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nihon buyō & noh
Research
I am currently both maintaining a professional practice and working towards my PhD in theatre at the University of British Columbia. I am a cohort of the Public Scholar's Initiative which allows a fusing of my scholarly studies and embodied practice.
My areas of research are: avant-garde theatre, feminist perspectives, transmission of praxis, and the use of the body as an archive. In particular, I am working on my doctoral dissertation focusing on angura (Japanese avant-garde movement of the 1960s-80s) playwright and theatre artist Kishida Rio and the artists she worked with. I have been working on translations and staged readings of her plays both in Japan and Canada.
In performance practice I explore interdisciplinary and devised theatre creation, the use of space and time in performance, performance and choreography blending traditional and contemporary themes, forms and languages, as well as the use of the body as an expressive force.
I have presented papers based on my practical research at conferences in North America and overseas, and have been published in print and online journals. I also work in partnership with award-winning translator Tsuneda Keiko on English language translations of contemporary Japanese plays.
PUBLICATIONS
- 2021
"'Portrait of Ōno Yoshito' by Yomota Inuhiko" Book Review in Asian Theatre Journal Spring 2021.
- 2017
"'Onnagata: A Labyrinth of Gendering in Kabuki Theatre' by Mari Isaka" Book Review in Asian Theatre Journal Spring 2017.
- 2016
"Dance in Traditional Asian Theatre: Japan" in The Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre edited by Siyuan Liu. Published by Routledge.
- 2010
"The Body in Space: Layers of Gender in Japanese Classical Dance" in Performative Spaces: Corporeal Topographies in Literature, Dance and the Visual Arts edited by Markus Hallensleben. Published by Rodopi Press (Critical Studies Series).
- 2009
"MA: An Aesthetic of Space-Time" in the Asian Canadian Arts and Culture Journal Ricepaper 14:2.
- 2007
Translation of Montage: Memories of the Beginning by Atsuko Takaizumi and Izawa Maki for the Japan Playwright's Association's Half A Century of Japanese Theatre Volume IX.
- 2004
Translation of Kisaragi Koharu's play MORAL (co-translated with Tsuneda Keiko) and intro article on her life and work. Asian Theatre Journal. Fall 2004.
- 2004
"The Hula Dancer as Actor: Characterization, Visualization and Emotion" published in the online Hawaiian literary journal E Ku I Ka Hoe Uli in the Ka`iwaliloumoku (Hawaiian Cultural Center) literary journal.
- 2001
Review: "Towa - Part 1 - Kanojo" (Eternity - Part 1 - She) in Women and Performance. Volume 12:1 Issue 23, 2001. 232-236.
"'Portrait of Ōno Yoshito' by Yomota Inuhiko" Book Review in Asian Theatre Journal Spring 2021.
"'Onnagata: A Labyrinth of Gendering in Kabuki Theatre' by Mari Isaka" Book Review in Asian Theatre Journal Spring 2017.
"Dance in Traditional Asian Theatre: Japan" in The Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre edited by Siyuan Liu. Published by Routledge.
"The Body in Space: Layers of Gender in Japanese Classical Dance" in Performative Spaces: Corporeal Topographies in Literature, Dance and the Visual Arts edited by Markus Hallensleben. Published by Rodopi Press (Critical Studies Series).
"MA: An Aesthetic of Space-Time" in the Asian Canadian Arts and Culture Journal Ricepaper 14:2.
Translation of Montage: Memories of the Beginning by Atsuko Takaizumi and Izawa Maki for the Japan Playwright's Association's Half A Century of Japanese Theatre Volume IX.
Translation of Kisaragi Koharu's play MORAL (co-translated with Tsuneda Keiko) and intro article on her life and work. Asian Theatre Journal. Fall 2004.
"The Hula Dancer as Actor: Characterization, Visualization and Emotion" published in the online Hawaiian literary journal E Ku I Ka Hoe Uli in the Ka`iwaliloumoku (Hawaiian Cultural Center) literary journal.
Review: "Towa - Part 1 - Kanojo" (Eternity - Part 1 - She) in Women and Performance. Volume 12:1 Issue 23, 2001. 232-236.
