NW Butoh Festival - Workshop 4 - Saturday, May 16th, 2026

Workshop Artist - Julie Becton Gillum

Julie Becton Gillum, artistic director of the 14-year-running Asheville Butoh Festival, has been creating, performing, and teaching dance in the US, Europe, Asia, and Mexico for over 40 years. She has practiced butoh for 27 years. Gillum was awarded the 2008-09 North Carolina Choreography Fellowship and used the funds to travel to Japan to study Butoh. Julie’s most influential mentors in butoh have been: Anzu Furukawa, Diego Piñon, Yoshito Ohno, Natsu Nakajima, and Seisaku. Noguchi Taiso has become equally important for Gillum whose studies with Mari Osanai and Emre Thormann have refined her practice. She has guided butoh for 25 years and Noguchi Taiso for 10 years.

Time -  10:00am - 2:00pm

LOCATION - New Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont, Ste 2, PDX 97214. [In the WYSE Buliding. Use building doors located on the South side of the building.] 

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL - The Northwest Butoh Festival will be held on May 13th through the 16th, 2026. There will be twelve performances over three nights and four workshop

Artists include Joan Laaga/Kogut Butoh, Julie Becton Gillum, Minja Mertanen, Vanessa Skantze, Iván Espinosa and Co, Ash Pillar, Arlo King, Amapola, Salty Xi Jie Ng, Olga Kravtsova, Monel Chang and Didi (Freddi) Wyss. Workshop guides will be Minja Mertanen, Vanessa Skantze, Julie Becton Gillum and Joan Laage.