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 BIO
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Yoriko Maeno is a dance theatre director and choreographer based in Berlin. She studied contemporary dance at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. Starting her career as a dancer at various venues in Japan, she has worked as an independent choreographer since 2010. In 2013 she received a scholarship for upcoming artists from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and started to work in Berlin. In 2018, her piece "Lullaby" was awarded the "Audience Prize" at the Tokyo Babylon Dance Collection.

She focuses on contemporary social and cultural issues by researching places and interacting with people outside the mainstream of society. She brings them together with many kinds of art forms, including digital and visual art with other artists. She explores combinations of opposites that cross the borders between majority and minority, present and past, and reality and fantasy. Her recent productions have been supported by Germany's district, state, and federal governments. In 2020 she became a member of UNESCO's Conseil International de la Danse (CID).  From 2024 she bases in the small town in Japan (Mitoyo) with the mission of community revitalization.

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Yoriko Maeno has been creating dance theater since 2010. She developed her choreography method from the dance forms of classical ballet, modern, jazz, and contemporary dance, as well as Japanese Butoh and improvisation—movements whose inner imaginative power becomes visible which mix the aesthetics of Asian and Western culture.

Her artistic focus is not only on the body's movement but on everything in space, including music, video installations, and objects. Yoriko Maeno considers all these things in space as "dance". She uses these multimedia artistic tools to address social issues and cultural phenomena in our time. The most important aspect of her work is the creation of organic and living networks and interactions between these different artistic media to generate extraordinary moments and sensations for the viewers.

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~2010~

Solo “MORTAL”  (Hiroshima)

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~2011～
Dance Theater  “CANARY ～aspects of "S"～”  (Japan Tour, Tokyo, Tottori, Ehime, Aomori)

Solo “Becoming to be a man”  (Yokohama BankART)

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~2012~

Dance Theater “The Dream of Brainwashing”  (Tokyo, Fukuoka)

Dance Theater “Rhapsody for Cannibalism” (Tokyo)

Dance Theater “Tanaka Mizuki’s World” (Tokyo)

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~2013~

Dance Theater, Revival “Tanaka Mizuki’s World” (Niigata)

Dance Theater “UTOPIA” (Tokyo)

Solo Performance (Berlin, Germamy)

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~2014~

Solo Performance (Berlin, Germany)

Solo "MORTAL" (Pune, India.) / AVAYAVA Contemporary Dance Festival

Solo Performance with Yuichi Nishikawa (New Delhi, India) / Japan Foundation

Dance Theater "TOKYO MANIA" (Berlin, Germany)

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~2015~

Dance Theater "Cage/ ASLAP" (Tokyo)

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~2018~

Dance Theater "Lullaby" (Tokyo, Babylon Dance Collection)...Audience Prize

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~2019~

Dance Theater "Ryoanji" (Berlin, Germany)

Dance Theater about Dementia "D14" (Berlin, Germany)

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~2020-2021~

360° Dance Film "AMA-Perlentaucherin" (Berlin, Germany)

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~2021~

Dance Theater about Dementia "HIROs LIED" Premiere (Berlin, Germany)

360° Dance Film "AMA-Perlentaucherin" (TPAM Fringe, Online Programm)

360° Dance Film "AMA-Perlentaucherin" (Edinburgh Fringe, Online Programm)

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~2022~

360° Dance Film "AMA-Perlentaucherin" (Sydney Fringe, Online Programm)

Research Project "O_V (organische vereinigung)" (Berlin, Germany)

Dance Theater "AMA-Perlentaucherin" Premiere (Berlin, Germany)

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~2023~

360° Dance Film "AMA-Perlentaucherin" Exhibition (Toba Sea-Folk Museum, Mie, Japan)

Dance Theater about Dementia "HIROs LIED" Revival (Berlin, Germany)

360° Dance Film "AMA-Perlentaucherin" Exhibition and Talk event

(DAIWA Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London, UK)

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PRIZE, SCHOLARSHIP,

2008                 Akita Modern Dance Conpetition “Akitakomachi Prize"

2013~2014       Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists 

2018                 Tokyo Babylon Dance Collection, Audience Prize

2020-21            Senate Department for Culture and Europe,

                         Department of Culture, City of Berlin

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ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

2010                 Hachinohe Portable Museum Hacchi (Aomori)

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Supported by

Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan

Japan Contemporary Dance Network

Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Department of Culture, City of Berlin

Fonds Darstellende Künste

NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ-Stepping out

Bezirksamt Steglitz-Zehlendorf, City of Berlin

Deutsch-Japanische Gesellschaft Berlin

Stiftung zur Förderung  japanisch-deutscher Wissenschafts-und Kulturbeziehungen (JaDe)

Fachstelle für pflegende Angehörige,

Verein für kultursensible Pflege (DeJaK-Tomonokai) e.V.

Zentrale Anlaufstelle Hospiz (ZAH)

Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte​

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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE as a dancer

2003-2005       Tokyo Disney Resort Dancer

2005                 Opera “CARMEN” (New National Theater)

2007-2011        Kagaya Kaori Dance-SHAN

2011                 Dance Movie “Die Verwandlung” (Director : Meitei Yamada)

2012                 My Sunshine (Director : Hiroshi Koike)

2013                 Comedy Movie Festival Opening Movie (Director : Chihiro Amano)

2015                 Duo Festival in South Korea (Choreographer : Kuang-Soku)

2016                 TANSIK (Berlin, Choreographer: Chizu Kimura)

2016                 Film "PANK OPERA" (Berlin, Director: Aneta Panek)

2017-2018        Sayonara TOKYO (Wintergarten Variete Berlin) 

2019                 Body in Urban place (Herrenhäusergarten in Hannover,

                         Choreographer : Willi Dorner) 

2019                 Objects (Choreographer : Nadja Raszewski)

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