Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute

presents

AFRO-BUTOH WORKSHOP

WITH

TEBBY W.T. RAMASIKE

New York Butoh Institute Festival 2020

October 25, 2020, 1-4 pm EST

via Zoom

$30

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AFRO-BUTOH WORKSHOP WITH

TEBBY W.T. RAMASIKE

Afro-Butoh is a concept that describes and relates to the work of Tebby W.T. Ramasike, a South African choreographer, dancer, and butoh practitioner. Butoh is an expressive contemporary dance/performance art created by Tatsumi Hijikata in Japan in the 1950-1960s, known for its unconventional nature it addresses to the entire body. African dance strives to provide a great reconciliation of the mind and body, thought and instinct, by freeing the gestures and letting go in the rhythm. The spiritual journey of Butoh and African dance–Afro-Butoh, is a process that leads us to search deep in ourselves, within our being, to discover and explore our latent qualities in the development of our personality–physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually.

Methodology & Focus:
The working method will be based on the concept of the Afro-Butoh, in which we will be working with the principles and elements of Butoh and African ritual dances, not in their traditional and ethnic form, but looking into their spirituality, how their parallels and similarities differ and influence each other. We will be focusing on life's elements, the bodily senses and natures energy, leading us to a transformation of the body and energy, a shift in the mental and physical state, where the soul becomes a life embedded in the imagery of different forms and movement becomes a different language, with the skin breathing into its passageways as the spiritual journey unfolds. We will work with improvisation and set movement structures following various themes and/or tasks.

We will begin the workshop with a blessing ceremonial circle appealing to the spirits below and above, subsequently inviting and waking up the body from the inside to the outside, working with internal energy flow, breathing pattern, the flow of easy breathing, vocality to open the internal passages, connecting with the soul, the heartbeat, the mind, the body, the ground, space, time, drumbeat, music and the sound of silence.

Tebby W.T. RAMASIKE, a South African choreographer, dancer, teacher/educator, researcher in
dance, butoh practitioner, and cultural activist, arrived in Europe in 1995 after working with
different theatre and dance companies in South Africa and abroad. He traveled extensively during a period of research and collaboration. Worked with internationally acclaimed choreographers and teachers. He was nominated and won a number of prestigious choreography and dance awards. In 1999 he founded TeBogO Dance Ensemble (TBO), renamed TeBogO Dance – TBO, which since its
inauguration has been invited to perform and teach in Europe and abroad. A holder of an MA
degree in Choreography from the Dance Unlimited Programme in Arnhem, Netherlands, was the
first recipient of the international choreography bursary from the Michel Tesson Performing Arts
Trust and subsequently the Creative Arts Foundation. In 2002 he became a member of World Dance
Alliance Europe and currently, he is a member of UNESCO's International Dance Council (CID).
Co-authored an article on 'Reverie' for a chapter 'Collaboration' in the book, 'Inventing Futures'.
Currently, he is working on an interactive multidisciplinary crossover collaborative project and
continues research on his concept of Afro-Buto.