For the 14th year running, Japan Society introduces American audiences to the leading new dance from Japan and East Asia. One of the Society's most popular events, the 14th Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase: Japan + East Asia takes place Friday & Saturday, January 7 & 8 at 7:30 pm. With four U.S. premieres, the showcase features the most innovative East Asian choreographers and companies whose work has yet to be seen in the West, including:
? Tokyo choreographer Ryohei Kondo, founder of the hugely popular all-male dance group Condors, performing with a select group of young dancers in the high-octane U.S. Premiere of Kondo's Goats Block the Road Series, for its Part III: Goat Stampede, with live music by J-pop musician Miu Sakamoto, daughter of famed composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
? Award-winning dancer/choreographer Maki Morishita, with the U.S. Premiere of her mischievous solo Tokyo Flat. Morishita has danced for Kim Itoh and Tsuyoshi Shirai and has performed internationally in more than seven countries and 20 cities since her 2003 solo debut.
? Seoul's Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company performing the U.S. Premiere of Bul-ssang, a satiric take on Buddhist rituals fusing several forms of Asian traditional dance - including Indian kathak, Korean Jindo drum dancing and Chinese martial arts - with pop and street styles. Ahn Ae-Soon is the grand prize-winner of Les Rencontres Choreographiques de Seine-Saint-Denis;
? From Taiwan, the U.S. Premiere of an endearingly oddball and intimate male-female duet, From Here... to the End of the Rainbow, by Ku & Dancer's choreographer Yu Yen-Fang, participating choreographer in the Bates Dance Festival and the American Dance Festival and collaborator with the Bebe Miller Company.
Since 1997, Japan Society's Contemporary Dance Showcase (CDS) has served as an incubator for Japanese and East Asian choreographers, introducing them to the U.S. and helping to launch and support their international careers. Originally America's leading platform for the introduction of Japanese choreographers and companies, 2011 marks the fourth year the festival has expanded to include artists and works from the broader East Asian region, including Taiwan and South Korea. Many CDS "alumni" have moved on to perform in major venues including Jacobs Pillow Dance,
Walker Arts Center, The Kennedy Center, and Joyce Theater among others. Among dozens of debuts and premieres, CDS has introduced Jo Kanamori's Noism05, Ko Murobushi and Ko & Edge Co. and chelfitsch Theater Company, among many others that have gone onto world-wide fame.
Dancer/choreographer Ryohei Kondo grew up in Peru, Chile, and Argentina. He first attracted attention as the principal dancer in one of Yamazaki Kota's works. After appearing as a finalist in the Bagnolet International Choreography Competition, he performed in works by Akira Kasai and Kuniko Kisanuki. In 1996, Kondo launched the all-male dance company Condors, for which he created the text, video images, puppets and choreography in over a dozen original works. Kondo's richly varied stagings contain a rapid succession of scenes and skillfully interspersed dance, images, live music, puppetry, and storytelling. He has toured with Condors throughout Japan, the U.S. and East Asia. As a prolific choreographer, he created P-kies Summer Concert for Fuji Television, which toured to more than 40 venues in Japan. Kondo choreographed all the dance scenes in Takashi Miike's film The Happiness of the Katakuri Family (2002) and Yatterman (2009). In 2001 Ryohei Kondo was named "the most promising choreographer for the 21st century" in the major Japanese daily, Yomiuri Shimbun. Kondo most recently was awarded this year's Shuji Terayama Award at the Asahi Newspaper Performing Arts Awards for his choreography. He regularly appears on TV and radio programs. More at http://www.condors.jp/.
