Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute and The Brick Theater present Queer Butoh 2025

Vangeline Theater/ New York Butoh Institute in collaboration with The Brick presents the ninth annual Queer Butoh from Wednesday June 25 - Saturday June 28 2025 at 8pm at The Brick Theater 579 Metropolitan Avenue Brooklyn. Tickets start at $25 and are available for purchase here.

The festival will feature Surface Area Dance Theater (UK) on June 25 +26 only; Ama (Cambodia/France) Alice Baldock (UK) Quentin Chaveriat (Belgium) and Juan Manuel (Mexico) June 25-28; and River Luna and New York Butoh Institute on June 27 + 28 only.

Queer Butoh Festival 2025

Embodied Visions: Painting Dance and Radical Transformation

This year’s Queer Butoh Festival invites audiences into a space where the painted image meets the moving body and where adversity is not only acknowledged—but danced through and transcended.

Spanning intimate solos collaborative rituals and lush visual worlds the 2025 edition draws inspiration from the brushstrokes of artists like Nerys Johnson Leonora Carrington and Shahryar Shahamat whose works ignite new choreographic forms. In Down Amongst the Plants painterly textures are transposed into motion; Leonora channels surrealist imagery into a queer mythic dance of resistance; while Human on Human merges the visceral expressiveness of Butoh with the immediacy of live painting creating a raw evolving canvas of movement and color.

Beyond aesthetics this year’s festival underscores Butoh’s radical potential as a tool for survival and reinvention. Whether confronting personal illness political oppression or the fragmented self these performances reclaim the body as a site of healing and defiance. Works like They Who Invite and Dove of Dawn honor the cycles of destruction and rebirth central to Butoh’s origins—offering audiences visceral transformative encounters.

At its core Queer Butoh Festival 2025 is a celebration of queer embodiment artistic hybridity and the alchemical power of movement to make beauty from struggle and freedom from form.

Down Amongst the Plants is inspired by the life and work of Welsh artist Nerys Johnson (1942-2001). Johnson's exploration of movement and transformation began with her studies of the similarities between human and plant forms. In the last two years of her life she developed a specific compositional style creating a series of small brightly coloured watercolours.

Vangeline from the New York Butoh Institute was invited by Surface Area Dance theatre and North East Museums in the UK to visit the Nerys Johnson archive. In response to the archive Vangeline choreographed a dance-for-camera piece which Vangeline has since adapted into a live performance by Surface Area Dance Theatre.

Leonora by Quentin Chavariat is a performance inspired by Butoh dance and based on the story "Down Under" by surrealist painter and writer Leonora Carrington that describes in detail her psychiatric internment in a Spanish institution following the arrest of her lover Max Ernst as an opponent of the Nazi regime. As a queer metamorphosis Quentin is transformed during the performance into a fantastical Leonora and plunges into his hallucinations to inhabit a madness that is not only a delirium but also the refusal of a specific political context (the rise of fascism) and a resilience in relation to an alienating psychiatric system. 

Dove Of Dawn by Ama. A delicate journey of a shadow collapsing through its spine falling into the dark night of the soul into death only to be reborn with a breath. Slowly embracing its wounds it rises like a sensual lotus finding its wings. This Butoh piece explores resilience individuation and freedom where shadow and light intertwine inviting the full embrace of one’s being through the transformative power of movement.

Fruit of My Woman by Alice Baldock. In response to the suffocating pressures of 'straight time' (to get married to have children etc) a woman blurs the boundary between human non-human and celestial. Inspired by the short-story by Han Kang of the same name.

CHON by Juan Manuel is a piece inspired by the main elements that make up organic life on Earth. It shows stage by stage the materialization of life and the changes in matter that are part of any living being on this planet.

They Who Invite by River Luna: The 13th century Zen master Dōgen Zenji wrote “In birth there is nothing but birth and in death there is nothing but death. Accordingly when birth comes face and actualize birth and when death comes face and actualize death. Do not avoid them or desire them.” He also wrote “Know that there are innumerable beings in yourself where there is birth and there is death.” They Who Invite are the Japanese deities Izanami and Izanagi; among their stories is a tale of a descent into the underworld. This piece is dedicated to River’s son Kirby.

Human on Human--New York Butoh Institute. Choreographed by Vangeline and inspired by the eponymous work by Iranian Painter Shahryar Shahamat. Featuring Ever Bussey Lila Klatz Catherine Winger Robyn Wong Eric Lichtenstein and Shahryar Shahamat Human on Human transforms the stage into a living artwork fusing Butoh with the act of painting in real time.

This program is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council Surface Area Dance Theatre and Arts Council England.

