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DESCRIPTION:<strong>FORMER MARTHA GRAHAM DANCER YURIKO TO DISCUSS\nCHOREOGR
 APHER’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISAMU NOGUCHI\nAT JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL M
 USEUM MARCH 12</strong>\n\nLOS ANGELES—Yuriko\, former principal dancer 
 for groundbreaking choreographer Martha Graham\, will discuss her relation
 ship with her mentor as well as Graham’s 30-year collaboration with arti
 st Isamu Noguchi in the public program\, “Point of Departure: Yuriko in 
 Conversation with Mindy Aloff and Bonnie Rychlak.” Audiences will also h
 ave the chance to see excerpts of archival film footage featuring Yuriko i
 n significant dance productions by Graham. “Point of Departure” will t
 ake place on Sunday\, March 12\, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Japanese Ameri
 can National Museum in Little Tokyo.\n\nThis program is part of a series d
 irectly related to Japanese American National Museum’s installation of t
 he internationally acclaimed exhibition\, <a href="http://www.janm.org/exh
 ibits/noguchidesign/"><em>Isamu Noguchi – Sculptural Design</em></a>\, o
 rganized by the Vitra Design Museum\, Weil am Rhein\, Germany\, in coopera
 tion with the Isamu Noguchi Foundation\, Inc.\, New York. The exhibition\,
  which includes more than 75 works by Noguchi and reflects the diversity o
 f his six decades of work\, was designed and visually conceived by famed t
 heatrical director and designer Robert Wilson at the Watermill Center on L
 ong Island\, New York. The exhibition runs through May 14 and is the final
  stop on a 10-city international tour.\n\nNoguchi\, considered one of the 
 great artists of the 20th Century\, broke down the boundaries between the 
 fine and applied arts\, creating sculpture\, furniture\, gardens\, memoria
 ls\, fountains\, and dance sets. His collaboration with Graham began in 19
 35 and she often credited Noguchi’s sets as being integral to her dance 
 productions. “Always he has given me something that lived on stage as an
 other character\, another dancer\,” Graham explained. Set elements of se
 ven Graham productions designed by Noguchi are part of the exhibition curr
 ently on display.\n\nYuriko Amemiya was born in San Jose in 1920\, but lik
 e Noguchi\, she spent much of her youth in Japan. She studied classical Ja
 panese dance before returning to San Jose\, only to be removed from the We
 st Coast along with 110\,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry by the U.S. go
 vernment during World War II. Yuriko and her family were incarcerated in A
 rizona’s Gila River concentration camp.\n\nAfter petitioning for an earl
 y release\, Yuriko received permission to leave Gila River in 1943 under t
 he condition that she not return to the West Coast. She headed for New Yor
 k because “I wanted to dance.” While inquiring about the teaching sche
 dule at Martha Graham’s dance company\, she encountered the accomplished
  choreographer alone. “She wanted to see me move\,” Yuriko recalled\, 
 “and I said\, ‘I’m not in training\; I just came out of the camp.’
  “\n\nDespite being invited to attend class the next day\, Yuriko declin
 ed to show up. “In Japan\,” she explained\, “if you don’t know the
  technique\, you don’t take it from the master first. You take it from a
 n underling.” Yuriko studied under another instructor for four months un
 til her abilities drew Graham’s attention again. This time\, she joined 
 Graham’s class and three years later became part of the permanent compan
 y\, dancing in the legendary Appalachian Spring.\n\nThis was the beginning
  of a 50-year association with Graham. Yuriko eventually founded the Marth
 a Graham Dance Ensemble and was instrumental in the restaging of Graham’
 s productions. More recently\, as Graham’s dances have begun to pass int
 o the public domain\, Yuriko offered her services as a stager for dance co
 mpanies and student groups that want to present these important works. Und
 er the title “The Arigato Project\,” Yuriko contributed her expertise 
 and often included her daughter Susan Kikuchi (another former Graham dance
 r). “‘Arigato’ means ‘thank you’ in Japanese\,” Yuriko said. 
 “It’s my thank you to Martha Graham and to the dance world for giving 
 me such a beautiful life\, and I want to give it back. The knowledge\, the
  experience: I can’t take it with me. It’s my legacy to young dancers.
 ”\n\n “Point of Departure” will be moderated by two leading experts 
 on Graham and Noguchi: Mindy Aloff and Bonnie Rychlak. Aloff is one of the
  nation’s most respected dance critics who has written for The New Yorke
 r\, The New Republic\, The New York Times\, and The Nation. She also teach
 es dance history at Barnard College in New York and serves as a consultant
  for the George Balanchine Foundation. She is editor of the highly anticip
 ated book\, Dance Anecdotes: Stories from the Worlds of Ballet\, Broadway\
 , the Ballroom\, and Modern Dance\, which will be released in Spring 2006.
  Rychlak is the Curator at the Isamu Noguchi Museum in New York\, and over
 saw the 2004 exhibition\, Noguchi and Graham: Selected Works for Dance. He
 r essay on Noguchi—“Sitting Quietly: Isamu Noguchi and the Zen Aesthet
 ic”—can be found in Isamu Noguchi: Master Sculptor (2004)\, which was 
 published by the Whitney Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gar
 den. \n\n“Point of Departure” is free with admission to Isamu Noguchi 
 - Sculptural Design. Seating is first-come\, first-served\, and early arri
 val is advised. Special admission prices apply to this exhibition: Adults 
 $12\; seniors (age 62+) $9\; students and youth (ages 6-17) $8\; and child
 ren 5 and under are free. National Museum members are free.\n\nReservation
 s are recommended for all programs. For more information call (213) 625-04
 14.\n\n
DTSTAMP:20240426T184617Z
SUMMARY:Dancer Yuriko to Discuss Isamu Noguchi\, Martha Graham March 12
URL:/en/events/2006/03/12/dancer-yuriko-to-discuss-isamu-noguchi-martha-gra
 h/
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