Naoko's profile
I have been creating solo, duo, and ensemble performances in traditional and non-traditional venues since 1998. Body is my instrument and my medium. My approach is interdisciplinary in terms of the source, the process, and the form. The seed of creation germinates from various elements such as sound, light, a piece of text, a painting, a map, an object, a piece of clothing, and a scientific phenomenon. I build precisely structured short and full-length pieces from scratch as well as collaborate with musicians and visual artists in an intimate improvisational setting.
Rooted in the minimalism of traditional and contemporary Japanese theatre as well as improvisation and surrealist art, my work pursues truth in abstraction through the interplay of kinetic, auditory, and sculptural elements revealing the obscured aspects of society and unearthing ephemeral moments in life. The past productions have tapped onto the crucial issues in our era: aging, youth violence, departure and arrival, traces in our bodies, and home and family.
In 2002, I founded a performance lab, KIBISM, in order to pursue my inquiries about the depth of the body. 'KIBI' stands for 'strange beauty' or 'inner working of things that doesn't surface'. Through workshops and classes on what I call 'Essential Body", I've been seeking out a way to have each performer perceive and identify the strange beauty (KIBI) of our existence.
In 2006, I started furthering my investigation about the solo body and experimenting the approaches and strategies for improvisational dance. There is something extremely honest, immediate, and intimate about working in solo. It gives me an opportunity to face myself and descend into the most vital, raw, and personal space. I pursue moment-to-moment truth in my consciousness. Such investigation provides me with a way to re-learn how the body as a micro-cosmos perceives and captures the environment and how the movements are created as the body’s resonance with the larger universe.
My works have been presented in both traditional and non-traditional venues in the North America, Europe, and Japan including John. F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts (DC), Hirshhorn Museum at Smithsonian Institute (DC), Theatre of Yugen Noh space (SF), Tank (NY), Joyce Soho (NY), Ko Festival of Amherst (MA), Baltimore Theatre Project (MD), Questfest (MD), Dialog of Four Cultures Festival (Lodz, Poland), International New Media Festival (Warsaw, Poland), International House of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan), Theatre Jo (Tabor, Czech Republic), Dance Hakushu (Hakushu, Japan), Dance Place (DC), Warehouse Gallery (DC) and Woolly Mammoth Theatre (DC).
I have received Individual Artist Award in solo performance (dance, theatre) and choreography from Maryland State Arts Council and Baltimore City Arts Council, 'b' grant, and Individual Artist Fellowship Grant in directing from DC Commissions on the Arts and Humanities & NEA.
Since 2009 I have been engaged in a somatic practice called Feldenkrais and searching to integrate its holistic inclusive view into my artistic practice.
Rooted in the minimalism of traditional and contemporary Japanese theatre as well as improvisation and surrealist art, my work pursues truth in abstraction through the interplay of kinetic, auditory, and sculptural elements revealing the obscured aspects of society and unearthing ephemeral moments in life. The past productions have tapped onto the crucial issues in our era: aging, youth violence, departure and arrival, traces in our bodies, and home and family.
In 2002, I founded a performance lab, KIBISM, in order to pursue my inquiries about the depth of the body. 'KIBI' stands for 'strange beauty' or 'inner working of things that doesn't surface'. Through workshops and classes on what I call 'Essential Body", I've been seeking out a way to have each performer perceive and identify the strange beauty (KIBI) of our existence.
In 2006, I started furthering my investigation about the solo body and experimenting the approaches and strategies for improvisational dance. There is something extremely honest, immediate, and intimate about working in solo. It gives me an opportunity to face myself and descend into the most vital, raw, and personal space. I pursue moment-to-moment truth in my consciousness. Such investigation provides me with a way to re-learn how the body as a micro-cosmos perceives and captures the environment and how the movements are created as the body’s resonance with the larger universe.
My works have been presented in both traditional and non-traditional venues in the North America, Europe, and Japan including John. F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts (DC), Hirshhorn Museum at Smithsonian Institute (DC), Theatre of Yugen Noh space (SF), Tank (NY), Joyce Soho (NY), Ko Festival of Amherst (MA), Baltimore Theatre Project (MD), Questfest (MD), Dialog of Four Cultures Festival (Lodz, Poland), International New Media Festival (Warsaw, Poland), International House of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan), Theatre Jo (Tabor, Czech Republic), Dance Hakushu (Hakushu, Japan), Dance Place (DC), Warehouse Gallery (DC) and Woolly Mammoth Theatre (DC).
I have received Individual Artist Award in solo performance (dance, theatre) and choreography from Maryland State Arts Council and Baltimore City Arts Council, 'b' grant, and Individual Artist Fellowship Grant in directing from DC Commissions on the Arts and Humanities & NEA.
Since 2009 I have been engaged in a somatic practice called Feldenkrais and searching to integrate its holistic inclusive view into my artistic practice.
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