Tuesday Butoh Lab in Brussels

Moving with the invisible

Just as you can read the age of a tree from the rings in a tree trunk, you can 'read' a life in a human body. The body is a living and ever transforming sculpture, shaped by life itself. Butoh is a dance of transformation that originates from the friction between opponent forces. The Butoh dancer knows how to connect with this energy and to move with it - be moved by it. What evolves is authentic expression and original being.

The Butoh Lab offers a space to practice movement and share time-space experiences, as well as to actively and collectively research what is butoh today and to explore its legacy out of its former historical context. The Lab is open to every-body regardless previous knowledge or experience with dance or butoh. We welcome all levels, gender, ages and body-types. The Lab is guided throughout the year by various artists who share their butoh or butoh-minded practice and place individual accents on the content of the Lab.

A lab usually starts with arriving in the space and exploring basic exercises (ex. standing in presence, walking, body awareness, breathing, tension-release, conscious moving and being moved by, contact, ….) that will then be deepened through improvisations nourished by poetic stimuli. We make time for a sharing circle or questions at the end of the session.

The Butoh Lab program in Autumn 2025:

Emilie De Vlam is strongly anchored in the practice of the Butoh-body. She has been studying and working with Min Tanaka and the MaiJuku members (Akira Kasai, Masaki Iwana, Tashi Iwaoka, a.o). Besides, her approach is merely influenced by the Body Weather Laboratory. The philosophy and sensitivity of her approach is refined by shared exeprience. For this Butoh Lab sessions she will share her practice, tools and challenges on the topic of "the ideal crash". The body, the sense of being moved and becoming/being it, are core elements of the Butoh journey. She will guide you into a collective process, resulting in an impro performance on Tictac Crude Saturdays on November 15.

Practical information about the weekly Butoh Lab in Brussels

  • Location: Tictac Art Centre, Small Studio: Rue Emile Carpentier 34
    1070 Anderlecht (Brussels) www.tictacartcentre.com

  • When: Tuesday, 18h30 - 21h

  • Dates: 30/09 - 07/10 - 14/10 - 21/10 - 4/11 - 11/11 - 18/11 - 25/11 (no Lab 28/10!)

  • Price: 15€ per Lab, 10x fidelity card for 120€

  • Contact: butofamilia@gmail.com (no registration needed, come as you are, doors open at 18:00)

  • Find us on Butoh Belgium Facebook page and Instagram @buto_familia

  • Credits picture: Performance Buto Familia @ Crude Saturday, Tictac Art Centre, June 17 2023, picture by Irene Occiato.