“I loved being a part of Outsight. All communications from the LEIMAY staff were organized and clear. The space was well described and I enjoyed having ample time to tech and rehearse before the show. More importantly, Outsight is an exciting dance event for New York City. I love that it is free and therefore accessible to anyone who wants to join. Thank you for a wonderful experience!” – Deborah Black, Outsight Artist, 2019
“The depth of knowledge and artistry, and the profound generosity of the LEIMAY community are among the many admirable aspects of this program. The commitment here to welcome all participants, to honor each individual’s presence and unique capacity to engage in this practice, while providing well-considered encouragement to go beyond what we are accustomed to doing as performers, makes possible a level of achievement for each and for all as a group. The growing vision of connecting and building artistry over great distances through the use of live-streaming media is especially inspiring.” – Peggy Gould, LEIMAY LUDUS Training Group Participant, … Continued
“LEIMAY’s staff/teachers care about all bodies’ needs and made accommodations when I registered for the LUDUS training class— due to my physical disability, I wanted to give a try for the first class to see if it would be suitable for me. LEIMAY offered me a free first class and a discounted rate when I decided to register for the full course. And their teachers are responsible and make students feel so welcome as we are from all levels and diverse backgrounds. And they are also planning to install some facilities to assist people with disabilities practice in the studio.” … Continued
“The LEIMAY LUDUS Training group was an excellent dive back into movement after having taken some time off from dance classes. It pushed me creatively and physically, and gave me a lot to work with not only in the studio, but in my creative practices outside of it.” – Anonymous, LEIMAY LUDUS Training Group Participant, 2022
“LEIMAY LUDUS Lab was not only a great opportunity to learn from the deep movement and creation research LEIMAY has developed, but also a space for community and reflection on how to keep moving today.” – Cora Laszlo, LEIMAY LUDUS Participant, 2022
“The training opportunity is one of a kind. Interesting people with unique perspectives on art will take you for a wild ride. Your psyche emerges refreshed and your body properly challenged to surpass the everyday uses to which it is usually put.” – Claire B, LEIMAY LUDUS Training Group Participant, 2022
“This workshop experience was truly a gift. I signed up because I was feeling a bit lonely and isolated artistically. I hadn’t done any dance training in a while and I was looking to meet new friends and collaborators. I got just that and much more. I had researched or experienced similar forms of movement practice while studying dance in New York and abroad, but I had never done anything over the span of multiple weeks. I know the LUDUS Lab barely scratched the surface of the work that is normally done at LEIMAY; however, I could tell by the … Continued
“LEIMAY really offers a special space of liberated movement exploration. LEIMAY cultivates a space unique from many other contemporary dance spaces in New York City – the environment is warm, welcoming, non-competitive, and allows for genuine space to explore movement and deepen into artistry.” – Akane Little, LEIMAY LUDUS Lab – Yukio Suzuki Participant, 2022
“This class is the highlight of my week, I love it! In a welcoming, non-judgmental setting, physical elements are carefully attended to while the mind and spirit are revitalized. It is an honor to explore with members of this amazing company their butoh-derived movement practice called LUDUS.” – Claire B., LEIMAY LUDUS Online Class Participant, 2021
“I attend LEIMAY classes as a way to connect with fellow artists while simultaneously expanding my own personal creativity. Taking LEIMAY classes allowed me to explore my imagination in a profoundly deep and engaged way… something I don’t think I had done in YEARS. This informed my movement as a dancer and brought me immense joy as a person. I took part in the Becoming series of classes in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic and always left class feeling better than when I had come in. It was grounding, enlightening, and truly a delight to come to class every … Continued
