Vangeline Theater

Community Butoh classes and Butoh workshops offered to the public: The Vangeline Theater offered 73 butoh classes in 2023. In total, 1200 students attended our Butoh classes and workshops in 2023.

Butoh performances offered to the public. In 2023, the Vangeline Theater offered 15 butoh performances to the public. Performances featured professional Butoh dancers. A total of 5200 viewers watched our online and in-person performances.

The "DREAM A DREAM PROJECT: dance workshop for incarcerated men and women" is a program which reaches to members of the incarcerated population weekly at correctional facilities in New York. The Dance classes have between 8 and 100 participants enrolled and incorporate physical warm ups, relaxation exercises and Butoh dance training. Using simple movements and basic dance training for beginners, this class provides a healthy physical and emotional outlet to participants. No prior dance experience is required. Every few months, the inmates perform in front of a mixed audience of inmates and civilians. A Q&A ensues. The performances are an essential part of the program, and provide the participants with a unique chance to offer something deeply personal in front of strangers. In 2016, this program took place at Edgecombe Correctional Facility, supported, in part, by the New York Department of Cultural Affairs and New York Council on the Arts. Overall, participants reported a new openness towards others, a new ability to bond with each other, an increase in strength and flexibility, and a new positive outlook on life. The class helps them face their imminent release from prison with hope, courage and dignity. This program was recently featured on CNN's Great Big Story with millions of viewers and 165,000 online viewers. Susan Hamaker, a writer for Japanculture-nyc.com who witnessed the 2013 performance wrote: "A Triumph" "In eight short weeks Vangeline Theater's Dream a Dream Project transformed those three men who performed. In thirty short minutes the fruits of her labor transformed an entire audience."

The Vangeline Theater pioneered the first neuroscientific study of Butoh dance in 2023 partnering with the University of Houston Texas.