I am interested in process. Processes are fluid, always changing, like statements of relationship. The practice of constantly exploring one's own path is a process, leaving a mark of me.
 
Everything coincides in the present moment. I have been interested in the complex intermeshing of past, present and future in the body. To me, the skin is a permeable structure and inside and outside of the body are place that need to be think. Events of a political, social, economic and cultural nature inscribe themselves.
Space is also a body with incorporations. In the space surrounding the body the present sits, stands, flies, rests and pulsates along with its past and its projected future.
 
What do we incorporate, what do we disincorporate?

The body is in the world, the world is in the body.

YOKO KOIKE

 
Artist / Choreographer & Dancer
Feldenkrais Practitioner

 
Yoko Koike started her career as a ballet dancer. She established the dance studio "Saitama City Ballet" in 1997, and has been working to develop dancers by running the studio while rooting herself in the community. click here
She moved her field of practice into contemporary dance in 2008 to undertake her creative process in exploring the sensitivity of a physical body and senses. She incorporates the idea of Feldenkrais Method into the practice based on her background in ballet. Over the years, Yoko built her career as a dancer and a choreographer by taking part in a number of performances and festivals in Asia, Middle East and Europe. Working in the field of art including music, visual arts, literature, Feldenkrais Method and Butoh have led to her own expression of work.
She has produced and managed various projects, including "SAI International Dance Festival" in 2017, "DANCERS' NEST" in 2018, and "Collective・Research/Create/Perform"in 2019 etc.
Alongside her practice, Yoko has been a part-time lecturer at Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences since 2019 and currently pursuing her research in exploring new ways of artistic expression beyond the constraints of dance practice at Kyoto University of Arts. 2021, M.F.A；finished the Master of Fine Arts.
In 2021, she launched SC∀L∃R and started creative activities on a project-by-project basis as an artist collective.　click here
In 2022, with a grant from the Nagoya City Center, she researched Nagoya's Nakagawa Canal and presented a work consisting of a video installation exhibition and an essay. She focuses on the "awareness'' that arises by changing the way we perceive things, such as what we see, what we hear, what we feel, and the images in various things, and creates works without being particular about technique or genre.
 
 

• Freelance Choreographer & Dancer / 2009 - Ongoing
• Designare Movement Residency Choreographer & Dancer / 2013 -2018
• “Dance House KOGANE 4422"Residency Choreographer & Dancer / 2018 - 2019
• Producer of “DANCERS’ NEST” / 2018
• DEVIATE.CO / 2012 -2017
  Producer of SAI International Dance Festival / 2016 -2017
• Director of "Saitama City Ballet" / 2000 - Ongoing
  Matsuyama Ballet Company Dancer / 1995 - 1999
• NBA Ballet Company Dancer / 1999 - 2002

  
 

2024	Installation " optimum " 〈Tokyo〉 Installation " いい加/減 inclusive-exclusive "〈Saitama〉
2023	Installation " mind scape " 〈Nagoya〉
2022	Performance/Installation " 齢 instar 01"〈Kamakura〉 Performance/Installation " 齢 instar 01"〈Tokyo〉 Performance/Installation " 齢 instar 02"〈Nagoya〉 Installation " mind scape " 〈Nagoya〉
2021	Online Performance "ENGMAーHole" / Tokyo
2020	DanzINC Festival 2020 “ENIGMA PROJECT" / Singapore
2019	Inspection“Novi Sad 2021” with the support of the EU Japan Fest / Serbia  A part‐time teacher “dept. Media Art of Nagoya Gakugei University” / Japan Performance “Myth of a Bird”/ Korea Program Director of “Collective・Research/Create/Perform” / Japan
2018	Zawirowania Festival / Poland Dance Cosmopolitan in Seoul / Korea Producer of “DANCE HOUSE KOGANE4422” and “DANCERS’ NEST” / Japan
2017	Dance Bridge International / Japan Small Theater Festival / Korea Dance Cosmopolitan in Bangkok / Thailand International Residence Performance / Bulgaria Producer of “SAI International Dance Festival”/ Japan
2016	Memorial Gala Performance Seoul International Choreography Festival / Korea 7th DanzINC – International Dancers & Choreographers Residency Festival International Choreographers’ Platform / Singapore International Dance Festival “New Dance for Asia” / Korea Festival of “Daejun Young Choreographer Festival” / Korea Fukuoka Dance Fringe Festival / Japan
2015	won “Head jury prize” in “Seoul International Choreography Festival” / Korea Festival of “Sibu International Dance Festival 2015” / Malaysia Festival of “Busan International Dance Festival" / Korea Festival of “International Modern Dance Festival” / Korea Fukuoka Dance Fringe Festival / Japan
2014	"The 2014 Gwangju Dong-gu Road Art Festival” / Korea Festival of "JAPAN DANCE WEEK Nights of the Rising Sun” / Israel Seoul International Choreography Festival / Korea
2013	"Gwangjin International Summer Dance Festival" / Korea Fukuoka Dance Fringe Festival / Japan Seoul International Choreography Festival / Korea Dance and Environment Project / Japan

 
Award

• 2015 won “Head jury prize” in “Seoul International Choreography Festival” / Korea
• 2015 won “Third prize” in “Seoul International Choreography Festival” / Korea
• 2010 won Audience prize ”FUKUOKA DANCE FRINGE FESTIVAL” / Japan

 
Other

• 2017-2019
  
• Kyushu International Dance Competition / as a judge / Japan
• SAI International Dance Festival / as a producer / Japan
•  
• 2012
  
• "International Ballet Seminar 2012” as a teacher / Italy
•  

Qualifications

• 2014 Certified STOTT PILATES Teacher
  2009 Certified Franklin Method Educator Level1 Teacher
  2008 Certified Feldenkrais Method Practitioner
• 2005 Certified Gyrokinesis Teacher Level1