yumiko yoshioka is a dancer,
a teacher and a choreographer
Yumiko Yoshioka is a Japanese Butoh dancer and choreographer from Tokyo. Since 1988 she has been based in Germany. Yumiko is a former member of Ariadone, the first female Butoh company, which was founded by Ko Murobushi and Carlotta Ikeda in 1974. In 1978, she performed with Ko and Carolotta in Paris, LE DERNIER EDEN – PORTE DE L’AU-DELA, the very first Butoh performance to be presented in a public theatre outside Japan. In 1988 she met Minako Seki and delta RA’i in Berlin, with whom she founded tatoeba THÉÂTRE DANCE GROTESQUE. This experience, along with work with the Butoh dancer Kim-Itoh, encouraged Yumiko to start to unfold her own personal style of dancing and choreography.
In 1989 she also started to develop and teach her own form of bodywork. The approach became a pillar of her career as a reflection of her profound understanding of the importance of deepening consciousness of the body, not only in order to dance and express, but also to illuminate our daily life, opening ourselves to the deeper layers of our inner world and rediscovering a subtle beauty in each moment. The strength of this perception led her to create her own method of bodywork, called “Body Resonance”
In 1994, she met JoaXhim Manger and Zam Jhonson. Together they founded TEN PEN CHii ART LABOR, an interdisciplinary and experimental art formation, in which Yumiko dances and emerges as choreographer. Since 1995 she has set up various collaborative projects across Europe. These include: “eX…it!, a Butoh-Related eXchange Festival”, held at Schloss Broellin; Gest-Azione, with Annalisa Maggiani from Italy; and indigo fera art productions with Rena Konstantaki from Greece. Yumiko continues to pioneer Butoh installations and teach her methods internationally.
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philosophy
There is a saying in China: “a hundred (different) flowers are in full bloom.” This understanding of every individual shining in their own unique beauty inspires my work. Butoh is an opportunity to cultivate the seed of care and consciousness that dwells within each of us.
As an artist, I explore the nature of the edges of the world around me. Viewing the present in terms of connection, evolution and coexistence, helps me imagine a bridge to travel between the visible and the invisible. This bridge creates a space for the body to unfold its secrets, to reveal itself through rediscovery of its potential as a receptacle of cosmic time, memory and perspective.
Butoh is the dance of transformation, which allows me to experience the world from a different point of view. Changing perspectives from human to animal to cosmic creates a constant feedback loop between my imagination and my body. As both artist and teacher, I use these perspectives and the layers of body memory to be channels, catalysts, and resonators. Through this dialogue, I learn to be moved by both the inner and outer forces that exist within and around us.
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TEN PEN CHii ART LABOR
In Japanese Ten Pen Chii means “natural catastrophe” ‒ literally, “the sky (ten) changes and the earth (chi) changes”, meaning everything is changing in resonance.
This art-formation was founded in 1995 by Yumiko, together with JoaXhim Manger, a visual artist from Germany, and Zam Johnson, an American composer and performer. The company has produced numerous performances with a unique style, featuring interdisciplinary collaborations using installation, music and body works to investigate the contemporary human being and explore the ways it deals with the consequences of its desires.
One of Yumiko’s most extensive, prolific and distinctive collaborations, TEN PEN CHii ART LABOR remains an on-going life project.
body resonance
I call my dance approach “Body Resonance”
based on Butoh and Organic Movement.
Belonging to a third generation of Butoh artists, Yumiko has developed a personal style of bodywork called Body Resonance, which integrates Butoh practice with features of Noguchi Taiso gymnastics and various other Asian training methods to help prepare the body to receive and transmit dance and inspirations. Body Resonance starts from the idea that the world, including our body and soul, consists of vibrational waves that create constant resonances like echoes. When we tune our body to that frequency, we receive images, feelings and sensations accordingly. For this to happen, we need first to shake off unnecessary tension. In effect, we make a white canvas of our body to paint new colour on it. I teach this as neutralization, encouraging a close-to-zero state, scouring off rust and polishing antenna to catch waves from profound layers of the body. The transformations and concentrations of dancing break up the eggshell of form. They melt down the armour of our ego, allowing resonant memories to emerge from our cells that are floating in the primal liquid of time.
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workshop description
The body as a receptacle of time.
A dance of metamorphosis inevitably appears.
The main focus of this workshop is a conscious research in the unification of our body/mind/soul, so that we can deeply enjoy the intrinsic process of metamorphosis through the spirit of dance. Through a continuous exploration of our past collective memories, we can strike a vein of abundant creative resources, enriching the essence of our life.
Body resonance is a key to opening up the doors of an ever-changing world inside and outside ourselves, which helps the body to unfold its secrets, holding them up until they shine and tremble. Everything is in resonance with each other. Through a dialogue with our body, we can learn to be moved by inner and outer forces, thus realizing we are a part of the Universe.
Workshop Content:
*Release exercises, inspired by Noguchi Taiso (Gymnastics), Taichi and Yoga
*breathing exercises
*dynamic training for the flow of energy
*Butoh-related work to activate our universal memories (sensitization, combination of image and movement with antenna exercises such as figure of 8, water ball, animal, insect, snake, witch and fairy, the creatures inside us, hanging body, walking, dialogue with a partner etc)
*structured improvisation, free association
North American Tour
April to May 2023
April 22 and 23: workshop in NYC (USA),
contact : Vangeline <vangelinetheater@yahoo.com>
April 28 – 30 : workshop in Boston,
contact : Ellen Godena <egodena@gmail.com>
May 4 – 7 : workshop in Chicago,
contact : Sara Zalek <saratonin01@gmail.com>
May 9 – 12 : workshop in Montreal (Canada) ,
contact: Studio 303 <communications@studio303.ca>
May 13 and 14: workshop focused on Organic Movement in Montreal
contact : Speranza <spydeny21@gmail.com>
May 18 – 21 : workshop in Toronto (Canada),
contact : Rosanna <info@fujiwaradance.com>
“Body Liberation Retreat”
place : Convento (ex monastry)
Lunigiana / Italy
June 18 – 23, 2023
a collaborative workshop retreat with Annalisa Maggiani
focused to cultivate and explore Healing Body
contact : annalisa@gest-azione.de
Workshop in Brussels (Belgium)
June 30 – July 2
from 1pm to 6pm
contact : Quentin Chaveriat <quentin.chaveriat@gmail.com>
Workshop in Florence (Italy)
July 6 – 9
contact: Camilla <camillagiani79@gmail.com>
“Butoh Lab Camp”
(summer workshop in residency)
July 22 – 30 (arrival : July 21, departure : July 31)
place : La Ionel, in the countryside near Cluj / Romania
6 Butoh teachers introduce their different approach to Butoh
Invited teachers : Matilde Javier Ciria, Michiyasu Furutani, Tashi Iwaoka, Conan Amok
Henriette Heinrichs and Yumiko Yoshioka
contact: Butoh Lab Camp <butohlabcamp@gmail.com>
Open Class in Tarifa in Andalucía
at Respira Studio
August 8, from 10am to 2:30pm
contact : respiratarifa@gmail.com
Open Class in Cadíz in Andalucía
August 20 and 21
contact : yumiko-mizelle@gmx.de
workshop / retreat
at La Colle, Begat Theater,
Gréoux-les-Bains, Provence, France
August 31 – Sep 3 for 4 days
https://form.jotform.com/230785766475370
contact: retraite_yumiko@proton.me
Workshop in North Italy
at Spazio Cinquecento (near Venezia)
from Sep 6 / 7 to Sep 10
contact : Spazio Cinquecento <spaziocinquecento@gmail.com>
Workshop in Sahara (Morocco)
Sep 12 – 20 for 9 days
contact : Yi Chen <dancebodhibody@gmail.com>
Collaboration Workshop
Sep 28 – Oct 1 (4 days)
in Ocata/Barcelona with Marlene Joebst
contact : Marlene Joebstl <marlenejoebstl@yahoo.fr>
South American Tour
Brazil and Peru
October – November
Sao Paolo, Campinas, Rio de Janero, Lima, Cusco
contact : Daniele Sampaio <daniele@simcultura.art.br> (for Brazil)
Joelle Gruenberg <tumbes_204@gmail.com> (for Peru)
workshop in Madrid (Spain)
in the beginning of December
contact : Matilde <internoneuronal@googlemail.com>
Winter Workshop in Berlin
Dec 14 (Thu) – 17 (Sun)
from 1 pm to 6 pm for 20 hours
at Eden Studio in Pankow
contact : yumiko-mizelle@gmx.de
2023
performance
Dance Theater
Duet “HIROs Lied”
(HIRO´s song)
June 10 (Sat) at 8 pm and 11 (Sun) at 7 pm
at Theater Kreuzberg in Berlin
directed by Yoriko Maeno
contact : Yoriko <yorikomaeno@outlook.com>
Solo “Before the Dawn”
in Dea Madre Festival in Sardinia in Italy
July 15 or 16th
contact: Dea Madre Festival <deamadrefestival@gmail.com>
Solo “Before the Dawn”
in Brazil and Peru
October and November
contact : Daniele Sampaio <daniele@simcultura.art.br> (for Brazil)
Joelle Gruenberg <tumbes204@gmail.com> (for Peru)
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TEN PEN CHii ART LABOR
“We have started to compilate an archive of my Body Resonance Method,
this work is supported by: “




Gefördert durch die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien im Programm NEUSTART KULTUR, Hilfsprogramm DIS-TANZEN des Dachverband Tanz Deutschland.