- Spring 2021
Syllabus Description:
BUTOH Dance Practice: Dance for Healing and Transformation
When: Fridays 4:30-6:30pm
Credits: 1 / Spring 2021
Format: Online synchronous Zoom session, with optional in-person meetings.
Note: One week before Spring quarter begins, you will receive more information and a survey.
Facilitator: Diana Garcia-Snyder MFA, AWC
E-mail: dgs3@uw.edu (expect delays) / Once you sign up for the class use CANVAS e-mail please/ All your questions will be responded faster.
Office Hours: By appointment via Zoom
Link: Coming soon
Course Description:
Butoh is an expressionist dance and underground art born in Japan after World War II that is now practiced all over the world. Engage in personal, and group movement explorations via Zoom based on some of the many Butoh’s Eastern/Western philosophy concepts, and lean how Butoh practice have been changing, evolving and spreading globally since its beginning in 1951, and now during COVID-19 pandemic. This course is designed for students interested in personal exploration and the transformation of energy through dance. It is an integrated-embodied introduction to the history, evolution and health benefits of practicing Butoh. We will also observe and discuss the work of some of the artist from this lineage; from its Japanese founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, to well known companies such as Sankai Juku and Dairakudacan, as well as Seattle local Butoh dance collective DAIPANbutoh, where your professor Diana Garcia- Snyder is co-founder.
Goals:
- Develop and maintain a safe and nourishing environment for deep personal exploration
- Commitment and trust in yourself and the group
- Develop focus, balance and the use of your center/core
- Train the senses, perceptions, imagination, and consciousness
- Increase awareness of dance as a practice for healing and transformation
- Understanding Butoh training as a mindful movement practice for self exploration
- Learning the history and background of Butoh dance.
About Diana Garcia-Snyder, MFA, AWC
Mindful movement specialist and international Butoh artist. Co-founder of DAIPANbutoh, Seattle’s largest Butoh dance collective, and co-organizer of the annual Seattle Butoh Festival. She is currently dance, performance and mindfulness faculty at the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at UW Bothell campus, as well as owner of Motion33 studio in Seattle (Greenwood), where she teaches Pilates and yoga as mindful movement practices. She holds an MFA from UW Dance Program and is originally from Mexico. Read more
Course Requirements:
Students must have at least one dance course at the dance program prior to this class, or approval from the teacher. Please feel free to e-mail Diana if you have questions dgs3@uw.edu
Picture on top: Sankai Juku, Japan's must recognized Butoh company. They have visited Seattle and danced at Meany Hall several times.