Hideyuki Yano

Born in Tokyo in 1943, Hideyuki Yano came to the United States in 1961 to study literature, then returned to Japan and became interested in Noh theatre. In 1969, he choreographed his first works which reunited actors, dancers and musicians on stage. He settled in Paris in 1973 and three years later founded the group Ma Danse Rituel Théâtre, whose notable members included Elsa Wolliaston, Lila Greene, Sidonie Rochon, Mark Tompkins, Karine Saporta and François Verret.

His creations explore the limits of dance, at the edges of theatre and music, while his legacy – today partially faded and, at the same time, mythologised – will occupy a very particular place at the heart of new French dance. While European audiences were discovering butoh, from the work of Hideyuki Yano came the idea that dance is the expression, not of a technique, but of an interior state where the feeling and the desire are in the foreground. The artist brings to life visual universes with a magnetic power, in particular with “Géo-chorégraphie” (“Geo-choreography”) (1977), “Hana-Cristal fleur” (“Hana-Crystal flower”) (1979), “Au puits de l’épervier” (“At the Hawk’s Well”) (1983) or the triptych “Salomé” after Oscar Wilde (1986). In 1986, H. Yano became the director of the Centre chorégraphique national de Besançon- Franche-Comté (National Choreography Centre of Besançon-Franche-Comté). He died in Paris in 1988.

(Source : presentation from the archives and special collections of the CND (National Dance Centre), 2010)

Updated: January 2013