“LEIMAY Online classes offer me a sense of warmth and openness as soon as I join the Zoom room. When I take Latin Cardio I always feel like I have walked into a dance party with close friends and my body feels great after!” – Elyse Desmond, LEIMAY LUDUS Online Class Participant, 2020
“My daughter and I participated in the online classes together. We were able to get a welcome relief from the Covid19 experience by escaping into the fun and silly world of dance that LEIMAY offered. She would look forward to the next class every week, and the lessons would often transfer into our everyday life, as I could see her considering the movement of everyday objects. My favorite part was hearing the class taught bilingually. We are a bilingual family and my children are very much used to hearing things expressed twice.” – Ruxandra Raffols, LEIMAY LUDUS Online Class Participant, … Continued
“This LUDUS lab was an incredible experience. Tadashi is a unique, powerful and playful teacher. I learned so much about the body, about improvisation, about performance that I’ll be metabolizing for a long time. I feel lucky to have worked with the other lab participants. Thank you to Ximena, Shige and LEIMAY company for cultivating such an alive and accessible artistic community.” – Michael Mangieri, LEIMAY LUDUS Performance Lab -Tadashi Endo Participant, 2019
“I have had the pleasure to be a LEIMAY guest teacher at CAVE for several years now. When I teach at LEIMAY, I find serious, intelligent, and creative participants of all ages and backgrounds, who are eager to challenge themselves. What I appreciate is the level understanding by its directors and the community of artistic concepts often difficult to grasp and to master. I find that LEIMAY is unique as it was founded by artists and the directors continue to maintain their artistic integrity. LEIMAY’s studio CAVE has been a vibrant place of concerts, performances, and exhibitions, and it is … Continued
“I want to let you know how much I enjoyed your class!!! I have learned so much about letting go and moving the body in a way where the audience is unnecessary. ‘Dance like nobody is watching’ felt like a theme. And I truly appreciate the cost reduction, because I wouldn’t have been able to afford it without it. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of LEIMAY. I am optimistic about the future though, I would really like to take classes at LEIMAY when this pandemic ends.” – Sonia Nizam, LEIMAY LUDUS Community Class Participant, 2020
“1) LUDUS Community Class is a dance class open to all which focuses on movement from an experiential perspective through set exercises, imagery, and personal and group explorations. 2) one of the many things I took away from community class is the possibility of strength without effort. 3) this class is fun, challenging, physical, thought-provoking, and you should definitely give it a try.” – Erin Landers, LEIMAY LUDUS Community Class Participant, 2018
“I keep coming back to community classes and labs because I’m fascinated by the elements that make up LEIMAY’s practice. As someone who doesn’t have a performing background it’s wonderful to have a passage into such a singular and rich body of work. Ximena and company members create a warm and inclusive space in a way that feels both freeing and rigorous. Thank you LEIMAY!” – Michael Mangieri, LEIMAY LUDUS Community Class Participant, 2019
“The training with Ximena was great, I really enjoyed what I learned from the workshops that she gave us. I found it really interesting the way she thinks about the body in terms of how to feel it and how to use it. The exercises that she taught us, I’m sure I’ll use them from now on in my warm ups, because they were great.” – Sorin Prodea, LUDUS Participant, 2019
“The training proposed by LEIMAY is very interesting because it works on a fundamental aspect when we talk about contemporary art. In my opinion being able to recognize the artistic work as belonging to the universe of the game and therefore giving it two main connotations (the focus, the play for the purpose of playing, as an act of joy, and the LUDUS, the participation inside of a series of rules to success) becomes important when we define a performative act. The type of work proposed by LEIMAY has a very strong physical component, moving from the concrete control of … Continued
“What I find fascinating each time I take the workshop is how much imagination could possibly be reached. I realize how I put myself in the limited world and forget the endless possibilities of existence. This workshop is to awaken such senses we already possess within ourselves.” – Yuri Ogasawara, LEIMAY LUDUS Summer Intensive Participant, 2019
