Outdoor Site-Specific Dance Workshop

August - September, 2024

Sundays, 4-6 pm CST on August 4: Ronan Park; August 18: Horner Park; September 1: Clark (Richard) Park
3 sessions: Meeting Spot Location MAP

*Alternative dates/times in case of rain are: For Aug 4 → Mon, August 5, 5:45-7:45 pm; Aug 18 → Sun, Aug 25, 4-6 pm; Sept 1 → Sun, Sept 8, 4-6 pm

Registration details below or visit Eventbrite

Move along with water, wind, and light! Sway with trees, grasses, and flowers!! Restore symbiotic nature within yourself, moving and dancing together outdoors this summer!! (I hope to continue this series to connect ourselves, centered around our waterway, the Chicago River.)

Participants will gather at a park designated for the day, and begin guided somatic improvisational exercises based on imagery under the shade of trees. Ayako will share some reading or some topics related to water/nature/body (this could happen during the exercises). Then, we will stroll to pick the site-specific locations both for solo and ensemble dance to happen. We create site-specific dance, practice (could be improvisational), share, and watch each other and wrap up with dialogue.

Please bring your own water bottle and snack as you need. Put sunscreen and wear sunglasses as you need.

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.

Sliding Scale (suggested donation): Single drop-in: $15-20/session (via Zelle/Venmo/PayPal or Eventbrite (suggested donation): $16 + $2.91 [$18.91 total with fees])

Early Bird Special (all 3 sessions, suggested donation): $40 (Early bird payment accepted until Aug 4 only via Zelle/Venmo/PayPal)

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. 

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: 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

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. 

During the workshop, participants dive into the slowing down practice with the guidance of Complex System. 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.

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.

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

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

January - February

Saturdays, January 6 (Hybrid), 13 (Hybrid), 20 (Hybrid), 27 (Zoom only), Feb 3 (Zoom only), 1- 3 pm CST, 5 sessions (Hybrid: In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.)

Registration details below or visit Eventbrite

Happy New Year!

We will be diving into more details of embodying non-capitalistic and symbiotic ways of being to cherish who we are and what we do as humans.

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. 

During the workshop, participants dive into the slowing down practice with the guidance of Complex System. 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.

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.

Early Bird Special for 5 sessions: $70 (until Sat, Jan 6); 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

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

November & December

Saturdays, November 11, 18, (skip on 25), December 2, 9, 16 - December 19,1- 3 pm CST, 5 sessions (Hybrid: In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.)

Registration details below.

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. 

During the workshop, participants dive into the slowing down practice with the guidance of Complex System. 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.

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.

Early Bird Special for 5 sessions: $70 (until Sat, Nov 11); 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.

Registration is complete when you contact Ayako AND payment is sent. If you are participating through Zoom, communicate with Ayako to receive a link.

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Art of Being: Degrowth/Slowing Down

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

September

Saturdays, September 2, 9, 16, 23, & 30, 1- 3 pm CST (Hybrid In Person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, Chicago, IL & on ZOOM.)

Registration details below.

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. 

During the workshop, participants dive into the slowing down practice with the guidance of Complex System. 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.

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.

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

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

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

Direct payment details and instructions are below. Registration is complete when you contact Ayako AND payment is sent. If you are participating through Zoom, communicate with Ayako to receive a link.

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Art of Being: De-growth/Slowing Down I

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

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.)

To register, please contact Ayako at furyuayajp(at)gmail.com to register. Payment details and instructions are below. If you are participating through Zoom, you will receive a link. Registration is complete when you contact Ayako AND payment is sent.

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. 

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.

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

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

Saturdays, April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, & 27, 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.)

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. 

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.

Early Bird Special for 6 sessions: $60 (due on April 22; Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale).

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Art of Being

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

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.

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.

Early Bird Special for 11 sessions: $120 (due on Jan 14; Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale).

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

VOL 8 Monday, February 27, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map

Sophie Allen & Lydia Jekot: Grocery List: Take What You Need

This class is a grocery list of games, prompts, imagery and other ingredients for you to choose from. Take what you want & leave what you don’t! Together, we will warm up our senses and bodies, tune into our desires, practice choice making, and move into low-stakes group improvisational scores that emphasize play.

Sophie Allen is a Chicago-based dance artist and choreographer who pushes playfulness, nuance and rigor to the forefront of her creative endeavors. Her early movement education in sports, namely figure skating and baseball, continue to shape her understanding of momentum, weight distribution, impulse, choice and risk. She holds a BFA in Dance and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from the University of Michigan.

