Vangeline Theater and New York Butoh Institute present The Slowest Wave on Saturday, August 16, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at New City Center, 3104 16th Avenue, South Minneapolis, MN, 55407. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.

Program:

The Slowest Wave. Choreographed and performed by Vangeline

The Slowest Wave is a solo Butoh work choreographed and performed by Vangeline, with an original score by Ray Sweeten. This repertory work highlights Vangeline’s sculptural approach to Butoh, where stillness shapes the body into a living landscape. Her choreography resists softness, instead creating unexpected angular forms—triangles, arches, cranes—that transform the female body into architecture and living landscape. An award-winning project combining butoh and neuroscience supported by a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award, The Slowest Wave explores the thematic of waves as a symbol of femininity and female sensuality.

The Slowest Wave was recently featured in the New York Times. The choreography was uniquely informed by the protocol established for a scientific pilot study researching the impact of butoh on brain activity. For the groundbreaking art-science study, dancers’ brain activity was recorded at the University of Houston, Texas. Results were then disseminated in scientific journals.

Learn more about this science project at https://www.vangeline.com/research

60 minutes.

Don’t miss Vangeline’s 3-day Butoh workshop in Minneapolis, August 15-17.

https://www.vangeline.com/calendar/2025/8/15/butoh-workshop-with-vangeline-in-mineapolis

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Vangeline is a New York–based teacher, choreographer, and dancer specializing in Japanese Butoh. As the artistic director of the Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute, she is widely recognized for her rigorous, research-driven approach to Butoh and for expanding the form’s relevance in the 21st century. Her work actively champions diversity and inclusion within the field, creating space for historically underrepresented voices. She carries forward the legacy of Butoh while infusing it with contemporary relevance—through activism, research, and performance. Through her all-female dance company, Vangeline creates socially engaged, innovative choreographic works that unite Butoh with activism. She is the founder of both the New York Butoh Institute Festival, which uplifts the work of women in Butoh, and Queer Butoh, a festival centering LGBTQ+ voices within the form. She is also the visionary behind The Dream a Dream Project, an award-winning program now in its 18th year that brings Butoh to incarcerated individuals in correctional facilities across New York State. At the heart of Vangeline’s philosophy is the belief that Butoh can be a tool for both personal and collective transformation. Her work reflects a deep commitment to integrating the many dimensions of the human experience—beauty and darkness alike—and reintegrating society’s marginalized voices. Vangeline’s choreography has been presented internationally in Chile, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Denmark, the UK, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. She is the recipient of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award for her groundbreaking project The Slowest Wave, which explores the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. She was also a 2022–2023 Gibney Dance in Process resident artist, a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Fellow in Choreography for Elsewhere, and the winner of the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award and the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. Her work has been supported by institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts, Japan Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the Asian American Arts Alliance. Her work has been widely acclaimed, both nationally and internationally, with critics praising its power, precision, and emotional resonance. Reviews have appeared in publications including the New York Times (“captivating”) and the Los Angeles Times (“moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist”), to name just a few.

Widely regarded as an authority in her field, Vangeline has taught at Princeton University (Princeton Atelier), Cornell, NYU, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence, and Duke University. Her work extends to film as well, including a starring role opposite James Franco and Winona Ryder in Jay Anania’s feature film The Letter (Lionsgate, 2012). She has also been commissioned by Grammy Award–winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus). Vangeline is the author of the critically acclaimed book Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which delves into the connection between Butoh and neuroscience. She led the first-ever scientific study measuring the effects of Butoh on the brain (The Slowest Wave). Her work has been profiled in CNN’s Great Big Story (“Learning to Dance with Your Demons”), featured on the BBC’s Deeply Human podcast (with host Dessa), and explored in her own podcast Butoh Musing with Vangeline. She is currently developing MAN WOMAN, a new Butoh duet in collaboration with Akihito Ichihara of the world-renowned Butoh company Sankai Juku. www.vangeline.com

VANGELINE THEATER/ NEW YORK BUTOH INSTITUTE aims to preserve the legacy and integrity of Japanese Butoh while carrying the art form into the future, with a special emphasis on education, social justice, research, and archiving. For more info, visit: www.vangeline.com Vangeline Theater programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. www.vangeline.com

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