“LEIMAY LUDUS Summer Intensive cultivated that mysterious chemistry that is present in all good relationships, both within and among participants. Ximena’s teachings quickly brought us into breath with cosmic imagination, enlivening all directions within the body. I faced myself continuously, witnessed my habits and boundaries, and through demonstrations of effortlessness was repeatedly dared to move beyond them. Together we danced the inner dance whose motivation is deeper than aesthetics, it is the dance that seeks multi-sensory physical and spiritual receptiveness and integration.” – Katherine Hreib, LEIMAY LUDUS Summer Intensive Participant, 2019
“In CAVE’s wonderful and serene space (they have white Marley floors!!!!) in May, I absolutely loved attending Zack Fuller’s 3-day LUDUS Lab workshop through LEIMAY, where I experienced total body awareness that I had wished for. Thank you very much LEIMAY!” – Michael Evans, LEIMAY LUDUS Lab – Zack Fuller Participant, 2019
“Leading Free The Voice workshop at LEIMAY was a wonderful experience. The folks that came were from all different backgrounds and it was a safe place for everyone to gather and explore their voice. The space itself, with its white walls, gave the feeling of starting from zero with space to experience growth into something new.” – Odeya Nini, LEIMAY LUDUS Lab Guest Teacher, 2019
“Zach Fuller provided a well-structured glimpse into his choreographic process. Even with attending only one day, I had a great introduction to his work and to the work of those he has worked with, such as Min Tanaka. LEIMAY labs bring me from 1.5 hours away, and I don’t know of anything like it in New York City.” – Justin Collins, LEIMAY LUDUS Lab -Zack Fuller Participant, 2019
“Nuevo espacio sagrado para explorar cómo se encuentra mi cuerpo danzarín. La verdad siempre siento cierta incertidumbre al empezar un nuevo reconocimiento de lo que tengo dentro. Vuelve a mi mente esa frase que debo ser honesta con mi propio movimiento y con lo que realmente deseo comunicar. Mi cuerpo migrante ha sufrido muchos cambios y demasiada información acumulada. Siempre agradecida de tener la posibilidad de aprender y replantear mi trabajo como artista del movimiento. Hoy empieza un nuevo viaje bajo la guía de una nueva maestra Ximena Garnica en mi vida, quien ya se robó mi corazón por su … Continued
“I had a great experience attending a workshop taught by Zack Fuller at the Ludus Lab. The exercises varied from Butoh-inspired body work to physical theater movements. I really enjoyed the space and atmosphere of the Lab and would love to participate in other workshops in the future.” – Katya Popova, LEIMAY LUDUS Lab -Zack Fuller Participant, 2019
“Throughout the Tadashi Endo workshop at the LEIMAY studio, I kept seeing and hearing new strange things that I knew in my heart were familiar. Instead of showing the audience how beautiful our movements are, he said real beauty came from the pain deep within ourselves. Instead of dancing a sad dance with sad music (which is essentially feeling sorry for ourselves), he said to be happy and appreciate our sadness, and the dance will come. This workshop has shaken me up from my roots and altered the way I experience my relationships. Thank you so much.” – Joan Wada, … Continued
“The workshop with Tadashi Endo was an outstanding experience, challenging and intense, physically and artistically demanding! I was stretched to my limit in more ways than one. There were many unique exercises designed to expand movement vocabulary and help us to find that elusive space in between our previously known reality. It really can’t be put into words, but Tadashi was our guide, prodding us to explore and find something new in ourselves. I’ll never forget his teaching that “each movement carries a question that is never answered.” It was a privilege to be included in his creative process, and … Continued
“Working with Tadashi Endo at LEIMAY deepened my understanding of Butoh in ways I truly hadn’t expected. I came to the workshop looking to reconnect with my movement in preparation for creating a piece for voice, dance and electronics. So I wasn’t sure what I hoped to get out of it except to increase my vocabulary and to be challenged. Tadashi surprised me with his very particular approach to Butoh; I’ve studied Butoh with several different dancer-educators, but had somehow missed the depth to which the form requires us to go in our imagination. I found myself allowing myself to … Continued
