Ayano YOKOYAMA
Dancer, choreographer

Ayano received a grant to participate in Camping project organized by the Centre National de la Danse..

What is your artistic background ?
I am a dancer and choreographer from Japan. I was born and raised in Nagano. I have learned modern dance from my childhood. It is surrounded by great nature and the mountains of the Northern Alps. Traditional culture such as jJapanese festivals has been familiar to me before I realized it, and I have lived in symbiosis with Japan's nature. I went to Tokyo and studied dance at university, focusing on dance theory and contemporary dance. I have a strong admiration for music, and I began to perform collaborative performances with musicians and bands. It is important for my dance to listen to sounds.  And at the root is a sense of climate cultivated in a land rich in nature. I think it's because I grew up close to nature that seemed to transcend something. Now, in addition to choreographing dance works, I also create scenography design. In the future, I would like to increase the number of opportunities for live performances in dance works, and go to various places to dance. Besides the theater.

What is your view on your profession today ?
I don't know if Japanese performing arts are functioning well today. In Japan, many audiences don’t have the habit of going to theaters, so the number is very limited. It's very different from Europe. And many of the theaters in Japan are not community-based. It's too far away from everyday life in a bad way. At this rate, I feel a sense of crisis that the Japanese performing arts will be left behind. I want to work on being myself. However, dancing itself is fundamental to human beings and is very familiar to us. As for dance, I think that it is something that I will continue to explore until I die, just like my body changes as long as I live.

How do you see yourself in 5 years ? In 10 years ?
I value the experience of life. I hope that the roads will connect so that I can see various regions and people from myself and go see them. We live in an age where information is overflowing and convenience is required. However, I would like dance to become more closely related to living while valuing the fundamental parts of the body and senses.

Interview conducted in 2022
Photography credit : Julie Glassberg