Ren Gyo Soh Training Course 2020-2021 

Ren Gyo Soh offers a 12 weeks training course with Yokko this spring 2021.  The artistic director, and award-winning artist Yokko has been offering her training courses, workshops, and classes in Butoh Dance, Movement, Acting and Physical Theatre both nationally & Internationally since 2014. She has been serving B.A (Acting & Dance) & MFA (Acting) Programs in USA, and Performing Arts University in Italy, and has created the training courses for each programs ranging 20-100 hours, and also privately with actors, dancers, interdisciplinary artist, visual artist, musicians/performers including a grammy Award winner.

This course will be the condensed and also evolving version of what she has been offering in those programs, such as Butoh Dance, Pure Movement, Noguchi Movement, Acting, Voice, Yoga, and Physical Theatre.
Voices from Students (Fall 20) 
"Yokko is a generous teacher. They create a brave space in the room (whether physical or virtual) in which participants can challenge and surprise themselves. I am always amazed by their knowledge and skill, how they integrate a range of practices. Working with Yokko is a delight and journey whereby performers can deepen their practice and elevate their art, whether you are new to butoh and physical performance or already have your own embodied practice. This is a never ending journey for your body, mind, and spirit.  "(Frankie Mulinix)
"Participating in Ren Gyo Soh's 10 week On-line Fall Butoh Training Course was incredible. Yokko administers her teachings with such care, generosity and kindness. She invites you to work to your own capacity, while gently supporting you to go deeper. The connection I felt to the other artists participating from all over the world was tangible, as was Yokko's ability to make the group feel like a united whole despite the distance separating us. Her creative and innovative use of Zoom as a performance mechanism was inspiring. I wholeheartedly recommend this course." (Jen Murray)

Spring Course I February 3 - April 24, 2021

Session Date: Wednesdays 8-10/10:30pm + Performance Party 
                           (Feb. 3-March 10: 8-10pm, March 17-April 21: 8-10:30pm) 
Duration: 12 weeks 30 hours (in class training + Projects & Assignments +  Performance Party in April 24) 
Tuition: $300 - Artist Discount $275  
*returning students from previous Training Course 20% Off from the original fee.
This course is limited to 10 students.
FILLED
Waiting List is Open
Class Description: 
In this online training course, we will focus on discovering and developing your craft through the incorporation of Butoh Dance, Pure Movement, Noguchi Movement, Acting, Voice, Yoga, and Physical Theatre. While we explore this new technologically driven society, Ren Gyo Soh will continue to offer essential training through an online format. This adds an extra layer that is ever evolving! What is happening right now has certainly been influencing all of us as humans and artists, so why not to use this opportunity to evolve ourselves and our work?
Through Butoh training, you will be revealing, discovering, and unfolding your hidden self. This is a gift, and you will be able to share that with others. Everyone is different, and when you bring your individuality into your work, it will blossom with a unique surprise. You will also practice how to let go of yourself and become “the possible body” or the “available body", so that you may be able to transform and become anything, both living and non-living. Your body is a vessel.
This course will help you:
  • Cultivate your instruments (Body, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Energy, Emotion) to access internal and
    external materials for any creative circumstances
  • Develop your breathing, concentration, and relaxation skills
  • Deepen your emotional capacity
  • Extend your physical and mental stamina
  • Expand your imagination
    Butoh brings vibrancy to your life as it challenges your physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual capabilities. Through this practice, you will develop your own “living body.” You may experience more living than you do in your daily life as Butoh activates your vital energy. At the same time, you will learn to let go of the self, and experience the empty, unknown, mystical self. You will be fully you, and also everyone else, and also no one... you can be space itself.
I recommend this training course to someone who resonates with the concepts of transformation, possibility, availability, evolution, change, fusion, curiosity, passion, dreams, subconscious and
super conscious, and freedom from restriction. I highly recommend this course to any artists who are interested in incorporating Butoh into their work and those who are in need of some creative inspiration. :)
—--
Through this program, you will cultivate your instruments so that you may access not only internal materials, but also external materials around for any creative circumstances. Through Butoh training, you will be revealing, discovering, and unfolding your hidden self. This is your gift, and you will be able to share them with others. You will practice to let go of your “self” to become the "possible body" or ”available body,” that will enable you to transform or become anything, both living objects and non- living. Your body is a vessel. Through movement exercises, you will learn knowledge of your instruments, so that you may apply it to your work functionally.
Everyone is different— when you bring an individual life into work, it will blossom with the unique surprise of each artist. Butoh brings vibrancy to your life. It challenges your limitations physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. You will develop breathing, concentration, relaxation, emotional capacity, physical & mental stamina, and imagination. And in this way, you develop your own “living body.” You may experience more “living” than you do in your daily life. Butoh activates your vital energy.
This workshop incorporates Butoh Dance, Pure Movement, Noguchi Gymnastic, Acting, Voice & Movement, and Yoga.
Course Requirement
-Wifi 
-Space to move (Ideally quiet space for you) 
-Sign for the liability agrement (Take care of your health and body condition) ​
Course Schedule: TIME ZONE: EASTERN STANDARD (USA) 
Wednesdays 
8-10pm  
Feb. 3, 10, 17, 24
March. 3, 10,

