Profile
Kim Itoh, choreographer, dancer
Kim Itoh began studies under the butoh artist Anzu Furukawa in 1987 and began solo performing in 1990. In 1995 he founded the dance company Kim Itoh + The Glorious Future. His works employ satire and a unique sense of humor in portraying “the extraordinary within the everyday.”
In 1996, his group won the Rencontres Choregraphiques Internationales de Saint-Denis for Dead and Alive—Body on the Borderline , which led to an increasing number of overseas performances. Since then Itoh and his company have presented new works at a pace of about one a year. In addition to Japan, Itoh has performed in countries including France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Argentina, the Netherlands, the U.S., Canada and Denmark.
In 2001, Itoh choreographed a work for two invited countertenors and dancers from overseas and five chamber musicians in a work titled Close the door, open your mouth (produced by the New National Theater, Tokyo) and his company also presented the new work Hageshii Niwa . For these activities Itoh received the Shuji Terayama Award in the 1st Asahi Performing Arts Awards, which is awarded to individuals or groups who demonstrate outstanding and innovative work.
Besides performances in the conventional theater space, Itoh began a new type of dance performance in public spaces called Kaidan Shugi (Stair-ism) and based on a concept of throwing the body into the everyday spaces of staircases. This series has now included performances in the seven cities of Osaka, Kochi, Kobe, Tokyo, Sasebo and Iwate.
In 2005, he served as overall director for the pre-opening parade for the Aichi World Exposition. That year he also introduced new works Kinjiki , as a duo work with Tsuyoshi Shirai, and his company’s work Mirai no Ki . From 2005 into ’06 Itoh backpacked around the world for six months. From the spring of 2007, the name of his company will be changed from Kim Itoh + The Glorious Future to just The Glorious Future and begin activities again in a new style.
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