Raw Butoh Night - Happy Chocolate with Vangeline and Coco Villarreal

The program brings together three performances by selected artists, alongside an improvised duet, “Happy Chocolate,” by Vangeline and Coco Villarreal. The duet marks their first collaboration since performing together at the New York Butoh Festival in 2007 and premieres a new experimental work created specifically for this evening. Details about the three additional performances will be announced soon.

The evening will conclude with an interactive live music and dance improvisation: an open stage / open jam in which audience members are warmly invited to join and participate.

The event will take place at Studio dB, an independent cultural and creative space located at Uferstraße 8–11 in the historic Uferhallen complex in Berlin. With its spacious, warehouse-style setting and commitment to interdisciplinary and experimental practices, Studio dB provides an intimate yet flexible environment ideally suited to the raw and process-oriented spirit of Raw Butoh Night.

Biography of the Artists:

Vangeline is a New York–based teacher, choreographer, and dancer specializing in Japanese Butoh. She is the artistic director of Vangeline Theater / New York Butoh Institute and is widely recognized for her rigorous, research-driven approach to the form, expanding Butoh’s relevance in the 21st century through performance, activism, and interdisciplinary inquiry.

Through her all-female dance company, Vangeline creates socially engaged choreographic works that unite Butoh with activism and amplify historically underrepresented voices. She is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival, dedicated to uplifting women in Butoh, and Queer Butoh, a festival centering LGBTQ+ artists within the form. She also created The Dream a Dream Project, an award-winning program now in its 18th year that brings Butoh into correctional facilities across New York State. Her work has been presented internationally in Chile, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.

Vangeline is the author of Butoh: Cradling Empty Space and led the first scientific study measuring the effects of Butoh on the brain. She has taught widely at leading universities and continues to shape the global conversation around Butoh today. www.vangeline.com

Coco Villarreal is a Mexican Butoh dancer, director, and singer with over 20 years of training under masters Diego Piñón, Akira Kasai, and Taketeru Kudo. Born in Mexico City’s opera milieu, he has directed IX-Butoh since 2009, developing a visceral style rooted in guttural chant, anti-form, and somatic intensity. He has performed at Butoh and theater festivals worldwide — including New York, Amsterdam, Spain, and Mexico — and has led workshops and performances across diverse settings, from Tulum beaches and Berlin neighborhoods to Turkish marathons and Indonesian jungles, cultivating a global following drawn to his raw, transformative stage presence. www.ix-butoh.com

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher ix Butoh Ritual Dance and Theater