“Returning to CAVE to offer a two-day LEIMAY/LUDUS Lab in Voice as Movement this January was a wonderful opportunity and a true joy. Having continuity between being a guest teacher there in 2016 to the present has created the consistency and familiarity that make a space feel like a home. I have been able to grow my teaching and research by working with new people from a range of backgrounds, ages and ethnicities, and to meet collaborators for my own creative work. To me, that represents one of the best gifts of living in New York and the welcoming atmosphere … Continued
“I recently completed a 3-day LUDUS Winter Workshop at LEIMAY that was centered around the exploration of Hijikata’s Butoh-Fu. It was my first time at CAVE and thoroughly enjoyed my experience. Ximena + Andrea were excellent teachers, very knowledgeable and regardless of our previous experience, made all of us feel very welcome. As someone who doesn’t have a strong movement background, they were very encouraging and reminded us it’s not about perfection, simply participation and most of all to have fun and stay curious. I look forward to attending their drop-in classes on Wednesday in the future and keeping an … Continued
“Ximena’s Summer intensive in SOAK 2018 gave us the space to explore our physical limitations and the capacity of our imagination in relation to our bodies. Although I only attended for one day, it gave me the permission to soften back into my own practice and move again.” – Jose Rivera Jr., LEIMAY LUDUS Summer Intensive Participant, 2018
“I enjoyed my experience, even though it’s really physically difficult work (at times)! It challenges me on so many levels and that’s why I come, but it’s also really fun to be there with the LEIMAY company. I learn a lot from all of you. I especially enjoyed the development of the string –from an actual string to an imaginary string. Perhaps that string took new forms in the subsequent days. I think I learned things from excercises that I can build on in my own way and capacity.” – Abbey Klotz, LEIMAY LUDUS Summer Intensive Participant, 2018
“As a dancer and performer, I crave meaningful, critical, and rigorous work on embodied movement. Ximena constructs workshops that attend down to the subtle crevasses of presence, giving personal feedback and challenging lessons until the body finds itself changed in an extending space of shimmering, activated air.” – Nurya Chana, LEIMAY LUDUS Summer Intensive Participant, 2018
“LEIMAY artistic director Ximena said the first class I took from her that each class would be like looking at one section of an elephant, and only after a number of classes could the whole picture begin to unfold. With that in mind, each class I’ve taken at LEIMAY has a similar quality, yet shifts vastly from large to small, slow to fast, together, apart, and many different forms of rigorous. Butoh has become not simply a slow meditation, but also a vibrant, pulsing beast that falls in and out of sleep while being ever aware. Each class is a … Continued
“Discovering that CAVE was within walking distance of my apartment stripped away all of my excuses to not come and see what was going on there. What I have met with –and still meet with– in CAVE is an astonishing, refreshing kind of education that I don’t think I would have found at any other performance establishment in New York City.” – Theresa Magario, LUDUS Participant
“CAVE has played an influential role on my path, both artistically, and personally. In 2007, I moved to New York City from Portland, Oregon to perform in the 2007 Cave New York Butoh Festival, with butoh master Akira Kasai, which CAVE made possible. From that point forward, CAVE has been a very large part of my life whether through participating in workshops, attending performances, or renting space to create work. When I think of CAVE, I think of fertile ground, a space where creativity, exploration and growth are encouraged. Since 2007, CAVE has provided a place for me (and many … Continued
“‘Nobody’s Money‘ that is shown at CAVE residency program, is about connection between the body and the economic structure. In the insecurity of the economic situation in this world these days, I felt this theme of piece aroused sympathy from many in the audience. Also, there was so many participants of dancers in the workshop, and workshop was very significant work, because I could explore the possibility of Butoh with same theme of the performance.” – Akira Kasai, Guest Artist and Teacher
