Jogivara McleodganjDharamsala

Himachal Pradesh 176219India

Tel: 91-1892-226097E-mail:subbody@gmail.com

www.subbody.net

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About the school

Subbody BUTOH Himalaya School is situated in Northern India, in upper part of the town called Dharamsala, at the footsteps of beautiful Himalayas. The presence of spectacular mountains and wild forests around the school and its great distance from busy cities provides great conditions for learning proces and focused practice. Dharamsala is mostly known worldwide for the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that take place here every year. Dharamsala is also official residence of Dalai Lama and exiled Tibetan government. Few kilometres away from the Subbody BUTOH School there is Tibetian Institute of Performing Arts that is important institution of sustaining Tibetian culture.(TIPA: http://www.tibetanarts.org/)

Subbody BUTOH School was established in 2005 by great Japanese Butoh dancer Rhizome Lee. Lee was looking for best location for his school for long time and after travelling around many places he found the best place in Himalayas. The shool was build in 5 years and since 2005 it is constantly runing long term courses and short workshops. The School also stages regular performnaces of current students, sharing the results of practice with the public. Due to its uniqness the school attracts students form all over the world. Rhizome Lee is the only person who runs the school and he is also the only teacher at this institution.

• long term course - The course is divided into two semesters. Each semester is aproximately 4 months long (form March till July and August till December) And the classes are thought from 9.30 till 4.30 everyday from Monday till Friday. The school accepts only 10 students. The cost of the full course is 2300 US$

• workshops - The school runs 4 weeks workshops throughout the year. For dates and prices of current workshops please reffer to school website.

• research - The school accepts students who whish to do deeper research of BUTOH dance and focus on specific subjects. The student will folow individual program under teacher’s guidance. Such special arrangements are subject to aproval of the director of the school. (The fee for the research is calculated depending on lenght and intensity of research)

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SUBBODY HALL – circle shaped studio, with wooden floor, adjustable lighting and black curtain.Most of the classes and performances take palce in Subbody Hall.

Facilities

Gathering Room - directly above Subbody Hall there is Gathering Room, used for meetings, parties and other activities.

Garden – outside of school building there is a big garden. Some of the classes such asmeitative stretching or other forms of movement explration can be conducted in the garden.

Lunch Space – special space for lunch breaks.

Swimming Pool3

About the teacher

While living in Japan as a young student of philosophy Rhizome Lee had oportnity to learn BUTOH from the founder of this unique dance style Tatsumi Hijikata. He was also dedicated student of contemporary BUTOH dancer Kan Katsura. He worked and performed with Kan in Indonesia, Korea, Hwaii, Thailand, and Singapore.

Apart form training in BUTOH Lee also studied movement with renowed choreographer, movement researcher and precursor of “new French dance” - Santiago Sempere. In adition Lee has wide experience in Contact Improvisation. He also had a chance to learn many improvising techniques from remarkable master of improvisation David Zambrano. Additionally Lee is also proffecionaly trained in Shiatsu.

As a BUTOH dancer Lee performed in Japan, Thiland, India, France, Holland, Hungry, Romania, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Venezulla, USA and many other places.At age of 45 he decided to dedicate his life completely to BUTOH and share his knowledge by creating base for training and research in BUTOH.

Lee dancing in the shool garden

Lee in one of his performances

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Santiago Sempere is notable spanish choreographer and dance educator. He divides his creative work between France, Spain and Japan. His current research focuses on the ritual, gesture, sign, and the erosion of meaning in the narrative movement

David Zambrano has been making dance for over 20 years. In his pursuits as both a creator and educator, Zambrano has visited 40 countries and worked with more than 25,000 students. His pieces range from set choreography, structured improvisation, and pure improvisation. Born in Venezuela, Zambrano spent 15 years in New York, and now lives in Amsterdam continuing to perform and teach. His improvisation is committed to art as a cultural exchange developing the creative process in a world without borders.

Tatsumi Hijikata (土方巽 Hijikata Tatsumi) 1928 - 1986 was a Japanese choreographer, and the founder of a genre of dance performance art called Butoh. Hijikata was an innovator in movement technique. He was a master of the use of energy qualities in constructing expressive movement. He would use sounds, paintings, sculptures, and words to construct movement by integrating these elements via visualization into the nervous system.This use of visualization mastered sophisticated movement qualities similar in many ways to the Mime System of Jacques Lecoq.

Katsura Kan is a native of Kyoto and a Master Butoh artist among the ranks of Japan’s first generation of Butoh. He is a celebrated solo artist, collaborative performer and choreographer. Kan has worked with what he calls “minority dancers” all over the world, in remote locations throughout Africa, Europe, South East Asia for the past 28 years.

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About BUTOH

Butoh(舞踏 Butō) is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, and movement inspired by the Ankoku-Butoh (暗黒舞踏 ankoku butō) . It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally „performed” in white-body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion. Its origins have been attributed to Japanese dance legends Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno.

There is a general trend towards the body as „being moved,” from an internal or external source, rather than consciously moving a body parts. A certain element of „control vs. uncontrol” is present through many of the exercises.

Butoh was throwing off the constraints of Western dance and the rigidity of the highly codified Japanese traditions such as the ancient Noh drama and Nihon Buyo (Japanese classical dance). While butoh was born out of a rejection of western dance, there are pedagogical links between butoh’s founders and German Expressionist dance. The contradictions within butoh are part of what make it fascinating.

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About BUTOH About SUBBODY method

Through deep exploration of specific philosophical subjects and intensive BUTOH training Rhizome Lee has developed his own unique method of training called ‘subbody’. In this method ‘subbody’ means subconscious body. In the subconscious realm, subconsciousness and body are melting together into oneness and create world that is completely different from daily world. Lee has developed various techniques to find the roots of the dance in subconcious world. ‘Subbody’ is not easy to understand by intelectual mind, but by body experience it’s much more easier to comprehend. Another concept developed by Lee and used in dance training is called ‘qualia’. This term comes from Latin and is used in philosophy to describe the subjective quality of conscious experience. ‘Qualia’ refers to different qualities that are present in dancers body and using them to find new movement material.

To support the training Lee uses also some concepts from shiatsu such as principle of life resonance, which he have learnt from Endo Ryoukyu who is founder of Tao shiatsu, and Masunaga Shizuto who originated Zen shiatsu.

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Location

Rhizome Lee

Subbody Butoh School Himalaya

Jogivara Mcleodganj

Dharamsala

176219 H.P.

INDIA

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