..an Impassioned and beautiful piece, constantly rich and surprising in its emotional range, and finally very moving.

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Born in Hyogo, Japan, Yumi is trained in classical ballet and modern dance and has a degree in Physical Education from Kobe University (1988). Yumi is the only Japanese Butoh Dancer in Australia and the creator of original Butoh Cabaret works. Originally a member of the seminal Butoh Company DaiRakudakan in Tokyo, she came to Australia to perform at the Melbourne International Festival in 1991.

Yumi has appeared in numerous dance, theatre and film productions in Australia, Japan, Europe, and south-east Asia. She is also an independent performance artist, and has performed at many major national and international festivals including Adelaide Festival, Perth Festival, Melbourne, Sydney Festival, Canberra National Multicultural Festival, OzAsia Festival (Adelaide), TARANAKI festival (New Zealand) Hong Kong City fringe Festival, I-Dance Festival (Hong Kong), JADE2002 (Tokyo), International Contemporary Dance Festival (Osaka), Festivale dell Colline torinese (Torino), Portevenere Festivale (Italy), and Japanese Theatre season (Paris), Trace-Post Butoh Festival (Copenhagen), Image of Asia Festival (Copenhagen), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, City of Women International Festival (Slovenia) and Zurich theatre festival (Zurich). Her critically acclaimed full length solo work EnTrance, a one-woman dance theatre piece with multimedia and installations, has toured nationally from 2009 supported by Kultour.

Her own production’s credits include Fleeting Moments (1998) winner of two Green Room Awards, Tokyo DasSHOKU Girl (1999-2003 Australian tour) winner of a Green Room Award and Fringe Award, DasSHOKU Cultivations!! (Osaka2003) and DasSHOKU Hora!! (Malthouse Theatre 2005 and Sydney Opera House 2006) nominated for a Green Room Award. Her solo dance works include INORI-in-visible, (2001-03 Japan & Denmark tour), Dis-Oriental (2004-2009, Dance and Film production around Australia) and How could you even begin to understand? (Duo with Tony Yap 1996-2010, around Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Denmark and Indonesia) Her multimedia dance work Sakasama (collaboration with Bambang Nurcahyadi 2009, Melbourne, Hong Kong) She performs in the smash-hit Cabaret show, The Burlesque Hour (Finucane&Smith2004-2010) all over the world. Her other performance credits include Love Suicides, Meat Party, Miss Tanaka, and working with indigenous dance theatre show Burning Daylight with Marrugeku and also the multi award winning production Ngapartji Ngapartji. She has featured in award winning short documentary films by Sean O’Brien, Sunrise at Midnight, Butoh Cabaret and Full Moon Trance and Dis-Oriental and most recently acted in the sell out season of The Maids at Lamama.

Her choreographic works includes Beyond Butoh(2001-08) series, Ngapartji Ngapartji, Girls on Boys and Once Upon A Midnight, a rock’n’roll musical performed in Okinawa (Japan) and OzAsia Festival. Yumi directed a Butoh Cabaret show Trance-Mute at Melbourne University (2010) and most recently worked as a choreographer for Not Just My Story (Asylum Seekers Resource Center) as a part of Human Rights Festival (2011) and Talk You Me with Brunswick Women’s Theatre.

Yumi teaches Butoh nationally and internationally.

© Yumi Umiumare 2011

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