BUTOH POKHARA
2 MONTHS OF BUTOH | NEPAL | 8 GUIDES
Oct 5 – Nov 27
Spend this autumn immersed in Butoh amidst the Himalayan valley of Pokhara, Nepal, guided by 8 Butoh practitioners through movement, performance, and transformation.
Pokhara (Poh-kuh-rah)
A lakeside Himalayan city in central Nepal known for its mountain reflections, caves, forests, and deep natural stillness, ideal for entering and listening to our body through Butoh.
Vision
Butoh Pokhara is an opportunity for Nepal to emerge as a fertile home for Butoh in the international scene, bringing together diverse guides yet also offering new resources for Nepalese and Indian theatre-makers and experimental body-based artists.
Guides
Rita is a nomadic artist with a background in physical theatre, active in the performing arts since 2008 and practicing Butoh since 2016. Her work researches the invisible between worlds, integrating shadow and light while allowing hidden dreams and unseen realities to move through the body.
Marius is a multidisciplinary artist researching human evolution, embodied awareness, and the healing potential of transformative dance. Rooted in visual art, vipassana meditation, and Japanese Butoh, his practice bridges visual poetry, subconscious exploration, ritual, and somatic disciplines. He first encountered Butoh through the Subbody School in the Indian Himalayas and later continued his studies in Europe, particularly with Atsushi Takenouchi.
Zalina has been immersed in Butoh since 2016, studying mainly under Rhizome Lee (Himalaya Subbody) and Yumiko Yoshioka. Butoh awakened her to the worlds and insight held within the body. That awakening drew her towards healing through movement, and today she works as a Somatic and Movement therapist. Her butoh is driven by the existential and the spiritual. It is where she reaches for glimpses of the sacred, and enters into her own darkness to draw it into light.
insta
Kait is a dance artist trained in Butoh primarily under guides influenced by Kazuo Ohno. She is deeply informed by land-based movement, textual arts, and mythic narratives, exploring the intersection of body, imagination, spirit and landscape.
Dilshan Srt is a Gastronomist who is questioning ingredients of perception & movement from Butoh in Contact Improvisation. His practice flows around identifying movement recipes from spaces in-between, shadow spaces and subconscious states. His dedication to this process over the years has inspired him to create many stories and recipes in movement, which eventually leads to a meal of possibilities.
Alessia is an Italian Butoh dancer, dance therapist, and researcher whose interdisciplinary work bridges movement, psychology, and sensory exploration. Her practice investigates body memory and emotional expression through kinesthetic and proprioceptive training. Photo: Estéban Puzzuoli
Adam is the facilitator for Butoh Pokhara as well as guide. He is a Venezuela-born, USA-raised Butoh artist who has facilitated and guided Butoh in Europe, USA, Türkiye, México, Thailand, and India since 2016. He is associated with Shadowbody, founding the Shadowbody Butoh Manual and most recent project, the Butoh Directory. Throughout the years, he studied under many Butoh guides, but most extensively under Rhizome Lee (Subbody method) and Julie Becton Gillum.
HOSTS
Kedar is a renowned Nepali playwright, actor, and director from Pokhara, Nepal. He is the chairperson of Indreni Theatre and has contributed significantly to Nepali theatre through plays like Ghero, Embryonic, and Dhaniramko Goru. Paudel has represented Nepali art and culture internationally through theatrical performances in several countries.