About the Artists

Surface Area Dance Theatre (SADT) is a dynamic award-winning inclusive arts company based in the North East of England. We champion accessibility in the arts and actively engage with our local and broader communities. As a proud Disability Confident Employer we are committed to fostering an environment that celebrates diversity and ensures the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities. Through our intersectional approach we are making a significant impact on the cultural landscape both in the UK and internationally. At SADT we prioritize the vibrant integration of sign language D/deaf culture and combined arts into our work. We understand that these elements not only enrich artistic expression but also promote understanding among diverse audiences. Our strategic partnerships with esteemed organizations like the British Council the Barbican and the New York Butoh Institute expand our reach and amplify our voice on a global platform. Our diverse and highly skilled team consists of artists and professionals who are unwavering in their commitment to inclusivity. We actively empower D/deaf and marginalized artists and communities by providing them with essential resources mentorship and meaningful opportunities to thrive in the arts. 

Quentin Chaveriat is an art historian and multidisciplinary artist based in Brussels Belgium and graduated in acting from the Conservatory of Mons. He completed his training by going to Japan to study Butoh with Master Seiji Tanaka. Since then he has produced performances with the Sombre Compagnie including Memento: la pluie presented in the Netherlands France and Japan as well as La tentation de Saint-Antoine a piece created in collaboration with the Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium inspired by a Salvador Dali painting. As an artist he enjoys exploring the relationship between fine arts and dance and also performs hybrid drag/butoh acts in cabarets such as Memento. In 2020 during the pandemic his slow-walking performance half-naked in the streets of Brussels with the words « No culture no future » painted in blood on his chest brought him notoriety. Since then he has been politically engaged and defines himself as a queer artist. He works under the theatrical direction of Fabrice Murgia or Clément Thirion and dances for famous Belgian companies such as Mossoux-Bonté and t.r.a.n.s.i.t.s.c.a.p.e. He is currently working on a dance-theater performance called Tombe la neige sur Saïgon (Snow falling on Saigon) that questions his relationship with Vietnam. Together with some friends he created the RAVIE collective. In 2023 they took over the direction of the Théâtre de la Vie an important theater dedicated to emerging artists. It’s the first collective experience of directing an important cultural center in Belgium. 

Ama is a French-Cambodian dancer poet dance art therapist and movement facilitator devoted to exploring the transformative and healing power of movement. For her dance is a ritual of life an act of psychomagic a language through which the body unveils its deepest truths. Rooted in the wisdom of Butoh Jungian psychology and Taoist philosophy Ama navigates the delicate interplay between shadow and light weaving movement as a path to self-discovery and liberation. Her artistic practice unfolds at the crossroads of the visible and invisible the conscious and unconscious the personal and the intercultural. She sees the body as an uncharted landscape one where authenticity and empowerment emerge through movement. With a deep curiosity about the body's expressive and restorative potential she guides individuals toward wholeness inviting them to embrace metamorphosis and reclaim their narratives. Through the creation of sacred spaces she allows the body to become both a vessel for exploration and a poetic sanctuary where emotions memories and the unconscious rise to the surface finding shape and voice. Her experience spans psychiatric institutions work with refugees and support for disabled individuals. She is certified in Dance Art Therapy (EMVC®) and Neurodance Trauma & Resilience (CENA Center for Studies in Applied Neurosciences & MOV Institute). Additionally she is a certified Ecstatic & Conscious Dance facilitator (Heart of the Dance) and practitioner of aquatic bodywork (Aguahara and Janzu).

Alice Baldock is a sometimes-historian sometimes-dancer based in Oxford UK. Her dance and academic work are deeply interconnected and focus around a study of women butoh dancers. She researches the body-of-knowledge that Japanese women dancers co-produced in the early post-war period and how the dance that produced Butoh circulated transnationally at the end of the 20th Century. In doing so she uncovers how and why these ideas about the body - that involved a complete eradication of hierarchies of gender ability and class became so popular in Japan and then across the world. Her work takes a queer feminist approach to such histories. Alice trained in ballet and contemporary dance from the age of three and in 2021 started to practice Butoh in Tokyo with that late Nakajima Natsu. Since then her dance practice has shifted to incorporate Butoh. In Japan she appeared in Nakajima Natsu’s Yume no yume oku no oku nokori no hi (April 2022) and performed a solo piece ‘Mizu/ Water’ in butoh company Mutekisha’s Kokkyounaki Karada (July 2022). She is part of the performance art collective BEIMA in Oxford who perform durational and site-specific work and a member of the London Butoh Dance Company whose most recent performance was ‘Of Mirrors and Shadows’ a queer interpretation of Plato’s ‘Myth of Aristophanes’.

