Accabadora is a movement collective founded by Will Atkins and Margherita Tisato. They are dedicated to the visceral intersection of Butoh dance and body hook suspension. With over a decade of collaboration, the collective has investigated the somatic resonance between these disciplines to create immersive performances and striking visual art.
Accabadora’s practice occupies the visceral intersection of body hook suspension and Butoh dance. They are guided by Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata’s ethos—"a corpse standing straight up in a desperate bid for life"—a sentiment that mirrors the high-stakes physical presence required in suspension. With over 15 years of somatic training, their work is grounded in the rigorous aesthetic lineage of Butoh and the technical precision of the global suspension community. They bridge these worlds through public facilitation and international education, honoring the cultural histories of body modification while exploring new somatic frontiers.
Their creative path is defined by the synthesis of these distinct avant-garde disciplines. Their vision is to elevate this fusion into professional artistic institutions, establishing a legitimate space for a performance language that explores the limits of the human body in ways rarely seen on conventional stages.
Their global trajectory includes engagements with various international suspension groups groups including Ontario Suspension Collective (Canada), BMX Conference and shibari studio Kor in Berlin, Gentle Soul Suspension (Croatia), Wild Sardinia and IS-ST (Italy), while remaining firmly rooted in the New York scene through the Vangeline Theater, Anchors Aweigh, and The Skin Project.
Will Atkins
Will Atkins is a New York City-based actor and performance artist specializing in body-based work that bridges traditional theater and experimental movement. A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Hofstra University (B.F.A. in Theater Studies, 2015), Will has spent the last decade cultivating a rigorous multidisciplinary practice. His work is deeply informed by Butoh dance, movement research, and body modification, creating a visceral aesthetic that explores the boundaries of the human form. He is a long-time student of the New York Butoh Institute, having trained under masters such as Vangeline, Katsura Kan, and Yumiko Yoshioka, and has further refined his physical vocabulary through intensive global study with Ido Portal.
As a solo creator, Will’s work has garnered significant acclaim, most notably for his 2019 Butoh solo "La Sangre," which won Best Experimental Piece at the United Solo Awards. His portfolio includes a diverse range of commissioned and self-produced works, such as the visual project "L’école Buissonnière" (featured in Kaltblut Magazine) and solo performances Mutation and (not) Human. Will is a frequent collaborator within the NYC avant-garde scene, performing in Esperanza Spalding's "Virgin Writes" at Pioneer Works, and appearing as a staple of the Queer Butoh Festival since 2015. His work frequently intersects with high-concept fashion and nightlife artists, featuring collaborations with designers like Uta Bekaia and PissyPussy for New York Fashion Week.
Will’s expertise extends into the technical and extreme realms of performance as a practitioner and performer with the Skin Project and Anchors Aweigh body hook suspension team. His recent credits showcase include incorporating shibari, needle play, and hook suspension into durational works for venues such as Capitale, Knockdown Center, and the Bacchanal Festival at 3 Dollar Bill. These visceral performances—such as 2024’s Punk Rites and 2022’s (outside) looking in—utilize the physical body as a site of transformation and resistance.
By blending rigorous training with visually provocative, body-centric storytelling, Will continues to push the evolution of experimental queer performance art and boundaries of the human body.
Margherita Tisato
Margherita Tisato started studying dance in Italy at the age of 8. She grew up into Humprey-Limon and classical techniques, and her long time teacher Elena Cerruto’s internationally recognized Dance Movement Therapy between East and West. Under her guidance she taught dance classes to children and adults, including diversely able individuals, psychiatric patients and court involved population from 2001 through 2006, when she moved to NYC.
A Butoh artist and teacher, Margherita worked with The Vangeline Theater for over 10 years, and has been leading classes and workshops nationally and internationally both independently and as a representative of the New York Butoh Institute. She also studied with other prominent Butoh Masters, making Butoh an integral part of her artistic and spiritual practice.
Margherita is also a principal dancer with the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble and has danced with the company since 2011, recently working alongside Artistic Director Samantha Geracht to coach college students in Sokolow’s repertory at Loyola College in Chicago, Ailey Fordham in NYC, and Williams College in MA.
Aside from dance, Margherita is a movement educator focusing on anatomy, somatic movement, and mindfulness, and her work includes teaching in prisons, therapeutic rehabilitation and alternative to incarceration facilities, as well as individuals affected by PTSD, hypermobility, and Ehlers Danlos syndrome. She co-founded temple, in Brooklyn, in 2019.
Margherita was also a guest speaker at the University of Nebraska, and the Transart Institute Creative Research PhD program with the Liverpool John Moores University, and published a paper on Embodiment and Addiction through University of Nebraska RDAR.
As an embodiment artist and facilitator whose work spans from yoga to body suspensions, resourcing from anatomy, Butoh, dance, and somatic movement, Margherita is deeply dedicated to work that is, first and foremost, truthful.