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Course Description

Summary

This course requires no previous dance experience, and is open to anyone who is interested in the art of absence or art that deals with the presence of things we cannot see — the invisibles, empty space and silence – found across different art forms and practices.

We will investigate the potentiality of “in-between space” and “subject-less body,” while introducing some principles of Zen philosophy and butoh (Japanese avant-garde dance form) through somatic and movement practice.  We will refer to ghost and horror movies, reiki (energy-based healing technique), Samuel Beckett’s plays and poems, Bruce Nauman’s artworks, John Cage’s music scores, Japanese Noh Theater and the current Vocaloid culture among other things, as inspiration to deepen our understanding of “empty body” in the philosophical and performing-arts context, and to develop body-based works with newly cultivated perspectives on “self-ness”.