8-10:30pm 
17, 24, 31
April 7, 14, 21

Performance Party 
April 24 8-10:30pm

Course Assignments & Project
-Weekly Assignments (Readings & Practice) 
-Project (Creating your own work) 
-Showcase at the end of the course to celebrate ​
Student Testimony: 
I took Ren Gyo Soh’s Spring Training Course and was amazed by the amount that I learned.  From body awareness to a comprehensive examination of Butoh history, philosophy and techniques, Yokko opened up an avenue of physical expression that I would not 
have been able to achieve on my own.
-Suzanne Willett

Fall Course I September 22 - December 1 2020

Session Date: Tuesdays 8-10pm 
Duration: 10 weeks 20 hours of in class training  + Performance Party in Dec. 5
​Tuition: $250- (Artist Discount $225) 
**FILLED: Waiting list is open. Please apply if you would like to be on the waiting list. 
Class Description: 
In this online training course, we will focus on discovering and developing your craft. While we explore this new society we’re living in Ren Gyo Soh will continue to offer essential training through an online format. I believe this adds an extra layer that is ever evolving! What is happening right now certainly has been influencing all of us as people and artists. So why not to use this oppotunity to evolve ourselves and our work? 


You will cultivate your instruments (Body, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Energy, Emotion) through training, so that you may access internal and external materials for any creative circumstances. Through Butoh training you will be revealing, discovering, and unfolding your hidden self. This is a gift and you will be able to share that with others. You will practice how to let go of yourself and be “the possible body" (Also called "the available body"), so that you may be able to transform/become living and non-living objects. Your body is a vessel. Through these movement exercises, you will learn your instrument so that you may apply it to your work. I believe everyone is different and when you bring your individuality into your work, it will blossom with unique surprise. Butoh brings vibrancy to your life and it challenges your physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual capabilities. You will develop your breathing, concentration, and relaxation skills. You will also expand your emotional capacity, extend your physical and mental stamina, and deepen your imagination. Through this practice, you develop your own living body. You may experience more living than you do in your daily life as Butoh activates your vital energy. At the same time, you will learn to let go of the self and experience the empty, unknown, mystical self. You will be fully you, everyone else and also no one... you can be space itself. I recommend this training course to someone who resonates with the ideas of transformation, possibility, availability, evolution, change, fusion, curiosity, passion, dreams and freedom from restriction. I highly recommended this course to any artist who is interested in incorporating Butoh into their work and who is in need of some creative inspiration for your work. :) 


