2025 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

2025 Salish Sea Butoh Festival

AUGUST 16—24, 2025 

PORT TOWNSEND, Washington 


* SATURDAY, AUGUST 16

JOAN LAAGE (Seattle) and ROSEMARY CANDELARIO (Austin, TX) workshops

11:30 AM – DOORS OPEN for arrival and self-directed stretching/warm up

12:15 PM — OPENING CIRCLE

12:30 PM to 4:00 PM – workshops

4:00 PM to 5:00 PM – short break + SWITCH GROUPS 

5:00 PM to 8:00 PM – workshops


* SUNDAY, August 17

SAGA KOBAYASHI (Japan) and ESPARTACO MARTÍNEZ (México) workshops

9:30 AM — studio doors open

10:00 AM to 1:30 PM – workshops

1:30 PM to 3:00 PM – Lunch Break + SWITCH GROUPS

3:00 PM to 6:00 PM – workshops

8:30 PM to 10:00 PM – BUTOH SALON (evening Lecture series)

  • Lecture and Q&A with Dr. BRUCE BAIRD on the “HISTORY OF BUTÔ: The Birth and Maturation of a New Global Art Form”

* MONDAY, August 18

SAGA KOBAYASHI (Japan) and ESPARTACO MARTÍNEZ (México) workshops

9:30 AM — studio doors open

10:00 AM to 1:30 PM – workshops

1:30 PM to 3:00 PM – Lunch Break + SWITCH GROUPS 

3:00 PM to 6:00 PM – workshops

8:30 PM to 10:00 PM – BUTOH SALON (evening Lecture series)

  • Lecture + Q&A with Dr. TANYA CALAMONERI on BUTOH AMERICA: Butoh in the U.S. & Mexico from 1970 to early 2000’s


* TUESDAY, August 19

JOAN LAAGE and ROSEMARY CANDELARIO workshops 

+ STUDENT WORKSHOP PERFORMANCE 

9:30 AM — studio doors open

10:00 AM to 2:00 PM – workshops

2:00 PM to 3:30 PM – BRING LUNCH TO NORTH BEACH COUNTY PARK

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM – rehearse at performance site near North Beach Park (Battery Samuel Walker)

6:30 PM to 8:00 PM – outdoor student performance with Live music @ Battery Samuel Walker


* WEDNESDAY, August 20 

DAY OF REST (NO WORKSHOPS) + BUTOH CABARET @ Night

7:00 PM – pre-show talk with Dr. Bruce Baird on the History of Butoh and Cabaret in Japan

8:00 PM to 10:00 PM – BUTOH CABARET show!!

Featuring Butoh CABARET Headliner MELVIN COPPALLE from FRANCE


* THURSDAY, August 21

SEISAKU + YURI (Japan) and Melvin Coppalle (France) workshops

9:30 AM — studio doors open

10:00 AM to 1:30 PM – workshops

1:30 PM to 3:00 PM – Lunch Break + SWITCH GROUPS

3:00 PM to 6:30 PM – workshops

8:30 PM to 10:00 PM – BUTOH SALON (evening Lecture series)

  • Lecture and Q&A with Dr. Rosemary Candelario on “BUTOH ECOLOGIES: Dancing with Nature as Embodied Ecological Praxis”


* FRIDAY, August 22 

SEISAKU + YURI (Japan) and Melvin Coppalle workshops + Mainstage Performances

9:30 AM — studio doors open

10:00 AM to 1:30 PM – workshops

1:30 PM to 3:00 PM – Lunch Break + SWITCH GROUPS

3:00 PM to 6:00 PM – workshops

7:30 PM – Doors open for MAINSTAGE PERFORMANCE featuring our 2025 Teaching Artists 

8:00 PM to 10:00 PM – showtime

FRIDAY EVENING, August 22 – MAINSTAGE PERFORMANCE # 1

  • Rosemary Candelario  (Austin, TX)

  • Joan Laage  (Seattle, WA)

– INTERMISSION – 

  • Eugenia Vargas  (México) 

  • Espartaco Martinez  (México)


* SATURDAY, August 23

YUMI UMIUMARE (Australia) & EUGENIA VARGAS workshops + Mainstage Performances

9:30 AM — studio doors open

10:00 AM to 1:30 PM – workshops

1:30 PM to 3:00 PM – Lunch Break + SWITCH GROUPS

3:00 PM to 6:00 PM – workshops

7:30 PM – Doors open for MAINSTAGE PERFORMANCE featuring our 2025 Teaching Artists

8:00 PM to 10:00 PM – showtime

SATURDAY EVENING, August 23 – MAINSTAGE PERFORMANCE # 2

  • Yuri Nagaoka  (Japan)

  • Seisaku  (Japan)

  • Iván-Daniel Espinosa & Co.

– INTERMISSION – 

  • Yumi Umiumare  (Australia)


SUNDAY, August 24

YUMI UMIUMARE (Australia) and EUGENIA VARGAS (México) workshops

+ STUDENT WORKSHOP PERFORMANCE

9:30 AM — studio doors open

10:00 AM to 2:30 PM – workshops

2:30 PM to 4:00 PM – Lunch Break: BRING LUNCH TO CHETZEMOKA PARK

4:00 PM to 6:00 PM – group rehearsal at performance site (Chetzemoka Park)

7:15 PM to 8:15 PM – outdoor student performance with Live music @ CHETZEMOKA PARK

^^ The beautiful City of Port Townsend waterfront where our 2025 festival takes place. Port Townsend is a coastal city on the northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest. It’s the original location where we founded our festival.

^^ A photo of a 2021 Butoh workshop student performance directed by JOAN LAAGE at North Beach Park in Port Townsend, a scenic oceanfront park that we will be performing at once again for our 2025 Salish Sea Butoh Festival.