Current Workshop

Art of Being: Symbiotic Life

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

May 4 - June 1

Saturdays, May 4, 11, 18, 25, June 1, 1- 3 pm CST (May 11 only, 11 am - 1 pm),
5 sessions (Hybrid: In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.)

Registration details below or visit Eventbrite

We will be further diving into how to embody the composite symbiotic ways of being physically, mentally, and biologically, which mirror the way of nature and earth to retrieve what we are and where we are from.

Reverse mirroring the current challenges in society and the world, let our minds practice feeling more appreciation with holistic perspectives. Let's find and look at the positive sides of life in order to generate better relationships with people, places, and things. 

During the workshop, participants touch on parts of the Complex System as well as gain a bird's eye view. Please don’t worry if you are joining for the first time. You are an expert of your daily life and Ayako will guide you to gain and expand new physical and mental notions through somatic and improvisational movement/dance exercises.

Dance is the art of being. Ayako wants to offer this workshop as a daily practice of being,—as a human, mover, performer, artist, dancer, and choreographer. Through this practice, Ayako will share the way to find our centered, grounded, and balanced selves through imagery (and physical reality) based exercises. 

Through improvisational and simple compositional exercises, participants will raise a keen awareness of the expansiveness as well as the depth of being. Participants will explore ways to open up the body-mind as an empty conduit to welcome new wind flow through themselves and feel fullness.

Ayako will share how to expand and develop the tangible and intangible tensegrity (tension x integrity) through our bodies and minds to sense new relationships within and around us. Participants will be asked to create their own short dance at the end.

Early Bird Special for 5 sessions: $70 (until Sat, May 5); Eventbrite: $16 + $2.91 ($18.91 with fees); Single drop-in: $15-20 (Sliding scale with direct payment).

For Payment: Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Thank you!

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is recommended.

To register, please contact Ayako at furyuayajp(at)gmail.com or visit Eventbrite. 

If you are participating through Zoom, please communicate with Ayako to receive a link. 

For non-Eventbrite users, registration is complete when you contact Ayako AND payment is sent. 

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Past Workshop

Art of Being: Degrowth/Slowing Down

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

February - March

Saturdays, Feb 17, 24, March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 1- 3 pm CST, 7 sessions (Hybrid: In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.)

Registration details below or visit Eventbrite

This is the final session to culminate Degrowth/Slowing Down for now before spring arrives in Chicago, and ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth will premiere on April 19 & 20, 2024 at the Dance Center Columbia College.

We will be diving into how to embody the composite symbiotic ways of being which mirrors the way of nature to retrieve what we are and where we are from.

There are so many unsaid and even unconscious “must” pressures in society. These also change based on our age, gender, and role in our own family--and even shift in different cultures.  This time, we'll focus on finding out how we are responding to these expectations (intertwined with capitalistic rhythms) and how we can release ourselves from such patterns. Looking at where the conventional and/or social “must” is coming from and what is the true ethical reason to Be (based on human/our own nature), we will explore dance/movement together as we are--with full awareness. 

Early Bird Special for 7 sessions: $98 (until Sat, Feb 17); Eventbrite: $16 + $2.91 ($18.91 with fees); Single drop-in: $15-20 (Sliding scale with direct payment).

For Payment: Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Thank you!

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is recommended.

To register, please contact Ayako at furyuayajp(at)gmail.com or visit Eventbrite.

If you are participating through Zoom, please communicate with Ayako to receive a link.

For non-Eventbrite users, registration is complete when you contact Ayako AND payment is sent.

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Art of Being: Degrowth/Slowing Down

January - February

Saturdays, January 6 (Hybrid), 13 (Hybrid), 20 (Hybrid), 27 (Zoom only), Feb 3 (Zoom only)

November & December

Saturdays, November 11, 18, (skip on 25), December 2, 9, 16, 1- 3 pm CST, 5 sessions (Hybrid: In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.)

September

Saturday, September 2 - 30,1- 3 pm CST (Hybrid In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.)

Early Bird Special for 5 sessions: $70 (until Sat, Sept 2); Single drop-in: $15-20 (Sliding scale).

Art of Being: De-growth/Slowing Down I

2023 Summer Intensive

Saturday & Sunday, August 19 & 20,10:00 am -1:00 pm CST (Hybrid In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.

Early Bird Special for 2 (6 hour) sessions: $38 (due on Sat, August 12); Single drop-in: $20-25 (Sliding scale).

