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Yoshiko Usami Sienkiewicz (AKA Yokko)
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Adjunct Associate Professor
Movement, BA Acting & Directing International Ensemble Pace Performing Arts Adjunct Faculty Movement Faculty Actors Studio Drama School MFA Pace University Adjunct Faculty Movement Faculty LIU Brooklyn / The New Group BFA Studio Program Acting for Theatre, Film & Television Yoga Instructor Jikiden Reiki Master Teacher YOKKO YOGA NYC Private Moon Cycle Yoga Nidra Meditation The Artistic Director, Main Instructor Ren Gyo Soh Training Course Butoh & Movement Workshops (Clown + Butoh, Transformation, Butoh & Movement) |
BIOYoshiko Usami Sienkiewicz - AKA YOKKO (She/He/They) is an actor, Butoh artist, theatre maker, choreographer, movement coach, Yoga & Nidra Instructor, Jikiden Reiki Master teacher from Japan. They have acted in, devised, and choreographed a variety of local and international shows and films, winning various awards, including “Best One-Woman Show,” ”Best Choreography,” “Best Physical Theatre,” and "Best Actress" for Butoh Medea, in festivals such as United Solo NYC at Theatre Row (2014 & 2015) and the Hollywood Fringe (2018). Butoh Medea appeared in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning a nomination for the “Asian Arts Awards.” It has toured the US and Europe (Poland, UK, Italy, Turkey, Germany and Czech Republic) since 2015. Another of Yokko’s original productions, Hide Your Fires: Butoh Lady Macbeth, premiered at Pan Asian Rep’s NuWorks (2017), was the winner of the “Best Physical Theatre” award at United Solo NYC (2017), and “Best International Show” at the Hollywood Fringe (2019). Yokko's choreographed & directed ensemble work SHINKA was the recipient of The Green Award, and won “Outstanding Production of an experimental or a dance piece” at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity (2018); then at The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, the show was nominated in 4 categories and won “Outstanding Premier Production of a Play,” and “Outstanding Choreography and Movement” (2019). Recently, thier Butoh work has been seen in several music videos, including I Don’t Know Where We Went Wrong (HOKO, 2020), and Ready To Let Go (Cage The Elephant, 2019).
Yokko has held workshops in Poland, UK (Scotland), Turkey and the US (New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta) for more than 10 years. They have been teaching and performing regularly at Atelier Teatro Fisico/Performing Arts University in Torino (Italy) since 2016. In the US she has taught “Butoh & Movement,” “Movement for Actors,” “Physical Theatre,” and “Japanese Theatre'' at such institutions as SUNY New Paltz, St. Lawrence University, University of North Alabama, Amherst College, City College of New York, The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University, Stella Adler Academy of Acting (Los Angeles), The Actors Studio (NYC), Brooklyn College MFA Acting Program, and the BFA Acting Studio program at The New Group/LIU Brooklyn. They recently published an article with her collaborator Dr. Brian Rhinehart, titled “Why Butoh Theatre: Thoughts of the Actor, Questions from the Director, published by Routledge/Taylor and Francis (2020) Yokko is the founder and Artistic Director of a NY Based Butoh Theatre Group, Ren Gyo Soh, and a member of a physical theatre company, The Ume Group. They have an MFA in Acting (Actor Studio Drama School), and a BA in Theatre (SUNY at Albany). |