This course incorporates Butoh Dance, Pure Movement, Noguchi Movement, Acting, Voice, Yoga & Physical Theatre (Basic Viewpoints, Basic Laban, Basic Lecoq). ​
Course Requirement
-Wifi 
-Space to move (Ideally quiet space for you) 
-Sign for the liability agrement (Take care of your health and body condition) 
Course Schedule: 
Tuesdays 8-10pm (EDT/EST) 

​Sep.22, 29, Oct.6, 13, 20, 27
NO CLASS in Nov. 3
Nov. 10,  17, 24, Dec. 1
Showcase Dec. 5 

Course Assignments & Project
-Weekly Assignments (Readings & Practice) 
-Project (Creating your own work) 
-Showcase at the end of the course to celebrate ​

Spring Course I January - May 2020

Date: January 30 - April 18 (Shifted to Online, and finished the course in May 28) 
Duration: 8 weeks 20hours (Added 5 more hours due to COVID-19 in Online class setting) 
​Tuition: $325- (variety of discount available) 
Class Meeting Time: Thursdays 7-9:30pm in person class, 6-8pm Online Course 
​FILLED 

Thorugh this program, you will cultivate your instruments so that you may access not only internal materials but also external materials around for any creative circumstances. Through Butoh training, you will be revealing, discovering, and unfolding hidden self; which is a gift that you have, and you will be able to share them with others. You will practice to let go of your self and to be "possible body" (I call it "available body" as well.), which you may be able to transform (or become) anything else (both living objects and non-living objects).  Your body is a vessel. Through movement exercises, you will learn knowledge of your instruments, so that you may apply it to your work functionally. ​

Everyone is different: When you bring an individual life into work, it will blossom with the unique surprise of each artist. Butoh brings vibrancy to your life. And it challenges your limitations physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. You will develop breathing, concentration, relaxation, emotional capacity, physical & mental stamina, and imagination. And in this way, you develop your own “living body.” You may experience more “living” than you do in your daily life. Butoh activates your vital energy. 

This Workshop incorporates Butoh, Pure Movement, Noguchi Gymnastic, Acting, Voice & Movement, and Yoga. ​
"My dance is the expansion of human concept- letting a human body metamorphosis into anything including an animal, a plant, even an object which does not have a life, and the fundamental ideology of my butoh is finding the possibility." -Tatsumi Hijikata

"Butoh is a dance of life" - Kazuo Ono

"You are enough" -Elizabeth Kemp
-----
"There is no light without darkness" -many teachers 

"Butoh is a sensation; not a presentation"-

"Butoh is breathing" 

"Pay attention to the cracks, because that's where the light gets in"
-Leonard Cohen

If it is hidden, there is a flower. If it is not hidden there is no flower. 
-Zeami (From Flowery spirits)
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Yokko is an Actor, Butoh & Theatre Artist from Japan, specialized in Butoh Dance, Movement, Acting, Physical Theatre, and Yoga. She is also a choreographer, director, Theatre educator, certified therapeutic essential yoga instructor, and USUI Jikiden Reiki Master Teacher as well. She has acted in, devised and choreographed a variety of local and international shows, having won several awards, including "Best One-Woman Show", "Best Choreography" "Best Physical Theatre" and "Best Actress" for Butoh Medea (United Solo NYC 2014 & 2015 at Theatre Row, TVolution 2018 Hollywood Fringe Awards). Butoh Medea was selected to perform in Warsaw, Poland. (United Solo Europe 2015, Teatre Syrena), toured Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015, nominated The Asian Arts Award. It has been touring Europe and Universities in the USA since 2016. (www.butohmedea.com) Other Theatre credits include Lone Wolf Tribe's Body Concert (Labapalooza! 2018 at St. Ann's Warehouse), Hide Your Fires (Hollywood Fringe 2019, Pan Asian Rep's NU Works, United Solo 2017: Theatre Row), BALDY (CRS NYC, United Solo 2013, Hollywood Fringe 2013, Fringe NYC 2012), Dance Credits Include Shira Hime Ryu (NY Butoh Institute Festival 2018 at Theatre For The New City), Hijikata Tatsumi's Last Words (Dance Medium, Noguchi Room, Hijikata Archive, Keio University, 2018), ManJuShaGe:A flower on earth, A flower (Dance Medium, Noguchi Room, Hijikata Archive, Keio University, 2017), FACET (Irondale Center, White Wave, Hollywood Fringe 2013).