Spring 2023: Freestyle Inside Out

Saturdays, April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, & 27, 2023 1:00-3:00 pm CST

Through this session, we will perceive the age which we are living in from a bird's eye view and, at the same time, explore our origin to seek the dance we want to be expressing. This will be done in comparison with and in reflection upon how Japanese postmodern dance, butoh, emerged in the specific time and culture. 

2023 Winter: Know More Not-Knowing

Saturdays, January 14, 21, 28, February 4, 11, 18, 25, March 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2023 1:00-3:00 pm CST (Hybrid In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM, please reach Ayako to register, see below, and receive a link if you are participating through Zoom.)

This winter series will focus on Not-knowing. We will investigate our assumptions as a mover and explore the depth and richness of the invisible, intangible, and indescribable matters from science to emotion through movements to encounter facts and principles physically. It will be philosophical dialogue involved, yet it will all be connected to the wisdom so that we can apply the artistic state of being in our daily lives and beyond.

2022 Winter 1: Reflection: How did we move this year? How will we move next year?

During this term, through the three sessions, we will reflect on how we moved this year. At the same time, we will reflect on how we want to be moving next year while the earth will be going around the sun and self-rotating, tilting 23.5 degrees from the plane of its orbit around the sun. I hope we can have tea together at the end of this session.

Saturdays, Dec 3, 10, & 17, 2022, 1:00-3:00 pm CST (Hybrid In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM, please reach Ayako to register, see below, and receive a link if you are participating through Zoom.)

2022 Fall Term 1: What is ETHOS?: Special Edition

During this term, through the four sessions, we will exchange dialogue and move on ethos. How do we observe the invisible ethos within you an others currently? Let’s detect the streamline within your body and out there. Then, let’s connect and develop our awareness so that we can act and move with more holistic selves.

Saturdays, Sept 17, 24, Oct 1 & 8, 12:30-2:15 pm CST (Hybrid In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM, please reach Ayako to register, see below, and receive a link if you are participating through Zoom.)

Summer Intensive 2022

Saturday, July 23, 12-3 pm CST (on ZOOM, please reach Ayako to register, see below, and receive a link.)

Saturday, August 20, 12-3 pm CST, Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater (in person) & ZOOM (Please reach Ayako to register and receive a link.)

Early Summer 2022

Saturdays, May 28, June 4, 11, 18, 12:30 - 2:15 pm @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. (in person & details for safety will be shared after registration)

Now going hybrid: online & in person. Please request a Zoom link upon registration.

Spring First Term 2022:

Saturdays, April 9, 16, 23, 30, May 7, 14, 12:30 - 2:15 pm @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. (in person & details for safety will be shared after registration)

Winter Second Term 2022:

Saturdays, February 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2, 12:30 - 2:15 pm @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. (in person & details for safety will be shared after registration)

Winter First Term 2021:

Saturdays, January 8, 15, 22, 29, February 5, 12, 12:30 - 2:15 pm @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. (in person & details for safety will be shared after registration)

Fall Term 2021:

Saturdays, November 13, 20, 27, Dec 4, 11, 12:30 - 2:15 pm @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. (in person & details for safety will be shared after reservation)

Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale), Early Bird Special (All 5 Sessions, due by the first day of the sessions): $60

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is necessary due to the Chicago Park District's Safety Protocol. Please email Ayako furyuayajp@gmail.com, providing your vaccination card photo with your name, email, address, cell #. Also, please complete your payment before you come into the workshop.

Thank you!!

ETHOS Movement Summer Intensive Workshop with Ayako Kato

What does it mean to make ourselves empty physically and mentally? How do we dance/move differently when we achieve this state? In this workshop, participants explore ways to open up the body-mind and stay balanced.

Ayako will share her ideas and practice of how to center, ground, and align the body, and how to expand and develop the tangible and intangible tensegrity (tension x integrity) through our bodies and minds to sense new relationships within and around us. Participants will create a short dance.

Saturday & Sunday, August 28 & 29, 10 am - 1 pm @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. (in person & details for safety will be shared after reservation)

2 days: $40-50; 1 day: $25-30 (Sliding scale)

For reservation (if possible by August 12, if not at your earliest convenience, and please see the request below from Chicago Moving Company at Hamlin Park)/questions, please contact: furyuayajp@gmail.com

For Registration/Payment: Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (furyuayajp@gmail.com) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Thank you!

From Chicago Moving Company at Hamlin Park:

Upon registration, please provide your vaccination card photo (2 weeks in advance if possible, if later ASAP) with your name, email, address, cell #.

