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Families can explore changes in pace and stillness through the life cycle of a silkworm, then see how photographers have represented dance in a related exhibition.
All times are local to the venue · America/Los Angeles
What can a change in speed or a moment of stillness express? At the Butoh Family Workshop with Judith Kajiwara, families will explore those choices through movement inspired by a silkworm’s transformation from cocoon to moth and through the next generation.
Kajiwara’s workshop uses elements of Japanese Butoh to explore focus, feeling, fast and slow movement, and stillness. Families will move both individually and as a group, using the silkworm’s cycle—from moth and eggs to caterpillar and cocoon—as a way to think about transformation.
Each family also has the option to choreograph and perform a short piece. The performance is not mandatory, so participants can take part in the movement exercises without committing to present their own work.
Further reading: Butoh Family Workshop with Judith Kajiwara · SFMOMA ↗
Based in Oakland, Kajiwara is a solo performer, choreographer and teacher of Butoh and contemporary dance. She encountered Butoh at a performance by Koichi and Hiroko Tamano in the late 1970s and later trained herself in the form. Her first Butoh solo, The Ballad of Machiko, was performed at NOHspace in 1996.
In 2013 she formed the grassroots ensemble OnenessButoh, which ran for seven seasons through 2020. Her teaching also includes a dance class for seniors at J-Sei, a Japanese American community center in Emeryville.
Further reading: Butoh Family Workshop with Judith Kajiwara · SFMOMA ↗
The workshop is connected to Feel the Beat: Dance in Photographs, on SFMOMA’s Floor 3. The exhibition offers a different way to consider movement: through still images, rather than through the body. One of its central works is Kamaitachi, a collaboration between photographer Eikoh Hosoe and Tatsumi Hijikata, whom the museum identifies as the founder of Butoh, a postwar Japanese dance-theater form.
The exhibition also looks beyond the stage. It begins with Bay Area dancer and choreographer Anna Halprin, whose approach drew on everyday gestures, and moves on to social dancing through photographs including Malick Sidibé’s Mali Twist. The exhibition is included with general museum admission.
Further reading: Butoh Family Workshop with Judith Kajiwara · SFMOMA ↗ · Feel the Beat: Dance in Photographs · SFMOMA ↗ · Feel the Beat · SFMOMA ↗
The family workshop is a single afternoon session.
The workshop is free with RSVP. Whether the RSVP also covers general museum admission is not specified; visitors age 18 and younger receive free general admission.
Butoh Family Workshop with Judith Kajiwara · SFMOMA ↗ · SFMOMA · Visitor's Guide ↗
Wear comfortable clothes and be prepared to dance without shoes. The workshop is recommended for children ages 6–12.
The workshop is in the Floor 2 Koret Education Center at SFMOMA, 151 3rd Street. The museum’s directions say to use the Joyce and Larry Stupski Entrance on Minna Street for education events; the workshop announcement does not specify an entrance.
SFMOMA says its Third Street visitor entrance is a few blocks from Montgomery Street BART station.
Butoh Family Workshop with Judith Kajiwara · SFMOMA ↗ · SFMOMA · Visitor's Guide ↗ · Getting Here · SFMOMA ↗
SFMOMA’s garage is at 147 Minna Street, a few steps from the Third Street entrance. The museum lists it as open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
No. Families may choreograph and perform a short piece, but the performance is optional.
SFMOMA recommends it for children ages 6–12 and describes the activity as one for participating families.
Yes. Feel the Beat: Dance in Photographs is on Floor 3 and is included with general museum admission. The workshop RSVP’s relationship to general admission is not specified.
Butoh Family Workshop with Judith Kajiwara · SFMOMA ↗ · Feel the Beat: Dance in Photographs · SFMOMA ↗
151 3rd Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
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Images from the linked sources. Each caption identifies the context of the image.
Event, planning and background information checked 2026-10-28 against the linked sources.