YAYOI THEATRE MOVEMENT Society

YAYOI THEATRE MOVEMENT Society was founded in Japan in 1990 by Yayoi Hirano. The company permanently moved to Vancouver, B.C. in 2002 and became a registered non-profit society in 2006. YTM continues to produce and present work that blends traditional Japanese dance and theatre with telling contemporary and modern narratives. Recent performances include Shinju(2008) at Performance Works on Granville Island. In 2007, the society was part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival performing a piece called Mothers at the Waterfront Theatre. Hirano collaborated with composer Wendy Bross Stuart to produce three stories around the theme of “mothers” from First Nations, Jewish and Japanese ancestry. Using Japanese Noh style masks and Noh techniques the performance weaved together a collection of maternal narratives integrating eastern art forms and diverse contemporary stories. In 2005, Hirano created a new solo work Four Seasons which debuted in October at the Scotia Bank Dance Centre. The uniqueness of YAYOI THEATRE MOVEMENET Society is that it bridges together western and Japanese traditions through the artistic form of dance performance in a way that is moving to people no matter what language or cultural background. Yayoi provide both the traditional training but also the option for a space for contemporary collaboration; the possibility to fuse the traditional arts with other artistic disciplines and even dances forms.