Jump to content

User:Oughtta Be Otters/sandbox/yuriko kimura

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yuriko Kimura is a modern dancer, and was a primary dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company from 1967-1985.[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]

Early life

[edit]

Born in Kanzawa, Japan,[13] Kimura started her career as a freelance dancer in both ballet and modern dance.[14] 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.[15]

Several dancers received Fulbright Scholarships to teach in Japan. Eventually, Kimura followed in the footsteps of Kanda Akiko, and applied for an received a Fulbright Scholarship to study with the Martha Graham Dance Company in the United Sates.[16] She arrived in 1966.[14] 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[17]-- by 1968 Kimura joined the Martha Graham Dance Company and quickly became a principle dancer.[16]

Career

[edit]

Some of her major works with the Martha Graham Company included Appalachian Spring, Embattled Garden, Errand into the Maze, Diversion of Angles, and Clytemnestra.[14] 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][18] Her performance as Clytemnestra was iconic enough that PBS broadcast the 1979 reprise as part of Great Performances' Dance in America series.[19] The dance company rebroadcast that episode a number of times during the shutdown due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.[20] 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.[21] 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."[22][23]

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."[24] 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).[24][25][7]

Later career

[edit]

Due to the demanding form of the Graham technique, Kimura formed permanent injury and chronic pain over the course of her career.[25] [26] As of 2014, others in the field were reporting that Kimura had returned to Japan and was teaching dance in the city of Nara.[27]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "DANZATORI". ACONCOLI DANCE (in Italian). 2020-12-20. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  2. ^ "Martha Graham". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  3. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (1985-04-20). "THE DANCE: 'APPALACHIAN SPRING'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  4. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (1973-06-23). "Dance: Anthony Company". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  5. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (1975-12-11). "Dance: Graham 'Cave' and 'Acrobats'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  6. ^ Chin, Gwin (1979-12-02). "Japanese Dancers in America: What Draws Them?; Japanese Dancers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  7. ^ a b PERRON, Wendy (February 14, 2016). "Martha Graham and the Asian Connection". Wendy Perron (Originally written for Dance Magazine). Retrieved 2022-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ a b Kisselgoff, Anna (April 22, 1974). "Dance: 'Clytemnestra'; Graham Work Has Cinematic Quality --Yuriko Kimura in Debut as Queen". New York Times. Retrieved 2022-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (1984-03-03). "DANCE: GRAHAM REVIVAL". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  10. ^ Barnes, Clive (1973-06-24). "Ballet: A Haunting Work". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  11. ^ a b Kisselgoff, Anna (1978-07-02). "Miss Graham's 'Clytemnestra' Danced". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  12. ^ Barnes, Clive (1975-12-12). "Tragic Theater of Martha Graham". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  13. ^ Nolan, Nell (1981-11-11). "Post-Performance Fun Takes Center Stage". Times-Picayune. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  14. ^ a b c "New York City Martha Graham Benefit" (June 11, 1975) [Textual record]. Sheila Weidenfeld Files, Box 16, folder “6/11/75 - New York City Martha Graham Benefit”. Ann Arbor, MI: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
  15. ^ Yamahata Letton, Shoko (2009). "Eiko and Koma: Dance Philosophy and Aesthetic". Thesis, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE AND DANCE.
  16. ^ a b 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.
  17. ^ McDonagh, Donn (June 7, 1967). "'Y' PROVIDES SETTING FOR JAPANESE DANCE". New York Times. Retrieved 2022-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (1980-04-28). "Dance: Nureyev Makes Debut in 'Clytemnestra'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  19. ^ "GREAT PERFORMANCES: DANCE IN AMERICA: MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: CLYTEMNESTRA (TV)". www.paleycenter.org. Retrieved 2022-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ Wozny, Nancy (2020-07-12). "The Graham Company Is Making Quarantine Magic With its Archives". Dance Magazine. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  21. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (1980-04-23). "Dance: Miss Graham 'Frescoes'; The Program". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  22. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (1978-06-27). "Dance: Martha Graham at Met". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  23. ^ Vartoogian, Jack (June 26, 1978). ""'The Owl & The Pussycat' At The Met"". Getty Images. Retrieved 2022-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ a b 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. doi:10.2307/1290612. ISSN 0264-2875.
  25. ^ a b 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". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  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. ^ 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.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Oughtta_Be_Otters/sandbox/yuriko_kimura&oldid=1064335023"