DENISE FUJIWARA is a choreographer, dancer, actor, dance impresario and teacher with 27 years of professional experience. Fujiwara’s dance has been featured in dance festivals in Seattle, Washington DC, Vancouver, Calgary, Copenhagen, Ecuador and India. Based in Canada, Fujiwara continues to develop original solo and ensemble dance performance
Takuya Ishide was born in Tokyo in 1958. Former student of Ishi Mitsutaka and Tatsumi Hiikata, he performed in Hijikata’s last work, Tohoku Kabuki Keikaku 2 and 4 in 1985 with Min Tanaka. He also danced with Saburo Teshigawara’s Company, KARAS, touring in France. His solo work has toured Korea, Japan, U.S., and Europe.
Taketeru Kudo trained under two of butoh’s most famous dancers, Akiko Moto- fuji (the widow of butoh’s co-creator Tatsumi Hijikata) and the famed butoh group Sankai Juku (with whom he danced for 5 years and toured internationally). Kudo left Sankai Juku to form his own company in 1997 and began to work with free-jazz musicians from Japan’s urban enclave.
Yoshito Ohno is the son of butoh legend Kazuo Ohno and is a renowned dancer and teacher. His career has literally spanned the entire history of butoh. Since 1986, he has directed all of Kazuo Ohno’s performances, as well as creating solo work and teaching.
Atsushi Takenouchi joined Hoppo-Butoh-ha in Hokkaido, Japan in 1980. He has been developing his own “JinenButoh” since 1986, touring and teaching extensively throughout Japan, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and Australia. His work is concerned with universal expressions of nature, earth, and ancient life.
Mari Osanai is trained in classical ballet, Noguchi Gymnastics, yoga, tai chi, and hip hop. Her unique movements are realized through interweaving these diverse techniques with the philosophy and practice of Noguchi Gymnastics.
Yuko Kaseki is a freelance dancer, choreographer and teacher in Berlin. Kaseki has developed her own rich choreographic vocabulary that is rhythmic and elegant. Yuko Kaseki has lived and worked as a freelance dancer, choreographer and teacher in Berlin since 1995. From 1989 to 2001, she was the primary dancer in Anzu Furukawa’s seminal butoh group Dance Butter Tokio. With her company cokaseki (formed with Marc Ates), Kaseki has developed her own rich choreographic vocabulary that blends butoh with modern dance techniques. heh as performed her solo and ensemble work throughout Europe, Japan and the U.S., and since 2001 has … Continued
Evan Mazunik – pianist, composer, and Soundpainter – is assistant conductor of the New York Soundpainting Orchestra. As a composer, he scored the documentary “The Checker King,” which aired on HBO2. As a performer, he has played with Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Dick Oatts and Robert Paredes. Mazunik is also keyboardist for the Walter Thompson Orchestra www.evanmazunik.com
AKIRA KASAI has been called the “Niinsky of butoh” because of the stunning energy and concentration of his wild improvisational dances. In the 1960s, he studied with butoh co-founder Kazuo Ohno, and in 1971 started his own butoh company, Tenshi-kan. He moved to Germany in 1979 and trained there for six years in eurhythmy. A pivotal figure in the butoh world, since his return to Japan, he has cultivated his own highly idiosyncratic style of dance, pushing the envelope of butoh by mixing in elements as diverse as German eurhythmy, kabuki and hip-hop. Akira Kasai, born in 1943, originally studied … Continued
Berlin-based group cokaseki is led by Yuko Kaseki (choreographer/dancer) and Marc Ates (choreographer/director)w, ho have performed their work throughout Europe,J apan and the U.S. Their last production Ame to Ame was nominated for Visual design at the 2005 Isadora Duncan Dance Awards in San Francisco- the piece received the Award for ‘Best Ensemble Work’. www.cokaseki.com
Masaki lwana began his dance career in 1975 outside the “butoh genealogy.” Until 1982 he presented 150 experimental performances in which he stood straight, completely naked and perfectly still. Since then, lwana has presented his performances and workshops in 38 countries and has created works which are built on his sharpened aesthetic. Iwana runs an institute for the research of butoh, La Maison du Butoh Blanc, in Normandy, France since 1995. www.iwanabutoh.com
Kan Katsura, a native of Kyoto born in 1948, is a butoh dancer from Japan’s third generation of ankoku butoh (dance of darkness). He performed with the seminal butoh troupe, Byakkoshakn own for its austerity and integrity, rather than the theatrical glamour other troupes became known for. He is a celebrated solo and collaborative performer as well as choreographer and he established his own group KATSURA Kan & Saltimbanques in 1986. Kan has worked with what he calls “minority dancers” all over the world, in remote locations from Africa to South East Asia, for the past 26 years.