Juan Manuel is a nature and performing arts enthusiast from Mexico. He has participated in over 20 stage productions in Mexico. His interests lie in laboratory processes and interdisciplinary works that culminate in theater music and dance projects. His latest participation was in the 2024 National Theater Showcase held in La Paz Baja California. He is part of the Corporal Laboratory team which organizes and executes workshops and events related to Butoh dance including the First Butoh Dance Encounter in León Guanajuato.

river luna a genderqueer non-binary transfemme has been a student of Chinese martial arts Zen Buddhism and butoh for over a decade diving deep to surface inner worlds. They are also a photographer horror writer woodswalker kayaker mermaid and tarot reader. For the foreseeable future they are a wandering hermit “drifting like clouds flowing like water”.

Shahryar Shahamat is a multidisciplinary artist and painter born and raised in Tehran Iran and based in New York City since 2010. His ongoing visual project Human on Human explores human expression through abstract figurative forms inspired by life and personal history. Rooted in repetition intuition and layered emotion Shahryar’s work captures the complexity of the human condition. His distinct style—marked by raw gesture textured surfaces and imaginative forms—continues to evolve through experimentation and deep reflection.

Vangeline is a teacher dancer and choreographer specializing in Japanese butoh. She is the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute (New York) a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese butoh while carrying it into the twenty-first century. With her all-female dance company Vangeline’s socially conscious performances tie together butoh and activism. Vangeline is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival which elevates the visibility of women in butoh and the festival Queer Butoh. She pioneered the award-winning 17-year running program The Dream a Dream Project which brings butoh dance to incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities across New York State. Her choreographed works have been performed in Chile Hong Kong Germany Italy Denmark France the UK Italy Singapore Hong Kong Mexico and Taiwan. Vangeline is a 2022/2023 Gibney Dance Dance in Process residency and the winner of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award. She is also a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere (a work that began as an artistic commission from Surface Area Dance Theatre with support from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and the Heritage Lottery Fund UK); the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award as well as the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. Vangeline’s work has been heralded in publications such as the New York Times (“captivating”) and Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”) to name a few. Widely regarded as an expert in her field Vangeline has taught at Cornell University New York University Brooklyn College CUNY Sarah Lawrence and Princeton University (Princeton Atelier). Film projects include a starring role alongside actors James Franco and Winona Ryder in the feature film by director Jay Anania ‘The Letter” (2012-Lionsgate). In recent years she has been commissioned by triple Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding Skrillex and David J. (Bauhaus). She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book: Butoh: Cradling Empty Space which explores the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. She pioneered the first neuroscientific study of Butoh (“The Slowest Wave”). Her work is the subject of CNN’s “Great Big Story” "Learning to Dance with your Demons.” She is featured on BBC’s podcast Deeply Human with host Dessa (episode 2 of 12: Why We Dance) and is the host of the podcast Butoh Musing With Vangeline. She is currently developing the duet MAN WOMAN with her Butoh dance partner Akihito Ichihara from the renowned Butoh company Sankai Juku. www.vangeline.com.

VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form into the future with a special emphasis on education social justice research and archiving. For more info visit: www.vangeline.com

The Brick Theater is a not-for-profit dedicated to developing and presenting the work of pioneering emerging artists and career experimenters in Williamsburg Brooklyn. We are the artistic home for work that pushes boundaries and spans the ever-evolving spectrum of performing arts theatre dance video virtual reality and visual arts. By nurturing emerging artists sustaining ongoing relationships with frequent collaborators and removing financial barriers for artists to create work we create a diverse accessible and inclusive artistic community for the city’s most daring artists. We welcome adventurous audiences with low-cost and sliding-scale ticket prices to make performances accessible to all.

Founded in 2002 The Brick has established itself as an essential experimental venue for the production of compelling new high-quality work. As a vital part of the New York artistic community we present 250-300 live performances per year at our two spaces The Brick and Brick Aux and welcome over 10000 audience members each year.

The Brick enters its third decade with a bold new vision and an abiding belief in the power of art. With a renewed focus on multi-week theatrical runs and a dynamic line-up of singular one-off events The Brick is Williamsburg’s primary incubator of innovative theater and performing arts. bricktheater.com

You may also like the following events from Michelle Tabnick PR:

• Next month, 13th June, 07:00 pm, General Mischief Dance Theatre presents Joyful Noise in Edgewater
• Next month, 21st June, 02:00 pm, South Street Seaport Museum Announces Sinister Secrets of the Seaport June Walking Tour Dates in New York