Christopher Bruce gave me a job at the Rambert Dance Company in London back in 2001 and I think it is true that I was the first Asian dancer (if I'm wrong then for sure I was the first Japanese dancer) in that Dance Company. He saw my solo in a choreography competition in The Netherlands and we connected and I auditioned. He was like a big daddy and was respected by everyone. His classic pieces “Ghost Dances”, "Hurricane” etc... blew me away and touched my heart. One of the r

Last week I was part of Yoshiko Chuma 's shows “Two Chapters - Secret Journey” at Doc11 in Berlin and I made this film. I had 2 ‘missions’ in the piece. 1) 6 x a 2-3 minute improvised dancing solo. 2) shoot video during performance at any moment. This is not the first time that I have had those ‘missions’ as my role in Yoshiko’s work. I really came to like the feeling of crossing the stage whenever I want or I could stand in the middle of the stage and film the audience. T

Love performing in an intimate space like this. Of course I also love performing in big theaters. But dancing in front of a non-dance audience, without stage lights or a dance floor where I can see everyone's faces in the audience while I am dancing and immediately feel their reactions. Those are the moments when it's special. I have to admit: basically It’s my joy to dance in any situation, in any place. Last night, I performed as part of an ARAS (Archive for Research in Arc

Here is baby me dancing in front of my family in a private dining room in a restaurant. I must have been about 2 as It looks like I still have a diaper on😋. I have always loved to dance and my family was my first audience and has always been my number one fans since whenever I started dancing. Looking at this I remember nostalgically my grandma’s voice saying “very good!”「上手だねー」or ”you are so special “「特別だねー」lots of / almost too many compliments and my grandpa ‘s grin. And n

How to treat an injury

David Dawson‘s “A Million Kisses to my Skin“ back in 2000 at the Dutch National Ballet. I believe this was David's first major choreography and the leotard designer Yumiko Takeshima 's first costume design. I remember that dancing David’s style was incredibly challenging but I had so much fun pushing my limits. His steps were very classical in a sense but the movement was stretched to extremes. I felt his technique matched my abilities, it just felt great dancing in it .... f

I had a great reunion last month at the Japan society. My husband and I went see the performance of Luca Veggetti ‘s “Left-Right-Left” and it was so inspiring!! Megumi Nakamura was in the piece. Megumi and I have known each other something like 25 years 😱 When we both were living in Holland, she was in NDT(The Hague)and I was in The Dutch National Ballet (Amsterdam) so we used to hang out. (To be exact, we had met even before as we had common friends that she used to visit

What’s a grown ghoul to do for some Halloween fun, particularly if she turns into a pumpkin soon after midnight? The choreographer and director of Armitage Gone! Dance, Karole Armitage (in the 90’s, hailed as the Punk Ballerina — love that moniker) and her skillful gang of artistic collaborators have provided the answer — a surreal, theatrical amuse bouche to inspire all manner of trick-or-treaters. HALLOWEEN UNLEASHED: DANCING BONES, TASTING DARKNESS AND THE SKELETON WITHIN,

Premier of “Salt Water” directed by Abe Abraham at Symphony Space is tomorrow!!!! 8pm. I'm so honored to have been a part of this film and haven’t seen the finished product yet myself. Can’t wait to see it! Support Abe @abanar.dance !!support the arts!! and support me!! #dancefilm #dancer

Day 1 in the theatre. Now It's time for the tech rehearsals to begin. #photo #performance #proffesionaldancer #danceperformance #dancer