Yasuko Yokoshi: Tyler Tyler

a DiverseWorks Co-Commission

Tyler Tyler resumes Yasuko Yokoshi’s artistic partnership with Masumi Seyama, revered master teacher of Kabuki Su-Odori dance and the heir to the legacy of Kaniyuro Fujima VI, one of the renowned Kabuki choreographers of 20th Century in Japan.  Together they deconstruct new choreographic material from Fujima’s classical dance repertories.  Yokoshi and Seyama dare to face boundaries of different training, cultural code and social hierarchy yet simultaneously desire to cherish the forms and beauty of the universal language of dance.

Tyler Tyler features the oldest disciple and member of Seyama Dance Family, Kayo Seyama; a young Kabuki actor, Kuniyawa Sawamura; and an actor from the Bungakuza Theater Company, Asaji Naoki.  In the United States, Yokoshi collaborates with American contemporary dancers Julie Alexander and Kayvon Pourazar, and musician Steven Reker who toured the world as a guitarist, singer and dancer with Everything that Happens will Happen Today, a musical performance composed by David Byrne and Brian Eno.  Tyler Tyler is produced by MAPP International Productions. Read the NYTimes article about the creation process for Tyler Tyler and Deborah Jowitt’s review in the Village Voice.
Yasuko was a Choreographic Fellow at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, and created this video of highlights from her research residency.