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

Tour in Argentina, Peru and Chile

workshops and performances

 from October 10 to 12 in Buenos Aires

contact : Ana di Toro <anaditoro@gmail.com>

from October 15 to 19 in Rosario with a final presentation 

contact : Sandra Herrador <elentreespacio@gmail.com

from October 24 to 26

residency in MonteCito near Córdoba

in the  nature and in the studio

contact: Jo Guzman <jo.guzman.invisible@gmail.com>

from Nov 4 to 8 

in  Amantani Island on Titicaca Lake near Puno in Peru.(3800 meters altitude)

All of us are going to be guests  at local people’s houses.

We’ll do a presentation on the last day.

contact :  Esmeralda <educalibrepuno@gmail.com>

Nov 9  :  Yumiko’s performance in Puno

contact : Esmeralda Puno <educalibrepuno@gmail.com>

Nov 18 : “100 Light Years of Solitude”  (Yumiko’s solo)

at Teatro San Juaquín  in Chile

Nov 19: the same performance

at Teatro Municipal de Viña in Chile

Nov 21-22  (4 hours)  workshop in Valparaiso in Chile

Nov 27 – 30  workshop residency  in Rari in Chile

at Tierra de las artes  (3 hours from Santiago)

Contact : Natalia Cuellar <nataliacuellar.diaz@gmail.com>

Rodrigo Allel <rodriallel@googlemail.com>

Winter Workshop 2025 at Eden in Berlin

 From Dec 18  to  Dec 21, (  13:00 to  18:00)

contact :  yumiko-mizelle@gmx.de 

the registration will start from August,

but you can also make a reservation via email.

2026

Workshop in Ise in Japan

It takes place in the countryside of Ise , surrounded by rice field.

We can go to Onsen , hotspring after the workshop.

 From March 20 –  March 22, 2026

contact : Wild Art YESE! <yese@live.jp>

Workshop in Aegina Island in Greece

May  15  to May 17, 2026

May 15, 16:00 – 20:00

May 16, 11:30 – 16:30, a screening of Yumiko’s work at 19:30

May 17, 12:00 – 17:00

Aegina Island is one hour by ship from Athens.  A beautiful island!

contact : aegina.butoh@gmail.com

organized by Marianna Tsagaraki  and Aliki Germanou

Workshop in Brussels in Belgium

May 22 to May 24, 2026

contact : quentin  <quentin.chaveriat@gmail.com>

Workshop in Verona in Italy

at Spazio Cinquecento,  beautiful space surrounded by nature

May 28 to May 31,2026

please visit this  website for more details:

https://www.spazio500.it/program

contact : Sofia  <spaziocinquecento@gmail.com>

Workshop and performance  in La Colle, in France

at a festival,  24 Hours Butoh in la Colle near Marseille

from June 6,  10am to June 7,  10 am, 2026

an event of 24 hours!

50 people can attend.

June 6th at 8pm  : Yumiko will perform for 20 minutes

June 7th from 8am to 2pm : Yumiko’s workshop

contact : Lorna <empreinteenmouvement@gmail.com>

Workshop in Dartington in UK

June 16 – June 18,2026

contact : Anna Kushnerova <A.kushnerova@mac.com>

contact : Lorna <lortiza@pucp.pe>

Workshop and the presentation in Firenze , Italy

July 1 – 4 , 2026 

There will be a casual and informal presentation at an ex- medieval church on the last day, Jula 4th after the workshop.

contact : Camilla <camillagiani79@gmail.com>

Butoh Body Liberation Retreat

July 6 – 11, 2026 

arrival on July 5, departure on July 12

There will be a presentation  on July 11 along the riverside,

invited by a festival “Mithoslogos”

contact : Annalisa <annalisa@gest-azione.de>

North American Tour 

with workshop and performance

in Chicago or Philadelphia,  Salish Sea Butoh Festival (July 24 –  August 2), Portland, Ashville, San Francisco, Boston, Montreal, and Toronto.

From July 17 to Sep 13, 2026

the details are still pending

contact : Sara Zalek <saratonin01@gmail.com>

Mexico

with workshop and performance

from the beginning of October till the end of November, 2026

in Mexico City,  Cuernavaca,Guadalajara, Tabasco, Xalapa, Mérida, Oaxaca

the details are still pending

contact :

CROMOS DELA NIEBLA <cromosniebla@gmail.com>

Winter Workshop in Berlin

Dec 17 – Dec 20, 2026  from 13:00 to 18:00

 at Eden Studio in Pankow

contact : yumiko-mizelle@gmx.de

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, Ji Yang, Piero Perrazo, Stefano Lanzardo, Chronis Giannopoulos, Giampaolo Becherini, Atocha Crespo,David Jennings, Raúl Bartolomé, Claude Hofer, HIROs Lied