Scholarship

ECO-SOMATIC TRANSFORMATIONS THROUGH BUTOH

Somatic Movement in Dance Education: Enhancing Health and Creativity for Teachers & Students

National Dance Education Organization presents a Special Topic Conference in partnership with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA), Gibney: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, New York, New York

July 19-21, 2024

Guided by personal practice and research, this session will distill eco-somatic underpinnings of butoh through the lens of transformation. While we situate ourselves in a movement practice that deepens an understanding of our place in the world and awakens our senses, we embark on a life-long journey of transformation. The place of growth seeds in understanding the natural flow of nature, the give and take, the ever fleeting moment. This mimics our relationship with earth and other humans as we examine presence, resonance, and fluidity through morphing states. Through these understandings, butoh is centered by engaging with the internal rather than the external. The session will also draw upon Noguchi-taiso, which informs foundational butoh movements, as we explore gentle conversations with gravity and the water within us.

VESSELS FOR HEALING: A CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Teaching is Leading: Embracing Our Impact on Opportunity as Dance Educators

National Dance Education Organization’s 2023 Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado

September 29-October 1, 2023

I offer an overview of my research and conceptualization of a curriculum intended for undergraduate dance majors that fosters identity construction and healing through three movement perspectives. Giving an overview of the objectives, literature review, timeline, intended activities, and assessments, I hope to provoke thought about siloing dance forms in higher education. The curriculum bridges three forms (Butoh, Contact Improvisation, and Capoeira) through notions and practices of healing that will benefit the undergraduate dance student and challenge them to see crossovers and make their own connections to these movement forms.

ECO-SOMATIC EMBODIMENT AS A GUIDE FOR LEADERS

Reimagining and Cultivating the Creative and Artistic Practice of Leadership in Dance and Dance Education

The Joyce Theater Foundation in collaboration with NYU: Steinhardt's Dance Education Program presents a Special Topic Conference, New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York, New York

January 16-18, 2025

Guided by personal practice and research, this session will distill eco-somatic underpinnings of butoh through the lens of transformation. While we situate ourselves in a movement practice that deepens an understanding of our place in the world and awakens our senses, we embark on a life-long journey of transformation. The place of growth seeds in understanding the natural flow of nature, the give and take, the ever fleeting moment. This mimics our relationship with earth and other humans as we examine presence, resonance, and fluidity through morphing states. Through these understandings, butoh is centered by engaging with the internal rather than the external. By turning inward, the activation of subtle sensing is engaged as a toolset for creative leaders.

LIMINALITY AND CORPORAL TRANSCENDANCE IN BUTOH

The Power of Movement: Dance Education Traditions and Innovations

National Dance Education Organization's 2025 Annual Conference, Detroit, Michigan

October 3-6, 2025

In a socio-political climate bound by urgency to reach a state of “arrival”, butoh movement methodologies contradict the value of destination in favor of the journey. This session will activate a collective exploration of what it means to surrender to the senses, the body, and the moment. Often used to illuminate the essence of this state, “ma” guides the body into indeterminate time. The emphasis shifts from product to process, nurturing the present moment and the whole essence of being. The body eventually ceases to instigate it’s own movement and allows itself to be moved. This session will also draw upon Noguchi-taiso- which informs the foundations of butoh, as we explore gentle conversations with gravity and the water within us.

INTERBEING: BODY LISTENING THROUGH CONTACT IMPROVISATION AND BUTOH

Uniting to Progress the Field of Dance Education

National Dance Education Organization's 2026 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico

September 25-27, 2026

With a deep, visceral need for connection, many turn to contact improvisation as an open space for collective practice, kinesthetic listening, and community. Developed by Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith in the early 70s, contact improvisation (CI) has resonated with people globally- often spawning even smaller areas with local jams and gatherings. While the innovators favored movement research and acrobatics, pushing boundaries with weight sharing and challenged gender norms within contact improvisation- local CI groups have been critical of the practice as we evolve understandings of power dynamics in dance space- a crucial inquiry for CI practitioners. There are CI approaches prioritizing a somatically engaged- listening oriented CI practice and ones that champion a CI “Technique”, momentum, and weight sharing. Depending on where one experiences CI, experiences can be vastly different based on the local CI community and their goals. For the past year, I’ve been investigating a sensitive, eco-somatic, butoh-based approach to contact improvisation. Through this lens, poetic imagery inspired by “butoh-fu” or butoh scripts (utilized by one of the founders of butoh, Tatsumi Hijikata) informs a solo practice and meditation before a collective practice opens. My pedagogy of CI and Butoh (currently entitled “Interbeing”) is also grounded in the notion of making what may be implicit explicit. Clearly stated visions and intentions for the space and practice are prioritized in tandem with clearly stated boundaries and desires. This session will be oriented towards these deep listening aspects of CI- utilizing a butoh framework. It will reflect the containers I’ve held of both CI and butoh practitioners for the past year. The modalities for entering into deep listening and delving into subconscious movements are informed by butoh, slowness, and somatic exercises favoring a gentle and collaborative CI exploration that is compelled by nurturing a collective voice, allowing for emergence between dancers.

Photos by Rebecca Marcela Oviatt

© 2026 Eilish Henderson