NOW & UPCOMING

POOM²
A Page Out Of Order M to M

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street, NYC
Thursday, May 15, 7:30 PM
Friday, May 16, 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 17, 7:30 PM
Box Office: (212) 715-1258, Monday - Friday, 10 am - 4:45 pm
www.japansociety.org -- buy tickets -- 25th Anniversary Reception -- donate now

"Yoshiko Chuma is a maverick, utterly unique, a 'one-off' as the British say… 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

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 latest chapter in the on-going dance/installation A Page Out of Order by Yoshiko Chuma and her company The School of Hard Knocks. Inspired by Teinosuke Kinugasas' 1927 silent film A Page of Madness, the current episode investigates the relatively unknown country of Manipur in northeast India, the site of Japans' final battle of World War II. An international cast of real and electronic performers will appear on film and via live call-ins. Chuma, who conceives, choreographs and directs this production, was born in Japan. Over the last 30 years of her artistic career, she and her collaborators have garnered 8 Bessie Awards and created more than 60 full-length performances for theaters and site-specific venues throughout the world. Guests include vocal artist Sizzle Ohtaka; the cutting-edge shakuhachi trio; Hannya Teikoku from Japan; video artist Dave Thoudam from Manipur; and wordsmith and Manipur native Somi Roy.

Tickets: $28/$25 Japan Society members. Purchase tickets online above or call the Box Ofice at (212) 715-1258.

The School of Hard Knocks' POOM² is supported by The Japan Foundations' Performing Arts Japan Program, Japan-United States Friendship Commission, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and The Saison Foundation. This production is produced in cooperation with GOH Productions.

KUDOS FOR YOSHIKO

On September 17, 2007, Yoshiko Chuma received a 2007 BESSIE Award for sustained achievement.  

Yoshiko was in Japan at the time, working on a project, so sound designer, filmmaker, and School of Hard Knocks co-founder, Jacob Burckhardt received the award for Yoshiko at the annual ceremony.  

Yoshiko had emailed a list of a few hundred names of the NY and international artists who have participated in School of Hard Knocks projects since the company's inception in 1981.  Jacob read the list with the assistance of Hugh Burckhardt.

OUR LAST PRESS CLIPPING

Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks performed “Red Carpet 1967” as part of “60s Snapshots” at Lincoln Center Out of Doors on August 23, 2007. See photo above and NY Times Review by Jennifer Dunning.