Japan Society Presents Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hardknocks

For Immediate Release

Poom² A Page out of Order M to M

May 15-17, 2008 at 7:30 pm

"Yoshiko Chuma is a maverick, utterly unique…Gifted with great personal force and intelligence, at heart she is an experimentalist, a fierce explorer with a profound sense of structure." -- Amanda Smith, Dance Magazine, 2007

New York, NY -- Japan Society concludes its Winter-Spring 2008 Performing Arts Season with the World Premiere of Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks: POOM² A Page Out Of Order M to M. This piece marks the latest chapter in the on-going dance/installation A Page Out of Order, an international collaboration project lead by director/choreographer Yoshiko Chuma and her New York/Japan based company, The School of Hard Knocks. A Page Out of Order has gone through several phases, with new developments incorporated into each new episode. This new chapter of the series features performers from Japan and America as well as artists from the lesser-known region of Manipur, India. As the third offering in Japan Society’s Winter-Spring season theme New York Woman, POOM² plays Thursday, May 15–Saturday, May 17, 7:30 pm at Japan Society.

Dance, live music, video projections and commentary collide in 10 scenes on a red-saturated stage in the middle of a driving rainstorm in POOM², the next chapter in Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks’ A Page Out of Order. Inspired by Teinosuke Kinugasa's 1927 silent film A Page of Madness, this current episode investigates the relatively unknown country of Manipur in northeast India, the site of Japan's final battle of World War II. Throughout the performance, an international cast of real and electronic performers appear live, on film and via live call-ins. Guest performers include vocal artist Sizzle Ohtaka and the cutting-edge shakuhachi trio Hannya Teikoku from Japan.

A native of Japan, Yoshiko Chuma (Conceptual Artist/Choreographer/Artistic Director of The School of Hard Knocks) has lived in the U.S. since 1976. Chuma has created more than 60 full-length performance works for theatres and site-specific venues indoors and outdoors with her company The School of Hard Knocks, and has commissioned works throughout the world. Her work has been presented in New York at venues including the Joyce Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, City Center and the legendary annual Halloween Parade and also been seen abroad in such locations as the former National Theater of Sarajevo, the perimeter of the Hong Kong harbor, an ancient ruin in Macedonia, the Eiffel Tower and Newcastle Swing Bridge. Chuma is the recipient of several fellowships and awards including ones from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for Artists, Japan Foundation, Meet the Composer Choreographer/Composer Commission and Philip Morris New Works. She is also the recipient of a 1984 Bessie award for Choreography and a 2007 Bessie for Sustained Achievement. Chuma was Artistic Director of the Daghdha Dance Company in Limerick, Ireland from 2000-03 and continues to work in Ireland as a guest teacher/choreographer in the Dance MA program of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.

Under the artistic direction of Yoshiko Chuma, The School of Hard Knocks is a New York-based collective of choreographers, dancers, actors, singers, musicians, designers, and visual artists. Since premiering at the 1980 Venice Biennale, this award-winning company has created and performed over 60 original works in the United States, Asia, and Europe. The School of Hard Knocks takes its name from the American idiom meaning to learn things the hard way on the proverbial "street," and was first used as the title of a performance at the 1980 Venice Biennale. Over the course of the company's history, more than 1,500 people have performed to wide critical acclaim under Chuma's direction in theatrical dance concerts, street performances, grand parades, large-scale spectacles and intimate living rooms.

Vocal artist Sizzle Ohtaka defies category with influences ranging from jazz, experimental and world music to traditional Japanese song. Her elastic and electrifying voice has been used in several hundred radio and TV commercials in Japan. Ohtaka has appeared on 19 albums, performed throughout Japan and taken part in festivals in the U.S., England, China, Denmark, Sweden, France and Korea among other countries. She currently produces and performs the music for the popular children's TV program Nihongo de Asobo (Let's Play with Japanese Language).

Hannya Teikoku is a cutting-edge trio of some of Japan's most respected young performers of the shakuhachi (an ancient bamboo flute with a timber reminiscent of the human voice and a range as flexible). With their delightful physicality running counterpoint to their music, performers Hiromu Motonaga, Akihisa Kominato and Takuya Iwata literally become part of the choreography in POOM².

POOM² A Page Out Of Order M to M concludes Japan Society’s Winter-Spring season theme New York Woman, which challenges the stereotype of the “Japanese woman” as subservient and quietly humble. With bold ferocity and poetic imagination, Japanese women in New York have sculpted individual artistic visions that weave into the diverse cultural landscape of an extraordinary city. The New York Woman season kicked-off in February with Akiko Yano: Voice & Piano, followed by Ikue Mori: Celebrating 30 Years of Life, Love & Music in NYC and a play reading series of Keralino Sandorovich’s Frozen Beach. As a continuation of this season theme in May, Japan Society will offer Komomo: Geisha in Contemporary Japan, a special lecture by Geisha Komono as well as The Art of Traditional Japanese Hospitality, a Two-Day Workshop in Dance & Ritual with Geisha Komomo.

About Japan Society’s Performing Arts Program
Since the inception of the Performing Arts Program in 1953, Japan Society has introduced more than 500 of Japan’s finest performing arts to an extensive American audience. Programs range from the traditional arts of noh, kyogen, bunraku and kabuki to cutting-edge theater, dance and music. The Program also commissions new works, produces national tours, organizes residency programs for American and Japanese artists, and develops and distributes educational programs. "At once diverse and daring, the program stands toe to toe with some of the most comprehensive cultural exchange endeavors today" (Leonard Jacobs, Back Stage).

About Japan Society
Founded in 1907 by prominent New York City business people and philanthropists, Japan Society has evolved over 100 years into an internationally recognized nonprofit organization presenting a full range of programs within arts, business, education and public policy. Through over 100 events annually, the Society creates rich encounters and exchanges that offer opportunities to experience Japanese culture, foster sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia, and improve access to information on Japan.

Through June 2008, Japan Society celebrates the 100th Anniversary of its founding with Japan100: Celebrating a Century, an unprecedented roster of programming. The Performing Arts Program kicked off the centennial celebration in February 2007 with the world premiere of Big Dance Theater’s The Other Here. American Theatre noted: "For a hundred years now, the Japan Society of New York has been a think tank for policy works, entrepreneurs, diplomats and Japanophiles. But the jewel in its crown has always been the performing arts program." Visit www.japan100.org for more information.

Tickets & Information
POOM² A Page Out Of Order M to M runs Friday, May 15 through Saturday, May 17, 7:30 pm. Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between First and Second Avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd St.) Tickets are $28/$25 Japan Society members and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 212- 715-1258 or in person at Japan Society (M-F, 11am-6 pm and Saturday and Sunday 11 am-5 pm). For more information call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org.

The School of Hard Knock’s POOM² is supported by The Japan Foundation’s Performing Arts Japan Program, Japan-United States Friendship Commission, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Saison Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding, CEC Artslink and EU Japan. This production is produced in cooperation with GOH Productions.

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For further information, images and interview requests, please refer to:

Bridget Klapinski/Meg Owen
The Karpel Group
P: (212) 505-2900
F: (212) 505-2950
E: mowen@thekarpelgroup.com

Kuniko Shiobara
Japan Society
T: 212-715-1249
F: (212) 715-1262
E: kshiobara@japansociety.org