Lydia Jekot is a dance artist, writer, and creative from Dallas, Texas, now based in Chicago. Her recent independent projects include “the Taste of Water,” a dance film about processing world-scale griefs also adapted into a staged performance, and “Danceable Wage,” a documentary dance film commissioned by Anti-Capitalism for Artists about funding in the dance community and Universal Basic Income for artists. Her performances in the last year have included independent work by Federica Cocom, work for J E L L O performance series by Michelle Haskell, and “Freedom From and Freedom To,” an improvisational series devised by Cristal Sabbagh. Lydia holds B.A.’s in dance and English from Loyola University Chicago. Her processes and directions are ever adapting but are broadly driven by curiosity about how to feel things, fix things, and shift things.

Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day) 

Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. All the tuition goes to the instructors of the day! Thank you!

VOL 7: Monday, February 20, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map

Sildance/Acrodanza Movement workshop

Photo by William Frederking

This is an introductory class to Silvita’s eclectic and athletic movement dance practice that connects ballet, Bill Evans contemporary dance technique, yoga, acroyoga and dance improvisation. The goal is to open and strengthen the body to make it more malleable and ready to move efficiently in a safe and playful environment with other movers.  Please bring a yoga mat if you have one!

Silvita Diaz Brown is a Mexican/American choreographer, dancer, acrobat, yoga instructor and director of Sildance/AcroDanza. Based in Chicago since 2008, She holds a BFA in Dance from Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Mexico and an MFA in Theatre/Movement from York University, Canada. For the last 15 years, her interdisciplinary dance work has been presented at venues and festivals in Spain, India, Mexico, Canada, and the USA.  Silvita uses her art to explore the self,  to celebrate her Mexican heritage and to awaken insights about gender equality and female strength.  Her goal is to discover and articulate deep strengths and insights that inspire audiences to feel empowered in their identities and futures no matter where they come from.

Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!

VOL 6: Monday, February 13, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map

Tuli Bera: Ballet Discovery/Rediscovery 

This class will be utilizing the ballet technique as a tool to understand the ways in which our bodies have the ability to move. This is not your traditional ballet class! We will be exploring, workshopping and there will be discourse. Regardless of your experience with ballet technique, this class will be approached from a perspective of an absolute beginner. We are here to question the form, learn from the form and reject what does not work for our bodies. 

Tuli Bera is a movement artist, choreographer and administrator based in Chicago.

Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day) 

Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!

VOL 6: Monday, February 6, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map

Carla Gruby: Gently Inside Out

I’m welcoming everyone and anyone to the space-whatever is stopping you from coming, I encourage you to challenge that hesitation and make your way here! I will be sharing some of my own movement philosophies, very much inspired from aspects of Skinner Release Technique (SRT) and Authentic Movement, a form of movement therapy.

Share the space with me ~ you’ll meet yourself where you’re truly at. Today you can allow our movement to embody spontaneity, creativity, and release 🕊️

Carla Gruby is a Chicago-based movement performance artist. They graduated with a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, and have since been merging their practices of dance and performance art using different mediums and influences from their own every-day experiences in the context of current socio-political climates. Gruby focuses on creating intentional visual images and landscapes that utilize the body. Some of this process can be viewed by their practice called PoorPaintings (some pieces are documented via instagram). They explore work with personas, identity, and systemic social structures, as well as re-purposing and re-contextualizing physical materials. Gruby has been very influenced by Jennifer Monson, and continues to pull ideas from her large-scale projects and environmentally connected dance philosophy. Gruby has recently begun studying for their certification as a Pilates instructor, to further merge their goals of enhancing their teaching and movement studies.

Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day) 

Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!

VOL 5: Monday, January 30, 2023, 6 - 8 pm @ Links Hall, Map

Angela Gronroos: Jūdo Practice for Dance Improvisation

Come ready to sweat and play. This 2 part class draws on my Jūdo training warm ups and dance improvisation.  We will start a Judo inspired strength and conditioning section that will get you moving on all fours and on your back floor work. The second half of class focuses on structured improvisation exercises to get us primed for group improvisations emphasizing play, exploration, and building awareness with choice making. The improvisations will hone our practice on making dances as an ensemble working in small groups and ending with a whole class improvisation.

