"I have a deep awe and respect for the sheer courage it takes to be human. This fascination is woven throughout my work as I examine moments of transformation: when, through a change of perception, the awkward or ordinary reveals an unexpected beauty. Those moments of recognition lie at the heart of my work. Through my passion for experimentation within the movement medium, I create a new movement vocabulary with each new work, shaping conceptual ideas into a physical language, exploring and discovering while I carefully ‘listen’ as the dialogue with the dance itself is revealed." Unafraid to provoke provocative questions, Donna Uchizono creates vivid dances characterized by striking visual imagery, layered fragility, emotional sublimity and bold, original gestures. Frequently working with visual artists and musicians—including sculptor David Hammons and composer Guy Yarden—she views collaboration as a key element in her creative process and community involvement as a strong component of her work. Working in Argentina over four years, she galvanized independent dancers to create their first coalition and was commissioned to choreograph a work in concert with musicians from the Tobas Indian Nation. Charting new territory with each work, she creates an innovative movement vocabulary, merging the formal ideas of abstraction with more emotionally-based concerns. Uchizono provokes audiences with an original voice, exposing beauty in the unexpected and the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Born 1955, US Army Base, Tokyo, Japan, and raised in Southern California Lives in New York City 1983 B.A., Dance, California State University, Long Beach, California

	2005	Hug, premiered at Danspace Project, New York with Donna Uchizono Company. In collaboration with composer Guy Yarden, costume/set designer Wendy Winters, lighting designer Ricky Murray and video artist Maya Ciarrocchi
	2003	Butterflies from my Hand, premiered at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon with Donna Uchizono Company and Yarden, Winters and lighting designer Stan Pressner; toured nationally and internationally
	2002	Low, premiered at Dance Theater Workshop, New York with Donna Uchizono Company. In collaboration with Yarden, Winters and Pressner (“Bessie” for Uchizono and Yarden); toured nationally and internationally
	1999	Invitados, premiered at Sala Saulo Benavente-Rosario, Argentina. Made for COBAI with music of the Tobas Indian Nation
	1998	State of Heads, premiered at Dance Theater Workshop with Donna Uchizono Company. In collaboration with composer James Lo and Pressner (“Bessie” for James Lo); toured nationally and internationally
	1995	quietly goes a giant jane, premiered at Dance Theater Workshop with Donna Uchizono Company. In collaboration with visual artist David Hammons, Pressner, and composers “Butch” Morris and James Lo; toured nationally and internationally
	1994	Iron Wings, premiered at Vooruit-Gent, Belgium. Made in collaboration with composer Tom Cora
	1993	A Sage Passage, premiered at The Kitchen, New York; a multi generational work with Donna Uchizono Company and 4 dancers ages ranging from 53-74. In collaboration with composer Tom Cora
	1990	San Andreas, premiered at The Kitchen, New York. Debut of Donna Uchizono Company with composer Tom Cora (“Bessie” for Tom Cora); toured nationally and internationally

	2002, 04	NEFA’s National Dance Project
	2002-04	National Endowment for the Arts
	2002	New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) for Low
	2002	Creative Capital Grant
	1999, 03, 04	Rockefeller Foundation MAP Grant
	1998	John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
	1996, 00, 04	New York Foundation for the Arts Choreography Fellowship
	1995-93	National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer’s Fellowship

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