Tags: butoh, butoh dance, ankoku butoh, dance of darkness, Japanese butoh dance, contemporary butoh, butoh styles, physical theatre, dance, dance-theatre

Jordan Rosin is physical theatre artist, teacher, and movement coach. Based primarily in butoh, he also draws on yoga, clowning, and acrobatics to create choreography & movements which he hopes have universal resonance. He received his BFA in Drama from Syracuse University. His main butoh teachers are Joan Laage, Vangeline, & Tetsuro Fukuhara, though he has trained with numerous others. He is the Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director of The Ume Group, a NY-based physical theatre / dance ensemble. 
​www.jordanrosin.com / www.theumegroup.org

​Tickets are now on sale for The Ume Group's 5-Year Anniversary NY Season at the Irondale Center in Brooklyn, NY, August 10 - 13, 2016! Learn more >>>

Movement has always been my primary form of expression. I grew up dancing. If you were to flip open a picture book from my childhood, you would be blinded with spandex and sparkle from the dance recital costumes that I wore year in and year out. But by the time I left high school, I had become distracted by other things and had left dance behind. Fast forward to a few years ago when I came to New York City to become an actor, and more importantly, to train as one. That’s when I discovered The Ume Group.

This week, we sat down to talk with artist Sean Devare who designed and fabricated three original Commedia Dell'Arte-style masks for The Ume Group's "Lysistrata Project."  Here is what he had to say...

JORDAN ROSIN: How did you find your inspiration for the masks?

SEAN DEVARE: I always approach my projects with as much research as I can find, from as many related and sometimes unrelated sources as possible. I started by researching the Commedia types and typical traits while also drawing inspiration from certain Japanese mask aesthetics, especially for Capitano. I can be frequently found sketching or photographing masks and sculptures at museums, where inspiration is bound to strike at any time!

UNFIX NYC is a new festival of Performance and Ecology taking place at Grace & St. Paul Church on April 29-May 1 2016, presented by Ren Gyo Soh. UNFIX Festival started in Glasgow (Scotland) in 2015, created by performance artist and Butoh dancer Paul Michael Henry (www.unfixfestival.com), and Ren Gyo Soh is excited to bring it to New York as their 2nd anniversary celebration and fundraising event. 

UNFIX is a multi-art form event fusing live performance, dance, installation, workshops and debate in a bid to unravel the knots in how we're living. Ecological crisis and renewal addressed through our bodies and physical sense of being alive. 

This New York City version is the first collaboration between UNFIX and Ren Gyo Soh, which the two groups hope to make an annual event. We want to simultaneously celebrate and question our relationship to each other, to the planet on which we live, to our own imaginations and the structures that mould us in this time of ecological crisis. 

This year Ren Gyo Soh, a Butoh-based theatre company in NYC celebrates its 2nd anniversary, and is using the opportunity to present UNFIX as a bridge between performance and ecology (or artists and the Earth on which they work).  Our program will include live performances, installations, workshops, and yoga with live music. 

*UNFIX NYC is presented by Ren Gyo Soh, sponsored by The Ume Group and Grace & St. Paul Church.  ​

Click the links to register, OR buy multi-day festival passes here.

Day 1 - Friday, April 29th 6-9pm: Ren Gyo Soh Spring Workshop (Register here.)
Day 2 - Saturday, April 30th 7-10pm: Performance / Installation / Discussion (Buy tickets here.)
Day 3 - Sunday, May 1st, 2pm - 3:30pm: Yoga with Live music, meditation - sending a prayer to the planet (Register here.)

Interested in trying some gymnastics or acrobatics?  Wanna learn a handstand?  Check out this list of specialty workshops and ongoing classes in NYC.

Adult PopAction at STREB Lab for Action Mechanics (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
"STREB offers Adult classes for dance students and professionals. Developed by Elizabeth Streb over the last 20 years, PopAction classes help dancers acquire new skills by posing unique challenges: change your base of support in a rapid fire way, physically designate specific locations in vertical and horizontal space, learn to pop the muscles to initiate action (rather than skeletally transferring weight), train for impact, learn to fly with low-to-the-ground maneuvers that increase spatial awareness, and incorporate a timing system that is not musical but physical (“felt timing”). The classes confronts issues of falling and fear. STREB operates on a ‘personal best’ principle; the method suits all body types, ages, and skill sets. All adult classes are taught by current company members."

The Muse (Brooklyn)
Acrobalance, Wallrunning, Stunts, Silks, Flexibility, Trapeze, Bungee, Dance, Tumbling, and more!

Aerial Arts NYC  
Contortion and handstands, stretch & flexibility, partner balancing & acrobatics, handstands, juggling, unicycling, hula hooping.

