A festival of Butoh dance featuring performances by Maureen Fleming and the DAIPANbutoh Collective, along with workshops and a film by Joan Laage.
The Seattle International Butoh Festival returns to YAW Theater from November 19 to 22, presented by the DAIPANbutoh Collective. It's one of North America's longest-running gatherings for Butoh, which the collective describes as a living, regenerative movement art that deepens presence, imagination, and human connection across cultures and generations. This marks sixteen consecutive years for the festival, which brings together artists from Japan, Europe, South America, and across the United States.
This year's main feature is Maureen Fleming, coming in from New York with her solo AXIS MUNDI, a piece that explores the search for transcendence through metaphorical images. It's a well-traveled work: Fleming has staged it in the ruins of a 1,000-year-old church at Italy's Palermo di Scena International Festival, a Japanese firehouse at Tokyo's 1990 Butō Festival, and at Boston's Emerson Majestic Theater and the Institute for Contemporary Art. The Minneapolis Tribune and the Boston Globe both named it one of the year's top ten dance performances, and the press has called Fleming "the real black madonna" among earth goddesses. Beside the solo, she'll lead a workshop titled Regenerative BodyArchitecture.
The rest of the lineup includes DAIPANbutoh Collective artists Sheri Brown, Helen Thorsen, Dhyana Garcia Snyder, Robyn Bjornson, and Alycia Scott Zollinger, along with Japanese Butoh artist Kaoru Okumura. There's also a film by Seattle Butoh pioneer Joan Laage. The festival runs from November 19 to 22 at YAW Theater, 6520 5th Ave S, Seattle 98108.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Seattle and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
Performances are Friday, Nov 20, Saturday, Nov 21, and Sunday, Nov 22, all at 8 PM. Workshops run Saturday and Sunday, Nov 21–22, from 12 PM to 4 PM. Performance tickets are $30 general, $25 for students, seniors, and artists. Workshops are $60 for one day or $100 for both. A full festival pass is $150. DAIPANbutoh also offers Racial Equity Scholarships for free admission.