Jack Wright, a musical explorer for the past twenty years, plays alto, tenor, and sopranos axes, contralto clarinet, and piano, in every possible direction, but rarely what is recognizable.
Azumaru is a rising star of the butoh dance world. In 1999 he became a member of the acclaimed butoh group Dairakudakan and began training with its legendary director Akaji Maro. He choreographed his first performance S,uccession of the Beast, in 2003. In 2005 he left Dairakudakan to pursue a solo career.
Born in 1941, Daisuke Yoshimoto has collaborated with the greatest artists of butoh, such as Kazuo Ohno, Hisayo lwaki and Yukihiko Sakai. Primarily a solo artist, over the past twenty years he has carved out his own unique and theatrical style. Based in Tokyo, he tours and teaches workshops internationally. Eros and Thanatos premiered in 2004 at the Grotowski Center in Poland and subsequently toured to Spain. Daisuke Yoshimoto’s dance experience also includes collaborations with Kazuo Ohno, Hisayo Iwaki, and Shoji Kojima. Primarily a solo artist, over the past 20 years he has carved out his own unique theatrical style, … Continued
Yumiko Yoshioka was a founding member of the first all-female butoh company Ariadone and has been instrumental in bringing butoh to Europe first with Ariadone in Paris in 1978 and then in Berlin with tatoeba THEATRE DANSE GROTESQUE (1988-1994). She has toured and taught extensively in Japan, Europe, Russia Israel and both North and South America and presently is based at schloss broellin in eastern Germany where she runs the company TEN PEN Chii art labor with visual artist Joachim Manger and musician Zam Johnson. Since 1995 she also has been an artistic director of “eX .. it! Dance Exchange … Continued
Yuko Kawamoto wants to express light in darkness, movement in tranquility and a strong sense of existence.She trained in ballet before her work with Shinonome Butoh.
Initially trained in modern dance.She then studied intensively with Yukio Waguri, and under his guidance formed the Tokyo-based group Shinonome with Yuko Kawamoto and Asuka Shimada in the mid 1990s.The word shinonome comes from the Japanese term for the twilight sky, when the darkness fades away in daylight. Shinonome’s fresh approach differs from what has been translated in the West as butoh’s “dance of darkness” – instead they show a more twilight world that balances the dark and the light. Chisato Katata’s website: http://www.shinonomebutoh.com
Zack Fuller is a DIY dancer/choreographer and self-taught musician. From 1985-1986 he was the lead singer for the Washington DC post-punk psychedelic metal band Scythian, sharing stages with groups such as Bad Brains, Black Market Baby, and Pussy Galore. He has performed in many dances under the direction of Min Tanaka, including Poe Project in 1997. He co-headlined the 2019 Boston Butoh Festival with Yuko Kaseki, and his dances have been presented at Leimay/CAVE, Movement Research at Judson Church, Plan B in Tokyo, Mobius in Boston, The Dance Hakushu Festival, The New England Conservatory of Music, and elsewhere.
Ko Murobushi trained and performed with butoh’s creator Tatsumi Hijikata and was a founding member of Dairakudakan, the longest-running butoh company. His influential group Ariadone introduced Europe to butoh in 1978. Based in Japan, he leads the Edge Company and tours internationally throughout Europe and South America. Ko Murobushi trained and performed with butoh’s creator Tatsumi Hijikata and was a founding member of Dairakudakan, the longest-running butoh company. In 1974, he founded the female butoh company Ariadone with Carlotta Ikeda; two years later he founded Sebi, a corresponding all-male butoh group. In 1978, Murobushi introduced butoh to Europe with a … Continued
Shinichi Iova Koga is an actor and dancer, has performed internationally since 1988. Artistic Director of the butoh group inkBoat in San Francisco, his theatrical, multi-media pieces are heavily influenced by his training in film, butoh, Action Theater and Suzuki method. Shinichi MOMO Koga is a silent actor and Butoh dancer(Hijikatalineage) whose productions, both solo and ensemble, have been causing havoc since 1988. As teacher, performer and as the Artistic Director of inkBoat, Koga restructures dance, theater and cinema forms, extracting the vital essence of each to create a sharper reality. Koga’s works have been presented throughout Europe, Japan and … Continued
Yukio Waguri was born in Tokyo in 1952. In 1972, he became the pupil of’ Tatsumi Hijikata. He established his own group Yukio Waguri +Kohzensha, releasing solo and group dance works in Tokyo. Waguri inherited and developed Hiikata’s method of choreographic notation, which evokes body image through language. He isknown for his solid and lithe body, beautiful shape, and rich expressive power. He collaborates closely with musical and theatrical artists and is highly praised as a dance designer and a stage director. He released the CD-ROM, Butoh- Kaden in 1998, which was re- released in 2006. Yukio Waguri, the artistic … Continued
