Julie’s Journal

butoh poems by bronwyn preece: julie becton gillum’s five-day workshop

Bronwyn Preece took Julie Gillum’s workshop in Merida and used her words in both english and spanish. They will be included in a new publication, The Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance

january 2017

1.

i am
the eyes
beyond
the room :
open
in the
bursting
water
bag of the
cuerpo :
the tension
of flexible
wires in
joints, the
hinges of
barred
windows,
the peel
of the
paint,
the vocabulario
of stillness
in speed,
the music of
plantas,
insects,
animals :
the impulse
of clay, the
improvisation
of contact,
the sculptor
as/of group
membrane
in interchange :
moved
by an outside/
[inside] force
other than my/
our will.
we are
the introductory
translation of
the músculo
of butoh

2.

i am
the mad
puppeteer
stringing
tail to
estrella,
through
wind
and wave,
the marioneta
of the
splintered
floor –
grounding
the sagittal
bounce
of noguchi :
a gymnastics
of smoke &
shadow :
the aire
intimo
of creating
hijikata’s
form with
the soul
following,
ohno’s
corazón,
wherein
form reveals
itself :
becoming
the presence
of presence
becoming :
exploring the
edges of our
lives and
life at and
on the
edge

3.

i am
infinity :
a símbolo
ridden through
history : a
body bag
of currents,
elements :
extreme,
shocking :
never neutral :
big, vulnerable
in an ocean
full of
contaminants,
in a sea of
happy fish,
i am the
hermaphroditic
polluted
pescado,
swimming
upstream :
butoh my
política :
mirroring
through our/
my mask the
[emotional]
exaggeration

4.

i am
the butoh
of
transformation
in these days
and dances
of darkness,
we are both
life and
death, in a
mundo
where time
can move
both forward
and back,
i discover the
world with
fresh ojos,
taking baby
steps, into
the mud of our
cultura, i
crawl towards
flowers – the
desiccation and
the blossoms,
through resistance
and partnership, i/
we find the
semilla of our
humanity…
shared

5.

I am
the fuera
in my
belly,
stamping
the whole
ground
with my body –
one that
will never
be trumped…
as i, along
with these
‘strange little
ladies and
gentlemen’
smell the
mexican
flowers on
our chests —
our hearts –
as we
dance
through the
inauguration ,
we gender –
bend, and
transgress
the dualities,
our imposed
fronteras ,
our walls :
We become
The anti-
stamp, in
our quiet
revolt, we
are earth ,
who never
need(s) to
show the
Soles of
(his/her)
connected feet …

© 2017 bronwyn preece

Noguchi Taiso (Water Body Movement)
with Mari Osanai

Don’t miss this AMAZING opportunity to study with Mari. She is a rare and beautiful teacher!!
Early Registration Pricing through February 15th.

What: 4-Day Intensive Workshop in Noguchi Taiso (Water Body Movement)
Who: Mari Osanai – Master Teacher
Dates: Thursday thru Sunday, March 8-11, 2018
Times: Th/Fr: 6-9PM, Sa/Su: 1-6PM
Where: New Studio of Dance, 20 Commerce Street, Asheville, NC
Cost: Thursday and Friday $40 each (After Feb 15th $45/each day) / Saturday and Sunday $80 each (After Feb 15th $85/each day) / Full Workshop $225 (After Feb 15th – $240)
Tickets: mari-osanai-asheville.brownpapertickets.com

Noguchi Taiso physical training technique was founded in Japan by Michizo Noguchi. This introductory workshop will help you find new ways to improve your movement efficiency, while letting go of unnecessary tensions. Mari explains “it’s not about strength or resistance, or forcing the body to move in a certain way. Instead, it allows the body to melt. It is tender and flexible, and lets us give in to gravity rather than fight it. Noguchi Taiso allows us to find a more natural way to move.

A quote by founder Michizo Noguchi:
“I define Noguchi Taiso as a creation of one’s new self as nature within us. Noguchi Taiso draws from a natural force that exists in our body and that is expressed through and with the natural materials that our bodies are made of. Taiso = Gymnastics is a way of exploring HUMANITY. My whole being is laboratory (atelier), research material (canvas) and scholar (artist).”

Dancer, choreographer, teacher Mari Osanai has performed and taught in Japan, Canada, USA, Greece and Germany. Her workshops focus on Noguchi Taiso combined with the influences of her early training in Tai Chi, western dance methods, traditional folk dance in Aomori, Japan (her birthplace), and the connection between one’s thoughts and sensation of weight. Osanai’s approach to movement research and exploration begins with a heightened awareness of gravity’s influence on the body and the body’s connection with the center of the earth.

Exercises in the workshop train the body to embrace its weight and heighten its sensitivity to move from its most relaxed and receptive state. Starting with images, such as washing the body with water, air, sunlight, workshop participants will discover the body’s vital energies rooted in its inherent hydrodynamics. Movement and form result as participants ingest imagery inside their bodies and allow the changes to shift the body’s interior.

Noguchi Taiso training can benefit dancers, actors, somatics practitioners, anyone interested in expanding body awareness and capacity. Workshops are designed for all levels and complete beginners are welcome.