Profile:
YOSHIKO CHUMA was born in Japan and since 1977 has been living in New York City. Her performance works have been presented and commissioned in many venues in New York City, around the U.S. and abroad. She established her company THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS in 1982 as a collective of performing artists including dancers, musicians, visual artists, media artists, and theatre designers. In the course of the company’s history, more than 1,000 people have performed under Yoshiko Chuma’s artistic direction in works ranging from theatrical dance concerts to street performances to large scale performance art spectacles. She has received choreography fellowships from the NEA, the Guggenheim Foundation, NYFA, Meet the Composer and the Japan Foundation to return to Japan as a professional artist for the first time. The company has received a 1984 BESSIE award; and a 1993 BESSIE for the music for Jo Ha Kyu, created in collaboration with Tan Dun. Major commissions to Yoshiko Chuma include: Unfinished Symphony (1998) with music by Aska Knaeko created with SOHK and musicians from Aska Strings Project from Tokyo, Footprints of War (1999) with music by Alvin Curran for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, HERE HERE THERE THERE (1994) with Danny Yung and Zuni Icosahedron for Hong Kong Arts Festival; 8, letters from Eight (1993) for Charleroi/Danses in Belgium.