QUEER BUTOH FESTIVAL to Return to Brooklyn with International Artists in 2026

Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute will present the 2026 Queer Butoh Festival, set for June 24 through June 27, 2026 at 8pm at The Brick Theater, 579 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, 11211 United States. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased now.

Celebrating a decade of radical performance and embodied experimentation, Queer Butoh Festival returns to New York City with four evenings of interdisciplinary performance exploring the evolving landscape of Butoh in NYC and beyond. This year's festival brings together local and International Artists from Mexico, Belgium, South Korea, Singapore, Chile, and across the United States, highlighting Butoh as a global and ever-evolving art form rooted in transformation, experimentation, and radical presence.

The festival will feature performances across all four nights by Fana Muñoz and Moisés Regla (Mexico), Camille Raséra (Belgium), Miu Kim (South Korea), and Dani Cole (NYC).

Additional featured artists include New Yorkers Milo Longenecker (USA) on June 24-25, Zo Roze (USA) on June 24 and 27, Oscar Suh-Rodriguez (Chile/USA) on June 25-26, Eric Lichtenstein (USA) on June 26, and Robyn Wong Min Xuan (Singapore) on June 27. For more information, please visit here.

Through dance, ritual, sound, and interdisciplinary performance, the festival continues its decade-long commitment to queer expression, artistic risk-taking, and cross-cultural exchange.

Vangeline is a New York-based teacher, choreographer, and dancer specializing in Japanese Butoh. She is the artistic director of Vangeline Theater / New York Butoh Institute and is widely recognized for her rigorous, research-driven approach to Butoh and for expanding the form's relevance in the 21st century. Her work actively champions diversity and inclusion, creating space for historically underrepresented voices while carrying forward the legacy of Butoh through contemporary research, activism, and performance.

Through her all-female dance company, Vangeline creates socially engaged, innovative choreographic works that unite Butoh with activism. She is the founder of the New York Butoh Institute Festival, dedicated to uplifting women in Butoh, and Queer Butoh, a festival centering LGBTQ+ voices within the form. She is also the visionary behind the Dream a Dream Project, an award-winning program now in its 18th year that brings Butoh into correctional facilities across New York State.

At the heart of Vangeline's philosophy is the belief that Butoh can serve as a tool for both personal and collective transformation. Her work reflects a deep commitment to integrating the full spectrum of human experience-beauty and darkness alike-while reintegrating voices historically marginalized by society.

Vangeline's choreography has been presented internationally in Chile, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. She is the recipient of a 2026 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award for her upcoming work Unforgotten: Butoh for 9/11, and a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Dance Award for The Slowest Wave, a groundbreaking project exploring the intersection of Butoh and neuroscience. Additional honors include a 2022-2023 Gibney Dance in Process Residency, a 2018 NYFA/NYSCA Fellowship in Choreography for Elsewhere, the 2015 Gibney Dance Social Action Award, and the 2019 Janet Arnold Award from the Society of Antiquaries of London. She was recently awarded a prestigious fellowship at Wadham College, University of Oxford, for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Her work has been widely acclaimed both nationally and internationally, with critics praising its power, precision, and emotional resonance. Reviews have appeared in publications including The New York Times ("captivating") and The Los Angeles Times ("moves with the clockwork deliberation of a practiced Japanese Butoh artist"), to name just a few.

Widely regarded as an authority in her field, Vangeline has taught at Princeton University (Princeton Atelier), Cornell University, NYU, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Sarah Lawrence College, and Duke University. Her work extends into film, including a starring role opposite James Franco and Winona Ryder in Jay Anania's feature film The Letter (Lionsgate, 2012). She has also been commissioned by Grammy Award-winning artists Esperanza Spalding, Skrillex, and David J. (Bauhaus).

Vangeline is also the author of the critically acclaimed book Butoh: Cradling Empty Space, which examines the relationship between Butoh and neuroscience. She led the first-ever scientific study measuring the effects of Butoh on the brain (The Slowest Wave). Her work has been featured on CNN's Great Big Story ("Learning to Dance with Your Demons"), the BBC's Deeply Human podcast with Dessa, and in her own podcast, Butoh Musing with Vangeline.

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