“Trust in human beings is the one I feel strong when I collaborate with CAVE. This is basic of Butoh and is connected to a variety of human beings. I think it is a strength of CAVE activities, and it is inseparable from solid will which is the sustainability of their high sensitivity. It is not easy to explore more broadly and deeply, but I can see the possibility in CAVE. New wine for the new leather bag. New wave of art may be born in this NY. I would like them to go forward without being afraid.” – Yukio … Continued
“It was a great experience when I had my workshop residency at CAVE. The best thing about it was the cross-cultural aspect because students are coming from all over the world. I believe this program has been seeding and soon a new generation of performers will come. For me, it was nice challenge to have workshop, creative process and performance together.” – Yukio Suzuki, LUDUS Guest Teacher
“When I entered CAVE for the first time, I was very surprised to find the theater totally in white. Especially in contradiction to the darkness in the rest of the space, but after staying a while I figured out that it reflects a perfect power generation machine, creating art. A fruitful place living out of its antagonism.” – Imre Thormann, LUDUS Guest Teacher
“From the first time I experienced CAVE’S Programs of classes and workshops, and community, I was enveloped in an atmosphere of depth, soulfulness, earnest inquiry, abundant creative thinking, seriousness, and professionalism to a degree that I had encountered almost nowhere before. Through CAVE my movement life and performance life were born. I was introduced to a new approach of movement, and “dance”, I was introduced to a new way of being in relationship with my body, and the forces of gravity, space and time. I was given the opportunity to be immersed in a crisp, and rich vocabulary of critical … Continued
“Because of the CAVE, I was able to introduce Noguchi Taiso (Noguchi technique, Noguchi Gymnastics) to New York. And now, the co-director of CAVE, Ximena Garnica teach Noguchi in NYC. And this is great because performers from all over the world can intensively learn Noguchi at CAVE and Ximena can develop the technique further. The other director Shige Moriya is Japanese so, it was so helpful for me as well. I was invited to teach and perform at CAVE in ’08, ’09, ’10 & ‘11. There are two studios and I can rehearse a lot. I was able to create … Continued
“I am a video, installation and performance artist. My work deals with the perception of being present in any given moment. To stay fully conscious and present in the moment, I suggest the human condition through a discipline of patient meditative actions, and silence. My first encounter with Ximena was ‘Floating Point Waves’ at ‘Here Arts Center.’ It brought me to find the LUDUS workshop. Her workshop helped my flexibility and core strength through, breathing, walking, crouching, and rolling exercises. Our simple movements, to understand our body, became dance. Even seeking absolute stillness became a dance. It was a great … Continued
“My experience with LEIMAY’s community class was tremendously inspiring and filled with so much joy and wonder. After training with LEIMAY, I feel that my awareness and relationship to space and movement has transformed. I will continue to come back to class to explore LUDUS, to be part of a creative community, to question the possibilities of mind, body, and voice, and to take a leap into the unknown. I think LEIMAY’s community class is a beautiful garden of play that cultivates the growth of imagination and exploration—I cannot wait for Spring!” – Veda Rouze, LEIMAY LUDUS Community Class Participant, … Continued
“I honestly regret not starting LEIMAY LUDUS sooner. I’ve had a very positive experience with every class. Classes are both physically and mentally inspiring and at times, challenging. This is a very creative class where you leave your inhibitions at the door and exit your comfort zone (and I really appreciate that). The instructors rotate and are always high quality and approachable and I even made a new friend in class. Class is genuinely fun; I’m frequently laughing. Looking forward to LUDUS commencing in March! I’m definitely returning to LEIMAY’s LUDUS classes in March and really happy to do so. … Continued
“I am consistently blown away by the creativity with which Ximena and Andrea approach and communicate movement. Classes are as mentally rigorous and inspiring as they are physically. I leave every week yearning to internalize more of LEIMAY LUDUS and to integrate its praxis with my life.” – Laura Cohen, LUDUS Community Class Participant, 2024