Yuriko Kimura Explained

Yuriko Kimura
Birth Place:Kanzawa, Japan
Occupation:Dancer
Former Groups:Martha Graham Dance Company

Yuriko Kimura (木村百合子) is a modern dancer, and was a primary dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company from 1967 to 1985.[1] [2] Various dance critics, such as Anna Kisselgoff and Clive Barnes from the New York Times, who often reviewed Yuriko's performances, referred to her dancing as "incandescent",[3] and to Kimura as one of the "most outstanding performers in modern dance today"[4] and "a brilliant technician for whom no movement seems impossible".[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] She was born in Kanzawa, Japan.[13] [14]

Career

Kimura studied under Sachiko Kousaka.[14] She started her career as a freelance dancer in both ballet and modern dance.[15] During that time Kimura took part in the Tokyo Shimbun National Dance Competition and received the Dance Pen Club Award.[14] She performed with the Modern Dance Association.[16]

She studied with modern dance companies that came on tour from the United States. In 1964, Kimura attended an avant-garde workshop given by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.[17]

Several dancers received Fulbright Scholarships to teach in Japan. Eventually, Kimura followed in the footsteps of Kanda Akiko, and applied for and received a Fulbright Scholarship to study with the Martha Graham Dance Company in the United States.[18] She arrived in 1966. Though she danced with a variety of companies during her early years in the US including -- Kazuo Hirabayashi, Mary Anthony, Donald McKayle, Sophie Maslow, and Lar Lubovitch, and sometimes in performances specifically featuring Japanese dancers[19] —by 1968 Kimura joined the Martha Graham Dance Company and quickly became a principal dancer.

Some of her major works with the Martha Graham Company included Appalachian Spring, Embattled Garden, Errand into the Maze, Diversion of Angles, and Clytemnestra. She debuted in the title role of Clytemnestra in 1974, a role originally choreographed by Graham for herself.[8] Over the years, Kimura reprised this role numerous times, to ever-greater critical response.[11] [20] Her performance as Clytemnestra was iconic enough that PBS broadcast the 1979 reprise as part of Great Performances' Dance in America series.[21] The dance company rebroadcast that episode a number of times during the shutdown due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.[22] In 1978 she wowed audiences with Ecuatorial, in which Rudolf Nereyev debuted in the first of many co-leads with Kimura just two years later.[23] The first time the Martha Graham Dance Company performed at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City, alongside Liza Minnelli, Kimura danced the eponymous pussycat in "The Owl and the Pussycat."[24] [25]

Due to the demanding form of the Graham technique, Kimura formed permanent injury and chronic pain over the course of her career.[26] In 1988 she suffered from injury to her spine and had to leave the dance company and return to Japan.[14]

Sources from the time frequently confuse Yuriko Kimura with US-born, long-time member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Yuriko Amemiya Kikuchi, who often went by simply "Yuriko."[27] Kiguchi was a star dancer with the company a full decade before Kimura joined, and so they were often referred to as "Big Yuriko" (Kiguchi) and "Little Yuriko" (Kimura).[7] [28] [27]

Later career

In the late 1990s, Kimura was performing as a lead dancer with the New National Theater Contemporary Dance troupe.[29] She pursued and received a Ph.D.[30] [31] She became a professor at Tenri University, in Nara, Japan, on the Faculty of Physical Education.[14] [32] She also taught the Graham Technique for Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan and the National Gugak Center in Seoul, South Korea.[14]

Notes and References

  1. https://www.aconcolidance.com/mission/hypermartha/danzatori/ "DANZATORI". ACONCOLI DANCE
  2. Web site: Martha Graham. 2022-01-07. Library of Congress.
  3. Kisselgoff, Anna (1985-04-20). "THE DANCE: 'APPALACHIAN SPRING'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  4. News: Kisselgoff. Anna. 1973-06-23. Dance: Anthony Company. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  5. News: Kisselgoff. Anna. 1975-12-11. Dance: Graham "Cave" and 'Acrobats'. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  6. News: Chin. Gwin. 1979-12-02. Japanese Dancers in America: What Draws Them?; Japanese Dancers. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  7. Web site: PERRON. Wendy. February 14, 2016. Martha Graham and the Asian Connection. 2022-01-07. Wendy Perron (Originally written for Dance Magazine). en-US.
  8. Web site: Kisselgoff. Anna. April 22, 1974. Dance: 'Clytemnestra'; Graham Work Has Cinematic Quality --Yuriko Kimura in Debut as Queen. 2022-01-07. New York Times. en.
  9. News: Kisselgoff. Anna. 1984-03-03. DANCE: GRAHAM REVIVAL. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  10. News: Barnes. Clive. 1973-06-24. Ballet: A Haunting Work. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  11. News: Kisselgoff. Anna. 1978-07-02. Miss Graham's "Clytemnestra" Danced. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  12. News: Barnes. Clive. 1975-12-12. Tragic Theater of Martha Graham. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  13. Nolan, Nell (1981-11-11). "Post-Performance Fun Takes Center Stage". Times-Picayune. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  14. 2017-08-27. Martha Graham.
  15. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0126/1489614.pdf "New York City Martha Graham Benefit"
  16. Web site: 2005. 日本洋舞史年表II. New National Dance Theater.
  17. Yamahata Letton, Shoko (2009). "Eiko and Koma: Dance Philosophy and Aesthetic". Thesis, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE AND DANCE.
  18. Shiba, Mariko (2006). "Modern Dance in Japan: The Influence of the Western Culture and What Japan Created on Its Own" (PDF). Kobe University Repository. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  19. Web site: McDonagh. Donn. June 7, 1967. 'Y' PROVIDES SETTING FOR JAPANESE DANCE. 2022-01-07. New York Times. en.
  20. News: Kisselgoff. Anna. 1980-04-28. Dance: Nureyev Makes Debut in 'Clytemnestra'. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  21. Web site: GREAT PERFORMANCES: DANCE IN AMERICA: MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: CLYTEMNESTRA (TV). 2022-01-07. www.paleycenter.org.
  22. Web site: Wozny. Nancy. 2020-07-12. The Graham Company Is Making Quarantine Magic With its Archives. 2022-01-07. Dance Magazine. en-US.
  23. News: Kisselgoff. Anna. 1980-04-23. Dance: Miss Graham 'Frescoes'; The Program. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  24. News: Kisselgoff. Anna. 1978-06-27. Dance: Martha Graham at Met. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
  25. Web site: Vartoogian. Jack. June 26, 1978. "'The Owl & The Pussycat' At The Met". 2022-01-07. Getty Images. en-us.
  26. Olsen, Andrea, and McHose, Caryn. The Place of Dance: A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making. United States, Wesleyan University Press, 2014.
  27. McGehee. Helen. 1993. Review of Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham. Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research. 11. 1. 99–103. 10.2307/1290612. 1290612 . 0264-2875.
  28. Reti. Irene H.. Beal. Tandy. 2014-09-14. "Everything was a Stage": An Oral History with Ruth Solomon, Founding UCSC Professor of Theater Arts and Dance. en.
  29. Web site: コンテンポラリーダンス ファウスト. 2022-01-30. www-nntt-jac-go-jp.translate.goog.
  30. Web site: 概要. 2022-01-30. Dance Comg. ja-JP.
  31. Web site: 夏期舞踊合宿に参加してきました！(I participated in the summer dance camp!).
  32. Solomon, John; Solomon, Ruth, eds. (2016-01-04). "On the History of Western Dance in Japan: An interview with Mayabi Ichikawa." East Meets West in Dance: Voices in the Cross-Cultural Dialogue. London: Routledge.

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