Her choreographed work, SHINKA has been received several awards including Outstanding Premiere Production of a play and Outstanding Choreography from the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation (IT Awards 2019). Yokko also acted in several local and international films, one of which is the Student Academy Winner film, Cloud-Kumo (2016). Recently she has been appearing several music videos as a Butoh dancer including, HOKO - I don't know Where We Went Wrong (2020), Cage The Elephant (Grammy Winner - Best Rock Album 2017)- Ready To Let Go (2019), NOIA- AUSENCIAS (2019) directed by Amy Gardner, and POW! - Dream Decay (2019).
She serves as an adjunct faculty member at the New Group BFA Acting program at Long Island University Brooklyn (LIU Brooklyn),  and the MFA Acting program at Brooklyn College, and a guest teaching & performing artist at Performing arts university, Atelier Teatro Fisico (Turin-Italy).  She has held her workshop at  St. Lawrence University (NY), SUNY New Paltz (NY), Amherst College (MA), Actors Studio Drama School MFA, Stella Adler Academy of Acting, The Actors Studio (NYC) in USA, and also in Edinburgh (UK), Warsaw (Poland), and Izmir (Turkey). She has also taught at UNFIX NYC, Ecstatic Dance, and other organizations  in New York City.

She is the artistic director of an NYC based multi-award winning Butoh & Theatre group Ren Gyo Soh. B.A. in Theatre (UAlbany), M.F.A. in Acting (The Actors Studio) www.yokko-online.com
-------------------------
Do what you believe, 
Believe what you do; 
And, 
Surrender 
To Unknown path; 

No fear
Dark to the light,
We emerge from the darkness, 
And,
We will be guided 
To the light.

We surrender-
To the creation. 

-Yokko
AWARDS/GRANTS  Yokko has received multipul awards as a performer/actor, choreographer and director.

Butoh Medea (Performer, Choreographer)
Winner of Best One-Woman Show (United Solo NYC 2014)
Winner of Best Choreography (United Solo NYC 2014)
Winner of Best Physical Theatre (United Solo NYC 2015)
Winner of Best Actress (TVolution 2018 Hollywood Fringe Award) 
Recipient of Special Award (Thespis Festival 2018, Kiel Germany)
Nominated for Asian Arts Award (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015)
Nominated for Best International (Hollywood Fringe Festival 2018)
Nominated for Best Dance & Physical Theatre (Hollywood Fringe Festival 2018) 

SHINKA (Choreographer, Director) 
Winner of Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play (New York Innovative Theatre Award 2019) 
Winner of Outstanding Choreography & Movement (New York Innovative Theatre Award 2019) 
Winner of Outstanding Production of a Dance & experimental production (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2018) 
Winner of Outstanding Choreography (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2018) 
Winner of Outstanding Ensemble (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2018) 
Nominated for Outstanding Actress featured role (The New York Innovative Theatre awards 2018-2019) 
Nominated for Outstanding Direction (NY IT Award 2018-2019) 

Hide Your Fires: Butoh Lady Macbeth (Performer, Choreographer)
Winner of Best Physical Theatre (United Solo NYC 2017)
Winner of Best Sound Design (United Solo NYC 2017) with Jorge Olivo
Winner of Best International (Hollywood Fringe Festival 2019)
Winner of ENCORE Producers Award (Hollywood Fringe Festival 2019) 
Nominated for Best O-face Award (Hollywood Fringe Festival 2019)

ANTIGONE (Actor)
Nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Antigone, Planet Connection 2016), 

BALDY (Actor)
Nominee for Best International Performance (Hollywood Fringe Festival 2013)

En (Choreographer, Diretor)
A recipient of 2019 Brooklyn Arts Fund a new project, En.