Course
5 day Butoh Intensive. A Prayer for Lanna. February 9-14. 2027.
We are proud to invite Colorado based master Butoh teacher, Nathan Montgomery from the Movement and Ecology Sanctuary of Art to join us at Panya Forest to facilitate a transformative, cross-cultural, interspecies exchange between Land and ancestral memory. Using dance as the primary vehicle, together we will generate a space of ritualized offering. The aim is to make a prayer, an apology, and a commitment to our shared Mother Earth.
…
In our post-modern daze, we tend to neglect the truth that all we are is because of all our shared Mother eARTh has granted us. Peoples of more in-tact ways of living throughout the world have always known this and as such have birthed ritualized ways of offering thanks to continually keep our awareness of this strong. Yet for most of us, a nagging feeling of loss and neglect weighs on our hearts. What have we forgotten? What did we miss?
Dance offers us a highly effective method of memory-activation, an opportunity to not only be healed but to offer healing. As we journey together into our second year at Panya Forest we wish to revive the lost arts of feeding Land via ritualized art. Such acts are not performances, they are embodied offerings. No one is an observer in such spaces, there is no audience. We come together not for the purpose of being seen but of seeing.
We wish to honor our Forest. We wish to let our forest know that we see Her.
When I dance it is all very real, very vivid and very alive. I dance to feed all that is wild and holy in this life. For me it is a kind of ritual experience that connects me to a meaningful and deep side of life. It is a way to maintain flexibility both in my body and in my perceptions. It is a way of being in the world, of participating in and cultivating the relationship between inside universe and outside universe. Of course we all face sickness, old age and death. If we do not keep physically moving, then as we grow old our bodies calcify and bind up. The energy that flows through our joints and organizes around our chakras begins to stagnate. Dance is a way to playfully move through the different stages of our life. In the same way a flowering plant moves through different stages from seed to bud to blossom and withering so do our bodies. For me dance is this process of life and death, it is the journey from beginning to end and then beyond… This, I believe, is the only real health there is and it is possible to dance through any stage of life. You know, to be graceful, open, willing, present. So my vocation is to dance through this life and help others along the way…
-Nathan Montgomery (Master teacher/practitioner of Butoh)
Who/What is MESA?
The MESA is a creative encounter fostering knowledge, presence, and belonging to the Earth through dance, ritual art, creative celebration, and ecological understanding. We begin by viewing “art” as a sacred act of generosity, honoring our human capacity to create and offer. We reclaim the sacred responsibility to share with the living world, our mother and our sustainer. We root our creative energies in relationship rather than isolation—relationships with ourselves, our shadows and archetypes, with each other, and the more-than-human world.
The MESA revives the ancient understanding of “art” as a vital aspect of our responsibility to live beautifully within the web of creation.
To be an artist in this way is to embody generosity. Recognizing our interconnectedness with all beings inspires us to contribute authentically through our lives. This desire cultivates beauty in our actions. Art becomes the expression of our being—a heartfelt response from our deep inner world to the soul of the external world. It is a testament to our belief that if nature is good then so are we.
What is Butoh?
Butoh, originating in post-WWII Japan, is an avant-garde dance form often described as the “dance of darkness,” yet it is a journey towards light. This introspective exploration unfolds as a transformative process that engages the archetypal shadows of body and mind, inviting embodiment, realization, transformation, and liberation in service of life itself. Like the natural cycle of a seed sprouting, flowering, and withering, Butoh embraces the fullness of creative impulse with courage and a love for life that is both unrestricted and expansive.
Ritual Dance honors creativity as a heartfelt offering to sustain life. Through sacred movement, ritual forms weave us into a deeper connection with our human nature, encouraging active participation in the living world.
Each day will include physical exercises designed to open the joints and energy centers of the body as well as specific dance forms, choreography and improvisational scores. We will be working both inside the studio, but even more so outside at Panya Forest. Over the course of the retreat, participants will be supported in creating a group site specific score for a public offering on the last day. This will be a ritual feast and performance to celebrate and reveal what we called forth from our creative work during the retreat. We will create a performance with the symbolic food of our explorations as well as cooking and providing real food for the public.
Panya Forest will be providing delicious food for us grown on the farm as well as simple accommodations for participants during the workshop. In community for 5 days we honor our hosts.
This is a facilitator-held, immersive process that asks for presence, maturity, and participation. It is not passive or consumptive; it is relational and experiential. Participants are invited to arrive with a willingness to tend their own process while contributing attentive lead to a shared field of respect, listening, and creative responsibility.
Winter is coming and when in the thick of winter let’s gather in together and begin the important ritual act of cross-pollinating myriad cultural threads with a shared aspiration for intercontinental, interspecies resilience. Lets continue the ancestraly seeded work of building culture in deeper, life affirming ways.
To learn more about Nathans work, follow here.
“To dance Butoh one must embody the spirit of life itself. In this way we encounter the full paradox of embodiment within the mystery of existence. The most profound and transformative moments in Butoh practice are not the dance trainings or the performances, but rather the experiences that re-emergence in the culture of daily life together. When someone asks me, what is the daily training for a butoh dancer? I always say cooking! The authentic spirit of Butoh is realized in community where art and daily life are in constant dialogue. What better place to encounter this Butoh spirit then a place like Panya Forest.”
~Nathan
We couldn’t agree more, Nathan. The fire has been lit. The harvest has begun. We are preparing now for your arrival.
…
***Please register now to ensure a space for this very special event. For a very limited time, the course cost will be offered at a significantly reduced price.***