This improvisation class will explore Butoh dance through imagery, presence, awareness and the tension between opposites. Butoh (‘dance of transformation’) is an avant-garde dance philosophy/method created in Japan in the late 1950s.
No prior experience in Butoh or improvisation is necessary and the class will be open to all abilities.
Through guided improvisations, we will explore themes from nature, working with stillness, sense of presence, and ‘being’, rather than ‘doing’, discovering a natural rhythm, quality of breath, and awareness to all that is around, and that which we hold inside. What is to to be and to be moved?
We will work with a quality of ‘active listening’ exploring the body’s vital visceral expression through Butoh’s diverse ways of seeing/feeling/sensing. Butoh sees dance as a living process, exploring the boundaries of what we already know, a form of, what I call the ‘Knowingness of the Unknown’.
I wish to share a deep and tender way of working with one’s imagination & inhabiting the body, noticing connections from inside, to the space around, with a quality of connection to gravity and embodied presence.
Waitlist
Because there are often last minute changes, we find it better to not a run a waiting list for Monday Night Improvisation. If you would like to come on the night, there are often a couple of places available on the door.
Cancellations & refunds
Prices for classes are kept very low and are subsidized by ID in order to support artists to attend. To keep admin manageable for our small team, we don’t offer refunds if you cancel or can’t attend a class, and we can’t transfer your booking to a different class/event. We hope this is understandable. If a class is cancelled or changed by ID however, we do offer refunds/transfers to everyone who has booked.
Mim King is an Artist/Choreographer/Dancer/Live Artist/Performer/Movement Director born in London, living in Brighton, working internationally. Her professional performance career started in 1984. Moving from circus to visual theatre through to dance, and to live art and film, her most significant training was with Anton Adasinsky & his performance company DEREVO at their former studio in Leningrad, Russia in 1990. Miriam’s work is also influenced by Butoh dance and her main teacher in this form was Masaki Iwana.
Mim has been creating her own unique performances since 1992, taking her to dance and live art festivals and residences around the world. She has researched, lectured and presented work in France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Finland, USA, South Korea, China, New Zealand and Australia. Her award-winning dance film work has been shown at Lincoln Centre/ New York, Pompidou Centre/Paris, ICA/London, the Venice Biennale and at the Sydney Opera House. She has a continuing performance relationship with Gallery Kruh, Kostelec nad cernymi Lesy, nr Prague, Czech Republic which commenced in 1992 and an ongoing performance relationship with SoToDo Gallery, Berlin & the Congress of Visual and Performance Art.
Mim a founder member of BUTOH Brighton and a visiting lecturer teaching Performance and Choreography. Currently head of Movement at Academy of Creative Training, Brighton, and runs classes regularly at The Cockpit Theatre, London.