Angela Gronroos is a dance artist and improviser. She was born in Bangkok, Thailand, raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and now resides in Chicago, Illinois. Her training as a performer started in Judo, for which she competed twice at the national level. She later studied modern dance, contact improvisation, and Butoh, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Columbia College Chicago.  She currently works with STäD, a group she co-created alongside three other improvisers. STäD is a collective of improvisers consisting of Suzy Grant, Angela Gronroos, Tina Peterzell, and Donnell Williams, whose lives have converged, departed, and overlapped over the past 20 years.

Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day) 

Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!

Please join movement exploration, practice, and reflection by Ayako, guest artist Rachel Bernsen, and AK/AUH company members on Monday evenings this winter to warm up your body-mind, and your curiosity!! See more details below and following!!

UPCOMING OPEN CLASS:

Jan 30, Angela Gronroos: 6-8 pm @ Links Hall

Feb 6, Carla Gruby: 7-9 pm @ HCL

Feb 13, Tuli Bera: @ 7-9 pm @ HCL

Feb 20, Silvita Diaz Brown: 7-9 pm @ HCL

Feb 2, Sophie Allen & Lydia Jekot: 7-9 pm @ HCL

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

VOL 4: Monday, January 23, 2023, 6 - 9 pm @ Links Hall, Map

Darling Squire: The Beattitude/Body is an Orchestra

Let's dive in and make the introductions! (From Darling)

During our time together I will be making a comfortable space for us all to share but I must give a very clear heads up that this is not a "Safe Space". What I mean by that is there are too many specifics of what might be a trigger with each individual that we will be sharing space with and seeing how I can't begin to keep up with the specifics of each person, I'm not in your head, it literally can't be  "Safe Space". I will  however do my best to offer comfort and understanding from where I stand, but if at any moment during these days you feel like you may need to walk away from something please listen to yourself and take care of yourself as needed.

Now onto the fun stuff. I will be sharing with you some insight into my new work Beattitude with is about the Beat Generation of the 1950s and their evolution into now. The work is apart of a trilogy of work im creating that is more focused on connection to spiritual being and connecting to source intelligence/ god-source/ the universe and beyond.

We will also be diving into Body is an Orchestra 

Single drop-in: $10 - $25 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day) 

Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!

VOL 3: Monday, January 16, 6 - 8:30 pm, Links Hall

Ayako Kato: Choreographic Method: Expression through Improvisation, Composition, and All in Between

We will reflect the materials Rachel Bernsen introduced and also look at Anthony Braxton’s 12 COMP 2017 score drawing. Ayako will introduce her Diagrams from 2013 to reflect on elements of improvisation and collaboration with music further and we will create the sequence of improvisational movements and own drawings/scores to perform.

Dance is the art of being. Both improvisation and composition can emerge as radical and refined expression of Freedom, Order, Life Force. Our movement/dance originates and manifests from our states of being. In this class, we will investigate the constant ever-changing nature of the relationships between improvisation and composition. Then, we physically study and reflect on how choreography can reveal the true nature of its own, following the innate principles within and around us as well as based on maker’s mind.

VOL 2 (Jan 9, 2023):

Monday, January 9, 6 - 9 pm, Links Hall, Map

Rachel Bernsen: Performance Practice: Strategies for Dance Improvisation and Interdisciplinary Collaboration

We'll engage in a guided movement meditation to bring us into the space and to prepare ourselves for our practice together. Then we'll move on to movement explorations using compositional and improvisational strategies from a range of sources, navigating these different approaches as a means to expand our range as improvisors and foster greater awareness of our own, in-the-moment choice making. We’ll investigate the ways in which they open us up to the experience of self, to connection with others and to the pleasure of being in the moment. We'll explore individual approaches to these ideas in a time-condensed laboratory process for creating a seed of our own improvisational structure or score and sharing them with the group. This could be in the form of sharing notes, discussion, directing others, or a solo performance. Our aim over all will be to leave space for both knowing and not knowing, for spontaneity, and to playfully embrace risk.

We’ll explore strategies from artists I’ve worked with including composer Anthony Braxton’s Language Music Types, and Yvonne Rainer’s “radical juxtaposition”. In addition, we’ll look at Merce Cunningham and John Cage’s framework for performance, the collaborative work of musician Bill Dixon and dancer Judith Dunn, among others. I’ll share principles developed over many years with my music and dance collective Masters of Ceremony, with composer and instrumentalist Taylor Ho Bynum, along with collaborations with other musicians, writers and visual artists.