The Ume Group School
"Beginning / Intermediate Acrobatics with Jordan Rosin" -- part of our Saturday Workshop Series.  (March 30 - April 21)
In this beginner / intermediate acrobatic workshop, we begin with a thorough 30 minute warm-up, stretch and conditioning session, followed by various skills across the floor (on mats), as wells as drills at individualized stations.  Each day concludes with fun combinations and a cool-down.

Pre-requisites include: being able to forward roll & supporting your bodyweight on your hands for 3 seconds.

Day 1 - handstands, forward rolls & cartwheels
Day 2 - handstands & headstands, backward rolls & cartwheel variations
Day 3 - handstand variations, shoulder rolls, kip-ups (ninja day)
Day 4 - back bends, walkovers, jumps & combinations 

Know of any other ongoing, cool acrobatics / gymnastics classes in New York City?  Join the conversation.  Leave info in the comments below.

I recently had the honor of being in a re-iteration of Dream Dances with The Ume Group around Halloween time.  This got me paying special attention to my dreams, more specifically, what I surround myself with when I dream.

Whether you're an experienced butoh practitioner, or looking into trying butoh for the very first time, there are a ton of great opportunities this fall in NYC to train with teachers of all types!  Check out the opportunities listed below.  Did we forget any?  Leave a comment and we'll add yours to the list.

October 6-17
Leimay Ludus: Guest Teacher Lab (Dairakudakan butoh with Daiichiro Yuyama)
Performance Collaboration & Public Presentation (40 hours)
October 6-17: 6pm-10pm (Days off: Oct 11-12 // Public presentation: Oct 16&17)

​In this 40-hour module, Daiichiro aims to create a new collaborative work, based on the Dairakudakan body theory, together with all participants. Participants will be exposed to all aspects of making a piece, which can include costume making and technical preparations, and it will culminate in a public presentation at CAVE.

The theme of this collaborative piece is “Gap”. “Gap” refers to the idea of disparity: that which is not fitted, or that which is disjunct or apart. This could be the physical, spatial relationships, such as those inhabited within a city, or more temporal or intangible concepts, such as the difference between generations or sexes. Daiichiro wishes to explore the potential that exists at the cusp of un-fitting, of a perpetual in between; an abundance springs from a crowd of bodies which prevails within this state of existence.

TUITION 
 $597.63

November 6-8, 10-12, 14-17
Leimay Ludus Guest Teacher Lab: Butoh with Yukio Suzuki
This Guest Teacher Lab is divided into three different modules. Modules can be taken separately or together. Early registration rates and discounts are only open to those who plan on taking all three modules.

This Guest Teacher Lab is open to dancers, body-rooted performers, physical actors of all levels, ages, and capabilities. Modules will explore the following elements and subjects:

Module I // Foundation I: “To know, hear, and feel the body” (12 hrs)
Nov 6th & 7th, 6pm-10pm; Nov 8th, 10am-2pm

In this Guest Teacher Lab, Suzuki will guide participants to move and feel their bodies on a conscious level. Through connecting and separating between body and consciousness, participants will explore their “body of freedom,” opening up a new way of experiencing and moving the body. It all begins when the body is felt carefully.

Module II // Foundation II: “Develop your body to connect Dance” (12 hrs)
Nov 10th-12th, 6pm-10pm

In this session Suzuki will share his way of how to use, show, be conscious of the body based on different Butoh principles. Participants are invited to excavate their new bodies through Suzuki’s synthesis of and approach to butoh and his ensuing dance technique. Participants will find in these explorations both strength and flexibility that can be carried into many physical expressions of dance.

Module III  /// CREATION: “Catch the moment of becoming Dance” (16hrs)
Nov 14th & 15th, 10am-2pm; Nov 16th & 17th, 6pm-10pm.

This session will focus on exploring each participant’s individual way of dancing. Here, it is meaningful to question “What is dance? When does ‘it’ become dance?” and continuously challenge ourselves to embody “it”. Rather than copying another’s movement, it is important that you catch the moment “it” becomes dance through your own body experience. Make your own dance from ‘nothing’, instead of learning a prescribed something. Experience how “it” becomes the work.

TUITION
Single Modules: $180.54
Module I, II, III: $535.84

November 20 & 21
The Ume Group presents Ren Gyo Soh Fall Butoh Workshop
Friday, 11/20, 6pm-9pm & Saturday, 11/21, 2pm-5pm

This is a butoh based movement workshop. 
A dance of Soul; 
A dance of life, 
that is…
ーInochi no Odori (命の踊り）ー by Kazuo Onno 
Follow your body, follow your spirit, and follow your soul. 
Let us Butoh. 
"Butoh awakens my soul; Butoh guides me to what I am."
-Yokko

TUITION
$40 - $70
single-day registration options, as well as student/senior & early bird discounts available