Yuriko (dancer)
Yuriko | |
|---|---|
| Born | Yuriko Amemiya February 2, 1920 San Jose, California, U.S. |
| Died | March 8, 2022 (aged 102) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Yuriko Kikuchi |
| Occupation(s) | Dancer, choreographer |
| Known for | Martha Graham Dance Company |
| Spouse |
Charles Kikuchi (m. 1946) |
| Children | 2 |
Yuriko Kikuchi (née Amemiya, February 2, 1920 – March 8, 2022), known to audiences by her stage name Yuriko, was an American dancer and choreographer who was best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
Early life and career
Yuriko Amemiya was born to Chiyo (Furuya) Amemiya and Morishige Amemiya in San Jose, California in 1920, but her mother sent her to Japan in 1923 in order to escape an influenza epidemic in the United States that killed her father and sisters. At age six, she returned to California but was later left in Japan during a 1929 visit after her mother's second marriage ended.[1] She began her dance training with Konami Ishii in Tokyo,[2] and danced with the Konami Ishii Dance Company from 1930 to 1937.[2] In 1937, Yuriko returned to the United States and joined Dorothy Lyndall's Junior Dance Company in Los Angeles.[2]
Internment
From 1941 to 1943, Yuriko was interned along with other Japanese Americans at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, where she taught dance. She was released in September 1943, whereupon she immediately moved to New York City.[1]
Later career
Yuriko joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1944 and continued with the company for the next 50 years. She danced in the first production of Graham's masterpiece, Clytemnestra, as well as in Appalachian Spring, Cave of the Heart and Dark Meadow. She has also reconstructed a number of Graham's dances such as Primitive Mysteries.[3]
In addition to her work in modern dance, Yuriko performed on Broadway in the original productions of The King and I (1951–54) and Flower Drum Song (1958–60) and directed the 1977-78 Broadway revival of The King and I.[4] She has also performed on television, and in motion pictures and danced to works by Halim El-Dabh and Eugene Lester. She taught famous dancers such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Reiko Sato, and Miki Orihara.[5]
She formed her own modern dance company in 1967, which remained active until 1973.
Personal life
Yuriko married Charles Kikuchi in 1946 and had two children.[6] She died in Manhattan on March 8, 2022, at the age of 102.[1]
Awards
In 1967, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in choreography.[7] In 1991, she won a Bessie Award.[citation needed] Yuriko was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Boston Conservatory in 2006.[8]
Yuriko received the Martha Hill Dance Fund Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.[9]
Films
- 1956 – The King and I
- 1957 – A Dancer's World
- 1960 – Yuriko: Creation of a Dance
References
- ^ a b c Kisselgoff, Anna (March 11, 2022), "Yuriko, keeper of Martha Graham's flame, dies at 102", The New York Times
- ^ a b c International Dictionary of Modern Dance. Gale Biography in Context.
- ^ Arlene Croce, Writing in the Dark, Dancing in the New Yorker. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Print. pp. 194-195.
- ^ Yuriko, Internet Broadway Database, https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/yuriko-16566
- ^ Magee, Seana K. (2013-06-08). "Dancer says imagination is key to a full life". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
- ^ <Asian Week Archived 10 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Yuriko Kikuchi". John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
- ^ "Yuriko to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award". dancemagazine. 2012-09-28. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
- ^ Christopher Boyd, Boyd Design Studio/LLC. "Martha Hill Dance Fund, Ltd. • 2012 Awards Gala". www.marthahilldance.org. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
External links
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| International | |
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| National | |
- 1920 births
- 2022 deaths
- 20th-century American women
- 21st-century American women
- American actresses of Japanese descent
- American centenarians
- American choreographers
- American dancers of Asian descent
- American female dancers
- Actresses from San Jose, California
- Japanese-American internees
- People from Manhattan
- Women centenarians