The Tree of Life: Online Butoh Workshop by Marco Nektan
2x week / for 70 min (Tuesdays and Sundays 20h CEST) / starting 28th of July
Over zoom platform.
The online workshop Tree of Life, conceptualized and guided by Butoh master and mystic Marco Nektan, is a profound immersion that bridges the Butoh dance with the ancient esoteric architecture of Western occultism—specifically the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
Rooted in the Marco Nektan Method, this digital intensive steps far away from standard choreographic frames. Instead, it invites participants to treat their physical forms as an active, living canvas to map, channel, and physically manifest the universal forces and psychological archetypes layout across the Kabbalistic tree.
Integrating Butoh with Kabbalistic Archetypes
In Kabbalah, the Tree of Life serves as a cosmic blueprint representing the path of divine energy descending into matter, and the human soul ascending back to the source. It consists of 10 spheres, or Sephirot, connected by 22 pathways.
Nektan translates this complex spiritual map into a visceral, psychosomatic journey. Participants do not merely study the spheres; they become them through autopoietic (self-generated) movement, specific breathwork, and deep creative visualization.
Rather than a static chart, the body maps these energetic centers to unlock hidden facets of the subconscious:
- Malkuth (The Physical Base): Grounding into the raw, heavy, primal "earth" layer of Butoh—connecting with skeletal structure and weight.
- Yesod & Tiphareth (The Core & Heart): Accessing emotional currents, vulnerable center-line movements, and balancing internal light with shadow work.
- The Pillars of Mercy & Severity: Exploring dynamic tensions in improvisation—balancing expansive, chaotic, fluid forms (Netzach/Chesed) with extremely slow, disciplined, rigid, and restricted movements (Hod/Geburah).
- Kether (The Limitless): Moving from the state of the "empty vessel," a foundational Butoh concept where the dancer's personal ego completely dissolves.
What to Expect in the Online Format
Conducted live via Zoom, the digital workshop is tailored to transcend physical separation, transforming your immediate room into a private sacred space.
- Esoteric Framework: Each session begins with a brief introductory lecture contextualizing the specific Sephirot or pathways being explored that day.
- The Nektan Method Breathwork: Specialized respiratory patterns establish what Nektan calls the body's unique "internal music," grounding the nervous system before moving.
- Subconscious Meditation: Guided journeys designed to liberate the conscious ego, shifting the mind into a trance-like state receptive to heavy symbolic imagery.
- Guided Somatic Metamorphosis: Prompts that challenge classical aesthetic judgment. You may be asked to embody the severe restriction of a geometric boundary (Geburah) or the decay and rebirth of matter, giving form to things normally left unseen.
Practical Information: This workshop requires absolutely no previous background in dance, Butoh, or Jewish mysticism. It is tailored for performance artists, actors, therapists, and seekers looking for an intensive, highly experimental tool for spiritual growth and physical transformation.
Benefits: every class will be recorded only for the participants to have and practice bythemself at home after the workshop. + Every participant will receive the booklet with theoretical explanation and exercises after the workshop.
Workshop guide:
Marco Nektan – workshop mentor
Prices:
Early bird (until 19th of July) – 100€
Normal price – 120€
More informations and questions:
Register here: