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.

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.

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.

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

2023

workshop

 

workshop in the countryside in Japan

March 24 – 26

at Yese Studio in Tsu City
contact : Wild Art YESE! <yese@live.jp>

 

workshop in Yakushima in Japan

April 1 and 2

contact : yumiko-mizelle@gmx.de

 

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

Place : at Eco Retreat Center “Desert Flower”
including travel to/from the desert,
5 days Butoh workshop, and easy desert trek

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)

 

works


TEN PEN CHii ART LABOR

projects

gallery

Photo Credits: Michael Peters, Maria Fernanda, Fer Zam, Ron Lau, TC Chan, Maximillian Cheng, Ergao Dance Production Group, Sean Teruo, Alain Dacheux , Amana Dultra, Michael Peters, Thilo Nass, Peter Piontek, Piero Perrazo, Stefano Lanzardo, Chronis Giannopoulos.

contact

“We have started to compilate an archive of my Body Resonance Method,
this work is supported by: “

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