Mile Zero Dance presents Mari Osanai from Japan. This is a unique opportunity to explore the Noguchi Taiso work with a master teacher. All levels of experience are welcome.
Oct 27 – 30
Sun: 11 AM – 4 PM
Mon to Wed: 10 AM – 1 PM
Spazio Performativo (10816 95 Street)
$175 for four days or $50/day
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mari-osanai-noguchi-taiso-movement-intensive-tickets-73692605567
Noguchi Taiso (Water Body movement) has been widely appreciated and incorporated/integrated into Butoh movement practice.
Mari Osanai’s workshop focuses on Noguchi Taiso combined with the influences of her early training in Tai Chi, western dance methods, traditional folk dance in Aomori, Japan (her birthplace), and the connection between one’s thoughts and sensation of weight. Osanai’s approach to movement research and exploration begins with a heightened awareness of gravity’s influence on the body and the body’s connection with the center of the earth. Exercises in the workshop train the body to embrace its weight and heighten its sensitivity to move from its most relaxed and receptive state. Starting with images, such as washing the body with water, air, sunlight, workshop participants will discover the body’s vital energies rooted in its inherent hydrodynamics. Movement and form result as participants ingest imagery inside their bodies and allow the changes to shift the body’s interior.
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MARI OSANAI (JP) is a classically trained dancer and teacher of Noguchi Taiso based in Aomori, Japan. Noguchi Taiso is a form of physical training that supports new ways of movement to improve efficiency while letting go of unnecessary tensions. A technique often utilized by butoh practitioners, it is not about strength or resistance or forcing the body to move in a certain way. Instead, it allows the body to melt, become tender and flexible as we give in to gravity rather than fight it. Mari has been collaborating with sound artist Christophe Charles since 1997.
“I define Noguchi Taiso as a creation of one’s new self as nature within us. Noguchi Taiso draws from a natural force that exists in our body and that is expressed through and with the natural materials that our bodies are made of. I define “”Taiso = Gymnastics”” as a way of exploring HUMANITY. My whole being is a laboratory (atelier), research material (canvas) and scholar (artist).” – Michizo Noguch
MZD acknowledges funding support from the Alberta Dance Alliance to help make this workshop with Mari happen.
Registration closes: Friday, October 25
To learn more about Mile Zero, visit: milezerodance.com