Dawn Akemi Saito is an actress, performance artist, writer and butoh dancer. She has collaborated with major innovative performance groups in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America. Her multi-disciplinary works include: Blood Cherries, directed by Jonathan Rosenberg and Sabrina Peck at Dance Theater Workshop; A Face of Our Own, in collaboration with composer Myra Melford presented at the Orpheum Theatre in Graz, Austria; Leaves, Water, Sun presented at the Berkshire Theatre Festival; HALO presented at the Asian American Theatre Workshop at MarkTaper and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica; HA, a solo dance-theatre piece directed by Maria Mileaf and … Continued
SU-EN (Susanna Akerlund) is a dancer and choreographer from Sweden, and artistic director of the SU-EN Butoh Company. Her work is based on the Hijikata/Ashikawa method that was developed in the Tomoe Shizune & Hakutobo group. For five years, SU-EN was a member of the student group GNOME for which Yoko Ashikawa choreographed. SU-EN also holds a nattori license in Jiuta-mai Japanese dance. Since 1994 SU-EN has developed her work in a more contemporary direction: incorporating a variety of influences – from Nordic culture and landscape to conceptual and performance art. SU-EN teaches and performs extensively in Sweden and internationally. … Continued
Joan Laage, Artistic Director of Dappin’ Butoh since 1991, moved to Seattle after studying under butoh masters Kazuo Ohno and Yoko Ashikawa in Japan, and performing in Ashikawa’s group, Gnome. She has taught butoh workshops in the Seattle area for over 10 years and has been a guest artist at Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and UNITEC in New Zealand.
Photography exhibitions at NYBF 2003
DREW FORD was born on a farm in Western New York, south of Buffalo. He has since left the farm to pursue his creative endeavors. In the past, Ford has been known to create works which involve ceramics, video, installation and illustration. In the current greenman world work, Ford investigates issues of balance between individuality and social connectivity. He was a published comic book artist and writer before turning his attention to fine art. Ford began showing his work in galleries around 2002. He has created works using everything from new media and ceramics to drawings and performance.
Before receiving an M.A. in Religion, she received a BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts, taught dance at UPenn, and danced with Dappin Butoh, Degenerate Art Ensemble, PAN and low crawlers high flying in Seattle. She danced with Ausdruckstanz in Philly, sang with the Philadelphia Chamber Chorus, and risked her life via bicycle on the streets of Philadelphia.
Yoyoyogasmana was born in Bandung, Indonesia. In 1996, he graduated from IKIP Bandung/Fine Art Department. His performance work has been presented in numerous galleries and festivals in countries, such as: Taiwan, Poland, Finland and Japan. He is also an art organizer working with Indonesian organizations such as the TMIB [Student Theater Group of IKIP BANDUNG] B+PAC [Bandung Performance Art Community], IAPAO [ International Association of Performance Art Organizers] and LINKART [ Forum Apresiasi Budaya ]. Yoyoyogasmana has been selected to be an artist-in-residence at CAVE for three months, his residency will finished in December 2005. People seem always be interested … Continued
Shiho was born in Japan in 1981 and moved to Canada when she was 15 years old. She received her BA in Arts and Theater from The City College of New York in 2004 and has been an artist in residence at CAVE for the past year. Currently she is part of CAVE staff.
After studying the traditional rules of painting, such as color, composition and proportion for many years, German born artist Eva Ullrich decided to work against those rules to demonstrate their limitations. She is greatly inspired and finds encouragement by working together with well known painter Larry Poons. He stresses the importance of being absolutely non-judgmental about the work the artist produces and the essence of having no expectations. “The moment you start thinking about art, you stop making art.” -Larry Poons Eva Ullrich’s purpose as an artist is not to please, rather to confuse the viewer with her somewhat disturbing … Continued
Yeon Jin Cho was Born in Seoul, Korea. She was an art director in the film and advertising world before turning her attention to fine art. Her installations includes everything from drawings and projections to found objects and time based elements. Cho’s work desires to explore the innocent, beautiful time before adulthood.
