TOMOE SHIZUNE

TOMOE SHIZUNE

Butoh dancer / Choreographer / Director / Guitarist / Composer / President of a Butoh Company "TOMOE SHIZUNE & HAKUTOBO" Tomoe Shizune started activities as a musician in 1972, and has produced a number of excellent works as a composer. Tomoe was highly applauded as genius by then- Yoshizawa Motoharu (deceased in 1998 at the age of 67), a contrabass player who was also known as a pioneer of the musical improvisation in Japan, and formed a duo group. Tomoe has collaborated with many artists, musicians and performers in Japan and overseas. 1984: Tomoe becomes a disciple of Hijikata Tatsumi. TOMOE, a successor who directly inherited the Butoh of the founder Hijikata Tatsumi, has succeeded in establishing TOMOE BUTOH method, which is an only compilation of Butoh techniques, by having repeated reviews in a careful and precise manner on the Butoh style of Hijikata Tatsumi from its fundamental through a numerous number of various performances. 1989: Grand Prix Award for "A Woman Nestled in The Wind" at the 1st Ikebukuro Theater Festival. Between 1990 - 95, Tomoe was responsible for choreography for Madam Butterfly Opéra National de Lyon in France. In 1991, he was a Butoh choreographer for a NHK opera performance "The Magic Flute". Tomoe directed Zhu Wen Elopes with the Ghost, a co-operated performance with Gang-A-Tsui Theater (a traditional Taiwanese stage performance group), which received the Performing Arts Award of Taishin Arts Awards in 2007, This work was highly applauded at FESTIVAL DE L'IMAGINAIRE (L'Opéra de la Bastille in France) in 2010. In 2012, Tomoe released a collaboration art-music DVD titled as "Landscape on the Way to Sleep" with Yook Keun Byung, a Korean artist. In 2016, an invitation was received for a research program on physical expression called "BodyCostitution", which was held in Wrocław, Poland - a capital of European culture.