Kae Ishimoto
JapanKae Ishimoto was born into a family of traditional Japanese dancers. She began to study jazz dance at age four, and is trained in modern and contemporary dance.
She began her dance career in 2002 under choreographer Akiko Kitamura. She then joined the Japanese contemporary dance company company Un Yamada. She has worked with many international artists including Yuri Ng (Hong Kong), dreamthinkspeak (UK), Amareya Theater (Poland) and Japanese companies such as Pappa Tarahumara and Toshiki Okada of Chelfitsch. She was introduced to Butoh by Yukio Waguri and worked with Natsu Nakajima, Yoshito Ohno and Minako Seki.
She has been invited to 19 countries in Asia, Europe and US such as Bangkok Fringe festival, Butoh Festival in Barcelona, Hungary, Malaysia and Asia Tri in Indonesia and Korea. In 2011, she performed a solo Butoh dance “Transformation Girl” using the Hijikata method of Butoh, in 7 countries in Asia and Europe. Through these diverse performing opportunities, she is attempting to construct an original, genre-less expression that synthesizes various elements and traditions of dance.
As the director of a Butoh research group “Perspectives on Hijikata Research Collective(POHRC)”, she has organized intensive workshops and events in Japan and UK in 4 years and has been invited to teach workshops in Butoh in 12 countries including Hong Kong, Bali and Mexico City.
In 2004 she co-created a performance company with 8 musicians called Wangnin Bunmei (“Fool’s Civilization”). She and her company were invited to 13 countries in Asia, Europe and US. Kae is establishing a dance style that blends an Eastern sense of the body with a borderless sensitivity that can express both specific and universal themes.