Watanabe Tadashi is an artist based in Japan. He often does performance, making conceptual paintings, so that viewers can observe the passage of action within his installations. Recent solo exhibitions of his work have been presented in the Sharjah International Biennial 6, ‘United Arab Emirates and TRIBES Gallery and GALAPAGOS in New York. Short Description Therefore space influences who we think we are, our very spirit. So I began by questioning: Is there anyone who understands the real nature of space? The question ‘what is the power of space?’ started to intrigue me. I have used my work to express … Continued
Ted Stanke was born and raised in Wisconsin and from an early age he was encourage to focus his time on making art. At the age of 23 he dropped out of college and started his own gallery in downtown Lacrosse, a small town on the Mississippi River. A few years later, he was offered a position in the MFA program at the University of Delaware where where he spent 2 years focusing on large-scale sculpture. After graduation, he moved to Brooklyn and have constantly sought fresh avenues for his work. Most recently, he have functioned as the coordinator of … Continued
Vanya Polunin was born into a family of performers in 1986 in Russia. Vanya has always been on the road with his family performing and participating in his fathers shows and projects in over 30 theaters around the world. Ever since he first started doodling as a child he had a dream of becoming a painter. Never having a permanent place of living it was hard for him to fulfill his dream. But now, he spent a year in New York not traveling. He started taking art courses, was performing in an off-Broadway show “Slava’s Snow Show” that he was … Continued
Kaname Moriya was born in 1936, Kyoto Japan. He graduated with honors in 1962 from the Kyoto University of Fine Arts. Since 1963 his work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in Japan, USA and in Europe. His work has received various honors such us the 1974 Competition Winner from the Kyoto Design, 1978 from the Tokyo Nichido Garou and to 1983 from the Chiba Fine Art Museum in Tokyo. Moriya’s work is inspired by the Japanese kimono. Moriya, is one of the most distinguished kimono designers in Japan, pushing kimono design into the realms of geometric minimalism. Kaname Moriya … Continued
Christine Coleman in a nut shell: Began studying butoh in 2001, performs with Tanya Calamoneri – SO.GO.NO Anemone Dance Theater,Corinna Brown (Hiller)-Dean Street FOO Dance, Chris Ferris and Dancers, and Celeste Hastings – Butoh Rockettes. Christine’s choreography was shown at CRS in June 2008.
Throughout her painting career, HELEN MITCHELL has most consistently been inspired by the changing landscape of her surroundings and the subsequent exposure to varied and diverse cultures. Spending her formative years in England, she established a penchant for dark colors and monochromatic tones, but extended periods of time spent in Africa, Los Angeles and New York as well as frequent trips across the globe has had varying influences on her palette. The most prominent theme in Helen’s work is the concept of cycles, expressed primarily through her use of decaying texture; two dimensional with flat paint and plastic; three dimensional … Continued
Electronics for LEIMAY PRESENTING SERIES 2004: AT HOME
Nguyen Thi Chau Giang is one of Vietnam’s most interesting young artists. She produces paintings and installations, which often have self-portraiture as a core element. She is fascinated by the idea of a “woman’s beauty,” and wishes to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of a woman’s spirit through her artistic exploration. Already blossoming in her young career, Chau Giang has held numerous exhibitions in Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, including a show in the prestigious Blue Space Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City and in the Asian Contemporary Art Show held in London. Chau Giang is the 2nd artist … Continued
Kent Anderson Butler is a Los Angeles based artist working in a variety of mediums including video installation, performance and photography. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country including work in Florence Italy, and Post Gallery in Los Angeles. His video work is also in the video art library at Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.
Artist’s Statement What’s the difference between Thomas Wolski and God? God doesn’t tell anyone he’s an artist. These are self portraits of Thomas Wolski. I have become Thomas Wolski as identities are being stolen today in this world. I see Mr. Wolski; I paint Mr. Wolski; I have become Thomas Wolski. As soon as I get bored, I might become Thomas Krynski or Thomas Dickson. –Thomas Billings
Afruz Amighi was born in Teheran, Iran in 1974 and immigrated to the United States in 1979. Her family arrived in the midst of the hostage crisis when many Iranians were pretending to be Italian, French or Pakistani. Discouraged from applying to art school, she studied political science at Barnard College and immersed herself in the history of the Middle East. A few years after graduating, Amighi gravitated back towards the arts and taught herself how to make mosaics. She enrolled in the summer painting program at the School of Visual Arts and went on to study sculpture with Lorrie … Continued
Mar Aige was born in Tarragona, Spain in 1974. In 1997 she concluded studies in Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona. In 2000 she finished a Masters in Humanities at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. She has held 6 solo exhibitions across different cities in Spain. She has also participated in over 30 shows across Europe. In addition, Mar has received art grants in Spain and France. Currently she resides in New York City where she pursues a career as a painter and in Art Education.