Born in 1975, Maki Morishita has danced in companies such as Study of Live works Baneto (participants of the 6th annual Japan Society showcase), Kim Itoh + the Glorious Future (participants of the 5th annual Japan Society showcase) and Makotocluv (participants of 12th annual Japan Society showcase). In 2003, her original piece Debutant launched her solo career. Additional work includes Maki Morishita Dance Show!! She has performed her solo pieces in Korea, Italy, Belgium, and Finland. In 2004, she was awarded the Yokohama Arts Foundation Award at Yokohama dance collection Solo x Duo. In 2005, she won the Outstanding Performance Award at Tokyo Competition #2. In 2008 she presented UZU-MAKI (SPIRAL) at Tokyo Dance Today #3 at Aoyama Round Theatre and in 2009 presented Koma-Inu-Illutsky (MAKI-NO-UZU-MAKI re-creation version) at the Dance Triennale Tokyo. More at http://maki-m.com/.
Ahn Ae-soon is a choreographer who blends traditional Korean movement with modern dance. She founded Ahn Ae-soon Dance Company in 1985, creating work that represents Korean identity, history and culture. Her choreography is drawn from the energy of movement, improvisation and the play instincts of individual dancers. Her latest works touch on contemporary Korean society and strive to illustrate ‘Koreanness' in all its variety. As choreographer, Ahn Ae-soon has collaborated internationally with MONTRÉAL DANSE and Jeune Ballet de France. After winning the grand prize of Les Rencontres Choerégraphiques Internationales de Seine Saint-Denis in 1988, she and her company performed at the World Dance Alliance Europe-Festival Global Dance 2002 in Desseldorf, Germany; Singapore Arts Festival, The Cervantino Art Festival in Mexico, Dance Collection Yokohama in Japan, Dance Biennale Tokyo, and the Arts Summit Indonesia 2007. More at http://ahnaesoon.com/xe/ahnaesoon_en.
Yen-Fang Yu is an independent choreographer, improviser, performer, and dance teacher from Taiwan. She holds a BFA in Performance and Choreography from Taipei National University of the Arts and a MFA in Choreography from The Ohio State University. Since 2001, Yu has performed professionally with dance companies and individual dance artists in Taiwan and the U.S, including the Ku & Dancers Dance Company (Taiwan) and Bebe Miller Company (U.S.) Yu's work has been presented in Columbus, Ohio, the LaMama Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, the Kumble Theatre, Japan society, and the
City Center in New York City, as well as major cities in Taiwan. Yu has received fellowships from the Ohio State University, Merit Scholarship from the Bates Dance Festival (2006, 2007), and grants from Council for Cultural Affair (Taiwan), Ministry of Foreign Affair (Taiwan), Department of Cultural Affair (Taipei, Taiwan), LMF Dance Fund, and ChinLin Foundation for Culture and Art. In 2010, Yu participate in the danceWEB scholarship program of the Impulstanz- Vienna Internatioal Dance Festival (Vienna, Austria). Yu will be a guest performer at the Staatetheatre Kassel in Germany in January 2011. More at http://www.kudancers.org/eng/en-index.htm.
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Established in 1907, Japan Society has evolved into North America's major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Language, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia. For a full list of upcoming current and events, visit: http://www.japansociety.org/calendar
14th Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase: Japan + East Asia takes place Friday & Saturday, January 7 & 8, 7:30 pm. Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd St.) Tickets are $23/$20 Japan Society members; APAP presenters are free, reservations required. For tickets or reservations, visit www.japansociety.org or call the box office at 212-715-1258. For further information call 212-832-1155 or visit the website.
Major support for Japan Society 2010-11 Performing Arts Programs is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Endowment Fund and the Endowment for the Performing Arts, established with leadership gifts from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Globus Family, Kyocera Corporation, The Starr Foundation and Toyota Motor Corporation. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties. Additional support is provided by
Dr. John K. Gillespie, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Dr. and Mrs. Carl F. Taeusch II, Mr. and Mrs. Norton Belknap, June O. Goldberg,
Richard Royce, and Paula S. Lawrence.Transportation assistance is provided by All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. The Contemporary Dance Showcase is supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan; Nomura Foundation; the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Republic of Korea; Korea Arts Management Service; Korean Cultural Service, NY; Council for Cultural Affairs, R.O.C. (Taiwan); and the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.