Tuesdays, April 20 - June 15, 10 am - 12 pm (9 sessions + 1 showing)

WindFlow: Going through this
with improvisation

At Hamlin Park Outdoor Lawn Area Weather Permitting＊When the weather is not permitting, connect through Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83151450498?pwd=R1ZTVE9VbGNzbXlheVBKczJrN0RGdz09

The weather is getting better, and we are seeing the light. Yet, still let dance/movement help us to go through this period with an activated creative mental and physical state of being. Ayako will share her approach to expanding your perceptions as an improviser and advocator of multi-centrism and the art of being. Let's plan our outdoor informal performance toward the end of the session sometime in June!

$12- $14/pay what you can
Early Bird: $130

For Session Payment: Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (furyuayajp@gmail.com) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Thank you!

Saturday, April 17, 5:00-7:00PM CST

LUCKY PLUSH PRODUCTIONS presents

Following Nature: Dance IT with Tensegrity

We often notice that our minds and bodies sway like tree branches, or like the wind. In our bodies, there are many common elements, forms, and functions which humans draw from nature– because we are nature. Find elements of nature moving through your grounded and centered body. Integrate your tangible and visible aligned body to internally and externally weave the intangible and invisible flow of air and energy as a conduit between heaven and earth. Through somatic exercises based on PNF and myofascial release as well as improvisational and compositional creative exercises, Ayako will guide you to perceive dance as the art of being, gaining further freedom by letting go.

Tuesdays, January 5 – April 6, 2021

(on Zoom until further notice)

ETHOS: Following Nature toward Spring 

We often notice that our minds and bodies sway like tree branches, or like the wind. In our bodies, there are many common elements, forms, and functions which humans draw from nature– because we are nature. Nature is not a resource for economic survival. Nature is where all of us are from and return.

Let’s closely sense and investigate these elements and movements in our body. Let’s really dance. Through this seminar-style workshop, with deep breathing, we: meditate quietly and actively; learn human anatomy and its functions, will find our center, axises, alignment, and spiral to move more freely; and develop imagery to objectively and subjectively weave our motions with our energetic waves. Then, we will reflect on what is nature and what is dance.

Tuesdays, January 5 – April 6, 2021 (14 sessions), 9:30 am: Zazen Meditation; 10 am – 12 pm: Warm-up & Creative session on Zoom (After March/toward spring, we may gather at Hamlin Park (outdoor as the weather permits, informed through the email list, Facebook & Instagram on the previous day). Single drop-in workshop General: $14, Professionals/Students/Seniors: $12. Early Bird Special: $140 or Pay What You Can with your passion for dance!

For Session Payment: Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (furyuayajp@gmail.com) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Thank you!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83736117846?pwd=OU5IYnpOSHVrTjltSC9VNC9WR00yQT09

Meeting ID: 837 3611 7846
Passcode: 824926

Tuesdays, September 8 – December 15, 2020 

Be a Poet:  

This workshop will take place outside at Hamlin Park when the weather permits, with social distancing. Otherwise, it will be held on Zoom (here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87827780667?pwd=QzV4eGw5ekpaVDYrRk9OZ0wzRXVDUT09 Meeting ID: 878 2778 0667 Passcode: 030187.)

Words and movements are different. Yet, the spirit connects them. How do we express and communicate through our tangible body and intangible mind? Is the movement abstract? When does it become concrete? How do we build the world through movements? How can our physical, momentary expressions travel through time in relation to the previous and the next movements? How can our intention influence space? How can we link our body-mind with the viewers’? How can an individual performer connect/link with other performers (dancers & musicians) or music/sound, sharing the same space/time to create a world?

Referencing the practice of Renku (Japanese Chained Poetry) and Haiku, participants will explore physical poetry as solo, duo, trio, and as a group (reading the air).

Before the creative section of the workshop, we will meditate (sitting, walking, and dancing) and also practice somatic exercises–particularly being aware of fascia connections in order to integrate our physical, mental, and energetic being.

Renku, haikaino renga/linked verse, is a Japanese Chained Poetry form that was established by poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) who is mostly known for his haiku (the first verse of Renku). This group, collaborative, improvisational, and compositional traditional activity is still practiced in modern days. As dancemakers and practitioners, we will occasionally refer to Renku’s rules, aesthetics, and approaches to stimulate our poetic creative self.

Tuesdays, September 8 – December 15, 2020 (14 sessions, No class on November 24), 9:30 am: Zazen Meditation; 10 am – 12 pm: Warm-up & Creative session, Hamlin Park (outdoor as the weather permits, informed through the email list, Facebook & Instagram on the previous day). Single drop-in workshop General: $14, Professionals/Students/Seniors: $12. Early Bird Special: $140

For Session Payment: Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (furyuayajp@gmail.com) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Thank you!