Peling Dri Cham, Sword Dance, Tamzhing Monastery, Bhutan


Core of Culture Presents:

Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind

A five-week course with dance researcher, writer, producer, and cultural preservationist Joseph Houseal drawing upon forty years of work with ancient and Asian dance traditions and his new book, Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind, to explore five remarkably different Buddhist movement traditions: Japan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.


With guest experts Fujima Kanso-o, Dr. Thinles Dorje, Prajwal Vajracharya, Karen Greenspan, John Houseal, and Sujan Shrestha


Tuesdays October 6, 13, 20, 27 and November 3, 2026

5:00 - 6:30pm Central Time (Chicago)

(3pm Pacific Time | 6pm Eastern Time)

Check your time zone

Registration

Includes one year access to video recordings of sessions and excerpts from the book corresponding to each week’s class. (See below for details on how to purchase the book with discount from the publisher.)

Noh mask zo-onna. Kyoto, Japan


What happens when we approach Buddhism through movement?

We usually encounter Buddhism through teachings, texts, meditation, philosophy, and sacred art. Yet across Buddhist cultures, movement and dance have also been powerful means of transmitting knowledge, transforming consciousness, embodying deities, preserving memory, and enacting Buddhist ideas.

In this five-week course, dance researcher, writer, producer, and cultural preservationist Joseph Houseal draws upon forty years of work with ancient and Asian dance traditions and his new book, Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind, to explore five remarkably different Buddhist movement traditions: Japan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.

Each week will open a different cultural world. Through film, photographs, movement analysis, stories from the field, discussion, and conversations with guest experts, we will look closely at what these dances do—not only what they look like.

The course will also explore the book’s innovative GIS maps, created by John Houseal and Sujan Shrestha from cultural data sets assembled for each chapter. These maps offer a new way of seeing Buddhist dance: locating traditions in relation to geography, cultural transmission, pilgrimage, history, and one another. John Houseal and Sujan Shrestha will join the course as guest speakers to introduce this innovative dimension of the book.

How does movement become meditation? How can the dancing body embody a deity, transmit a teaching, preserve an ancient lineage, or alter states of mind? And what might these traditions reveal about the nature of dance itself?

No previous knowledge of Buddhism or dance is necessary. The course will be of particular interest to practitioners of contemplative, movement, healing, artistic, and embodied traditions, as well as anyone curious about the relationship between movement and mind.

The course follows the first five chapters of Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind. A companion course in Spring 2027 will explore the remaining five chapters: China, Mongolia, Tibet, England, and the United States.


Newar Tantric Buddhist priest, Prajwal Vajracharya, Kathmandu, Nepal

 

 


The Book

Having a copy of Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind is highly recommended and will enrich the experience of the course. The book is a separate purchase and is not included in the course fee.

Students receive a 40% discount when purchasing the book from its publisher, Motilal Banarsidass, using the code MLBD40. 

The book is also available through Amazon.

Purchasing the book is not required, however. Each week, students will receive selected excerpts from the book corresponding to that week’s class, so that everyone has access to the relevant reading and can participate fully. Materials and images will be made available in advance of each session through the Yangchenma student portal.





From Rebecca Wong’s review of Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind:

“Movement and Mind is far more than an academic survey; it is a recovered atlas of kinetic wisdom and a poignant record of endangered traditions.”

“What if dance could be a sophisticated technology of consciousness, a moving meditation, a sacred vessel for enacting enlightenment itself?”

Read Rebecca Wong’s two-part review at Buddhistdoor Global:
Read Part 1 | Read Part 2


Zhanag, Black Hat Dance, Yungdrung Choeling Dzong, Trongsa, Bhutan




ABOUT CORE OF CULTURE:

Core of Culture educates the public, practitioners and scholars about disappearing cultural heritage.  We are dedicated to safeguarding intangible world culture, and assisting the continuity of ancient dance tradition, and embodied spiritual practices where they originate, and beyond.




About your Instructor

Joseph Houseal

Joseph Houseal is the founder and director of Core of Culture, a 25-year-old organization dedicated to the continuity of ancient dances, and movement traditions in the healing, meditation, and martial arts. A contributor to Ballet Review, in New York, for 34 years. Houseal writes a monthly column, Ancient Dances, for the online journal Buddhistdoor Global, now for more than 10 years. After a long and successful career performing, choreographing and directing throughout the world, Houseal is now internationally recognized as a leading expert in ancient dance, movement theory, and cultural preservation. Scholars, museums, monasteries, and academic institutions worldwide seek his expertise specifically regarding endangered dance lineages and sacred ritual performance. His fieldwork has earned prestigious accolades, such as the Conde Nast Global Vision Award for Cultural Preservation, the Banff Mountain Culture Award, and a Best Practices citation from the Dance Heritage Coalition. Houseal is the author of the recently published pioneering book, Buddhist Dances: Movement & Mind. (Motilal Banarsidass, 2025)

Guest Experts

  • Fujima Kanso-o

    Fujima Kanso-o is the professional Nihon Buyō stage name of dancer and choreographer Heidi S. Durning, of Kyoto, Japan. Her name ties her directly to the prestigious Fujima school of dance, one of the most prominent lineages in Kabuki choreography and classical dance. Heidi is a world-renowned dancer and choreographer. She choreographs and presents original fusion works in various countries, collaborating with artists from around the world, across many genres, and engages in projects based on cultural exchange.

  • Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya

    Prajwal grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal, in a renowned family of scholars and priests of the Vajracharya caste, steeped in the traditions of the Newar culture. His Vajracharya Vishekha initiation by his father, a lineage holder in the Newar Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, ordained him to perform the rituals and ceremonies of this ancient religion. Since that time he has received additional training and initiations in Nepal to enable him to further his work, initiate others, and preside over the 2009 consecration of the Nritya Mandala Mahavihara, the first fully-functioning Newar Vajrayana Buddhist temple in the West. Prajwal is often called upon to perform sacred dances and other religious rituals throughout the world. He teaches the ancient Buddhist dance form, Charya Nritya, as part of his teaching Newar Buddhism world wide. He is considered among the finest exponents of the form.

  • Dr. Thinles Dorje

    Dr. Thinles Dorje is a scholar and researcher specializing in Buddhist ritual traditions and Himalayan cultural heritage. He earned his PhD from Panjab University in Chandrigarth, an MA in Buddhist Studies from the University of Delhi, and a Shastri/BA from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi. He directs and conducts field research for Core of Culture and sits on their Board of Directors. He is also a founding member of Himalaya House, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Himalayan culture. A former monk, now advocate for Ladakhi culture, Dr. Thinles works as a translator, writer, and cultural researcher.

  • John Houseal

    John Houseal is recognized as one of the foremost practitioners in innovative urban planning. He has worked with hundreds of cities across the globe, providing leadership to address increasingly complex challenges. As partner and cofounder of Houseal Lavigne, John’s creative approach and commitment to innovation have earned multiple national and state-level awards, including theNational Excellence Award from the American Planning Association. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a sought-after national speaker on the evolving practice of planning, exploring how innovation and emerging technologies are transforming the way communities plan, design, and shape their futures. John designed maps for Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind, by Joseph Houseal.

  • Sujan Shresthra

    Sujan Shresthra is an urban planner and a GIS specialist at Houseal Lavigne where he works with communities across all scales, ensuring the planning process is data driven and participatory by design. Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, he practiced as an architect for several years and was an adjunct lecturer at his alma mater, Khwopa Engineering College, before pursuing an Urban Design degree at Carnegie Mellon University. Sujan is passionate about understanding and preserving local culture, intangible heritage, and building a sense of community. He presented research on the urban regeneration of a historic core in Kathmandu Valley in 2016, and his work on urban commons is featured in the travelling exhibition An Atlas of Commoning. Other past experiences include extensive research and presentations on post-disaster reconstruction of historic cities in Nepal. Sujan designed maps for the book, Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind by Joseph Houseal.

  • Karen Greenspan

    Karen Greenspan is a New York City-based dance journalist, and contributor to Fjord Review, Ballet Review, Natural History, Tricycle Magazine, and Buddhistdoor Global, among other publications. She is the author of Footfalls from the Land of Happiness: A Journey into the Dances of Bhutan, published in 2019. Karen has made eight trips to Bhutan as well as several visits to India and Nepal to study and observe Vajrayana dances and to interview practitioners. She maintains her own personal practice of these dances.

The Book

Students receive a 40% discount when purchasing the book from its publisher, Motilal Banarsidass, using the code MLBD40.

Buddhist Dances: Movement & Mind is a pioneering exploration of sacred dance as a living expression of Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and ritual. Drawing on decades of fieldwork across Asia—from remote Himalayan monasteries to urban temples in Japan and Sri Lanka—Joseph Houseal brings to light a profound but often overlooked dimension of Buddhist practice: dance and movement. This richly illustrated volume documents rare and endangered Buddhist dance traditions in ten countries, including Japan, Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, Tibet, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, England, and the United States. Through skillful ethnography, documentation, interviews with lineage holders, and firsthand observation, Houseal shows how Buddhist dances are not merely performances, but embodied teachings that transmit memory, myth, and mind-training across generations. The final chapters turn westward, featuring the work of Antony Tudor in Ballet, and Merce Cunningham in Modern Dance. At once rigorous scholarship, cultural preservation, and personal journey, Buddhist Dances combines trained observation with vivid storytelling. It reveals how movement bridges the visible and the invisible, the ritual and the aesthetic, the ancient and the contemporary. With more than 250 original color images—many published for the first time—this book is both a visual record and a heartfelt tribute to the vitality of Buddhist movement traditions. Perfect for readers interested in Buddhist studies, Asian performing arts, anthropology, and the meditative dimensions of movement, this groundbreaking work affirms dance as a profound expression of the human spirit.
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