We are honored and thrilled to present Yumiko Yoshioka in the US and Canada in summer 2026! Check these dates and look for her in a city near you. Her mentorship has been instrumental in shaping Chicago’s performance art scene. For many years, she has been sharing her teaching and performance art practice with us, human to human, and we are forever grateful. Welcome Yumiko Yoshioka ❤
July 19-22, Baltimore, MD
July 19: 100 Light Years at Baltimore Theater Project
Workshops July 20, 21, 22 4-7pm at Creative Alliance
Contact Peter Redgrave mr.peter.redgrave@gmail.com
July 24-August 3, Port Townsend, WA
100 Light Years performance: July 31
Ticket link: https://www.salishseabutoh.com/2026-performances
Body Resonance workshops: August 1 – 2.
Contact: Ivan Espinosa ivan3456@riseup.net
August 4-8, Portland, OR
Workshops and performance at New Expressive Works
Workshops Tuesday-Friday, 8/4-7, 6-9pm
Performance of 100 Light Years Saturday 8/8 at 8pm
contact Carl Annala snailsnarl@gmail.com
August 14-17, San Francisco, CA
Aug 14-16 Workshops at Joe Goode annex in SF
Friday Aug 14, 6-9pm; Sat Aug 15, 11am-3pm; Sunday Aug 16, 2-6pm
Contact Shoshona Green butohcontact@gmail.com
Saturday, Aug 15: 100 Light Years at Yugen Theater/Noh Space
Contact Kevin tsubushibutoh@gmail.com
August 19-24, Asheville, NC
Contact: Julie Becton Gillum jbgbutoh@gmail.com
August 27-31, Boston, MA
Dates of Workshops: Friday, Aug 28, 5:30 – 8pm
Saturday, Aug 29, 12:30 – 2:30pm
Sunday, Aug 30, 10am – 1pm
100 Light Years: Saturday, August 29, 7pm
All workshops and performances are held at SOMarts @HIVE
Contact: Ellen Godena egodena@gmail.com
September 1-5, Montreal, Canada
Workshop at Studio 303
372 Ste-Catherine O., Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montréal, QC H3B 1A2
Tuesday-Saturday, Sept 1-5, 2026, 1-5pm
Registration starting July 1st, 2026, through a form:
https://www.studio303.ca/ateliers/
Contact: Caro artistes@studio303.ca
September 8-11, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Workshop: September 8 -11, 2026
Contact: Rosanna Lowton info@fujiwaradance.com
Yumiko Yoshioka: dancer, choreographer, teacher, art director
Born in Tokyo, 1953.
Based in Berlin since 1988.
Yumiko was a former member of Ariadone in 1974, the first female Butoh company, founded by Carlotta Ikeda and Ko Murobushi. In 1978, she performed with Carlotta and Ko in Paris ” Le Dernier Eden- Porte de L’Au-Dela “, the very first Butoh performance to be presented in a public theater outside Japan. In 1988 she became a co-founder of tatoeba THÉÂTRE DANCE GROTESQUE with Minako Seki and delta RA’i in Berlin (1988 – 1996). Between 1995 – 2015 she was a core member of TEN PEN CHii art labor, an interdisciplinary and experimental art formation as a dancer and a choreographer along with JoaXhim Manger (visual artist) and Zam Johnson (composer and musician).
Since 2015, she has been working as a solo dancer and a choreographer. She has also set up various collaborative projects across Europe such as “eX…it!, Dance eXchange Festival” at Schloss Bröllin in Germany, (the last one took place in 2019), dance projects with Gest-Azione, with Annalisa Maggiani from Italy; and dance creations with Rena Konstantaki from Greece. She has been a superviser of
“Butoh Lab Camp” project in Romania since 2021. Her workshop “Body Resonance, based on Organic Movement and Butoh” is invited to many countries across the globe.
Body Resonance – based on Butoh and Organic Movement
The main focus of this workshop is a conscious research of our body/mind/soul unification, so we can deeply enjoy the intrinsic process of metamorphosis in the spirit of dance. Through a continuous exploration of our past collective memories, we can strike a vein of abundant creative resources, enriching the essence of our life. The body is a receptacle of time.
Body resonance is a key to opening up the doors of an ever-changing world inside and outside of ourselves, which helps the body to unfold its secrets, holding them up until they shine and tremble.
Everything is in resonance with each other. Through a dialogue with our body, we can learn to be moved by inner and outer forces, thus realizing we are a part of the Universe. A dance of metamorphosis inevitably appears.
Workshop Content:
- Organic Movement (release exercises), inspired by Noguchi Taiso (Gymnastics), Taichi and Yoga such as figure 8, waves, water ball rotation, hanging body,
- breathing exercises AUN
- dynamic training for the flow of energy
- Butoh-related work (sensitization, combination of image and movement with antenna exercises, such as animal, insect, snake, witch and fairy, the creatures inside us, walking, dialogue with a partner etc)
- structured improvisation and choreography
Butoh Curious Chi 