is a dance improviser, choreographer and a teacher from Osaka, Japan. She received her B.Ed. and M.A. degrees at the Dance Education Division of Ochanomizu University in Tokyo, where she studied Modern Dance and Choreography. From 1990 to 94, she studied and danced in New York City as a company member with many talented choreographers such as Joy Kellman and Ruby Shang. She has also developed her own style of choreography and performance.She has begun Contact Improvisation activity in Japan with the strong influence and the recommendation of Nancy Stark Smith who visited Japan and taught her workshops in 1997 at the program of “Triangle Project”.In 2000, she founded C.I.co., a Contact Improvisation Company, with Makiko Ito. Since then she has been a leading figure in teaching, organizing and performing Contact Improvisation in Tokyo and throughout Japan.In 2005, 2007 and 2012, she participated and taught intensive workshops in Contact Festival in Israel. In the summer of 2006, she taught a workshop in the Magpie Collective Workshop and performed with the Magpie Music and Dance in Amsterdam. And in 2011, she participated Contact Festival Kuala Lumpur, i- dance Taipei, where she taught and performed with Shoko Kashima. And she has been a seed member of AIAE in South Korea from 2008.From 2008, she founded the CIFJ (Contact Improvisation Festival Japan) and continues to organize and create the international CI festival to exchange culture, people, essence of CI in Tokyo and some regions in Japan. Now she is studying and investigating together improvisation dance with Shoko Kashima, who is a dancer as well as a photographer, to search and mix the Asian Culture in their dance improvisation. In 2010, Chico and Shoko participated in ECITE in Finland and AIAE (Asian Improvisation Art Exchange) in Korea to research for the next improvisation project in Japan and Asia. She was a faculty of some universities in Tokyo for more than 10 years such as, Ochanomizu University, Keio University, Rikkyo University, Nihon Women’s college of physical Education where she teaches dance or CI regularly.In 2012, she moved her base of the dance activity (C.I.co.)from Tokyo to Kagoshima with Shoko Kashima. They started the activity with the focus on exploring and integrating Asian culture into improvisation, as well as to establish the art community in the countryside in Kagoshima prefecture. In 2013, she will organize the first “i-Dance Japan”, Contact Improvisation Festival in Isa-city.
http://www.ci-jp.com

is a dancer, improviser, photographer and teacher. She received her Master of Arts in Dance Education from Ochanomizu University in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo and founded the dance company ZINZOLIN in 1996. In 2000 she created the partnership “Duo unit” with Ryoko Sugimoto, while also being awarded a one year scholarship from the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists to study dance in New York. Their works were selected for performance by Joyce SOHO Presents, DUMBO Festival, The Brooklyn Museum of Art and The Cool NY 2004 Dance Festival in NY. As a dancer, she danced for Chico Katsube, collaborated with Michael Schumacher, Chico Katsube, Katie Dack, Dance Theater Ludens, Ray Chung, Natanja den Boeft, Noam Carmeli and other many artists. After returning to Japan, Shoko began working with Chico Katsube as a member - and now co-director - of Contact Improvisation Group C.I.co.. In 2006, She founded the CIFJ (Contact Improvisation Festival Japan) with Chico and organized and create the international CI festival to exchange culture, people, essence of CI in Tokyo and some regions in Japan until 2012. She has been teaching CI at kindergartens, elementary schools, universities, public theaters and museums. She is a seed member of Asian Improvisation Art Exchange (Seoul, Korea), creating networks and researching improvisation among artists in Asia. She is fabulously known as a photographer, and has a good feel for taking dance pictures. In 2012, she moved fromTokyo to Kagoshima with Chico Katsube, and started activities of cultivate arts community in sparsely populated area.
http://www.ci-jp.com

My childhood was filled with natures beauty living the country lifestyle in Kagoshima. Isa is my parents' hometown and I continue to love the wonderful warmth of the people there as well as the beautiful land surrounding us. I began to teach English to children in Isa by chance. I was caught by the pure magic of children here and was fascinated by the wonderful job for a long time. Before I knew it 17 years had passed. I've always hoped that children in Isa could have as many opportunities as possible to know that we are all connected on this planet and that they could live with the wonderful memories of their hometown when they grew up, sharing the wealth of this spirit with others as adults.I'm looking forward to seeing you all here in Isa!