Rachel Bernsen (she/her) is a choreographer and performer committed to interdisciplinary practice. Her latest large scale project I Know You So Well is a multi-disciplinary work in collaboration with writer Rachel Kauder Nalebuff. She recently worked with Yvonne Rainer, dancing in the reconstruction of her seminal 1965 work, Parts of Some Sextets. Other projects include multiple performances with cellist/composer Tomeka Reid and dancer/choreographer Ayako Kato; the sound/movement collective, Masters of Ceremony; multiple collaborations with visual artist Megan Craig; and several projects with legendary composer Anthony Braxton, including his immersive Sonic Genome, the opera Trillium J, and his interdisciplinary Pine Top Aerial Music ensemble. Her work has been presented in NYC, New England, and internationally. Rachel is a certified Alexander Technique teacher and has taught throughout the US, abroad and as faculty at Movement Research. She holds an MFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and a BA in English Literature from Macalester College. She lives in Vermont with her spouse and her cat, Anderson.  www.rachelbernsen.com

Single drop-in: $15 - $25 (Sliding Scale) 

Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!

VOL 1:

Monday, December 19, 6 - 8:30 pm, Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, Map

Ayako Kato: Choreographic Method: Expression through Improvisation, Composition, and All in Between

Dance is the art of being. Both improvisation and composition can emerge as radical and refined expression of Freedom, Order, Life Force. Our movement/dance originates and manifests from our states of being. In this class, we will investigate the constant ever-changing nature of the relationships between improvisation and composition. Then, we physically study and reflect on how choreography can reveal the true nature of its own, following the innate principles within and around us as well as based on maker’s mind.

Art of Being

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

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

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.)

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.

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.

Early Bird Special for 3 sessions: $35 (due on Dec 3; Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale).

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

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

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.)

During this term, through the four sessions, we will exchange dialogue and move on ethos. What 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.

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.

Early Bird Special for 4 sessions: $50; Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale).

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is necessary due to the Chicago Park District's Safety Protocol. To complete registration, please email Ayako furyuayajp@gmail.com (if you are the first time participant) by providing your vaccination card photo with your name, email, address, cell#. For those who already shared info above, no need to share info again. Also, please complete your payment before you come into the workshop.

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

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.)

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.

Saturdays, July 23 (ZOOM only, Ayako will be logging in from CA) & August 20 (Hybrid in person @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. & ZOOM), 12:00 - 3:00 pm (in person & details for safety will be shared after registration)

Single drop-in: $20-25 (Sliding scale), Early Bird Special (2 Sessions, due by the first day of the sessions): $40

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is necessary due to the Chicago Park District's Safety Protocol. To complete registration, please email Ayako furyuayajp@gmail.com (if you are the first time participant) by providing your vaccination card photo with your name, email, address, cell#. For those who already shared info above, no need to share info again. Also, please complete your payment before you come into the workshop.

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

Early Summer 2022

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

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.

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)

Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale), Early Bird Special (All 4 Sessions, due by the first day of the sessions): $50

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is necessary due to the Chicago Park District's Safety Protocol. To complete registration, please email Ayako furyuayajp@gmail.com (if you are the first time participant) by providing your vaccination card photo with your name, email, address, cell#. For those who already shared info above, no need to share info again. Also, please complete your payment before you come into the workshop.

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

Winter Second Term ends on April 2 and the practice continues every Saturday as:

Spring First Term 2022:

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

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.

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)

Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale), Early Bird Special (All 6 Sessions, due by the first day of the sessions): $70

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is necessary due to the Chicago Park District's Safety Protocol. To complete registration, please email Ayako furyuayajp@gmail.com (if you are the first time participant) by providing your vaccination card photo with your name, email, address, cell#. For those who already shared info above, no need to share info again. Also, please complete your payment before you come into the workshop.

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

Winter First Term 2022:

Now accepting remote participants as well as in person. Upon registration, please request a Zoom link. Thank you.

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.

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)

Single drop-in: $12-15 (Sliding scale), Early Bird Special (All 6 Sessions, due by the first day of the sessions): $70

Registration (including for drop-in anytime) is necessary due to the Chicago Park District's Safety Protocol. To complete registration, please email Ayako furyuayajp@gmail.com (if you are the first time participant) by providing your vaccination card photo with your name, email, address, cell#. For those who already shared info above, no need to share info again. Also, please complete your payment before you come into the workshop.

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

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

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.

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, and upon registration, please provide your vaccination card photo with your name, email, address, cell #.

Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com

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

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 (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)

At Hamlin Park Outdoor Lawn Area Weather Permitting

When the weather is not permitting, please 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!