Event
31st Annual Wreck Beach Butoh
From July 28 to August 10, 2025, Kokoro Dance presents the 31st annual Wreck Beach Butoh Performance Workshop. This intensive two-week butoh workshop led by Kokoro Dance’s Co-Artistic Directors, Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi, and Associate Artistic Director Salomé Nieto is open to anyone over the age of 18.
The performances on August 9th and 10th take place, in the nude, on Wreck Beach at the foot of the #4 Trail below the UBC Museum of Anthropology. A maximum of 30 participants will be accepted into the workshop. The workshop takes place weekdays from 9:00am-4:00pm daily at the KW Production Studio. Participants should bring comfortable exercise clothing, a water bottle, and towel. No previous dance experience or exposure to butoh is required, but the intensive is physically challenging. If you want to participate, it is advisable to come to Kokoro’s ongoing dance classes or find physical conditioning elsewhere.
Starting from day one of the workshop, we will build a butoh score built on interior imagery that will create both an individual and a group journey, 60 to 70 minutes in length. It will be performed on sand and in water whether it is sunny or rainy on Vancouver’s largest stage with lighting, set, sound, and costumes by Mother Nature. Kokoro Dance’s Wreck Beach Butoh experience is a life-altering opportunity to discover your own original dance expression.