works include THE RAVE SPACE (2019), TEAM OF THE DECADES (2017) & MEMORIES OF SUBURBIA (2015). His dance film CANNING TOWN(2020), created with Fabiola Santana, has toured internationally, winning awards for best film in Romania, Scotland and Portugal.
For more info and videos visit:willdickie.co.uk WilL also DJs, as Always WilL. To
hear his mixes head to his mixcloud > https:// www.mixcloud.com/AlwaysWill/