Nov
7
6:00 PM18:00

Zip! (staged reading): written by Timothy Rey & directed by Roger Ellis

NANCY: I tell you I’ve been honing my foresight over the past few months, ever since my husband’s inauguration, and it’s getting stronger every day.
Timothy David Rey, from ZIP!

Come to Zip! presented by Poetry Foundation. This timely play will share space you need to be that election week. Ayako choreographed two dance scenes performed by Wannapa Pimtong Eubanks & Anniela Hubidoro for this staged reading.

Secure your free admission spot at Eventbrite for Thursday, November 7, 6-7:30 pm; Talk Back: 7:30-8 pm

Written by Chicago poet Timothy David Rey, Zip! is a prophetic and ghostly timewarped drama about Nancy Reagan’s fervor for astrology, interlaced with a Black gay love story, set on the eve of the AIDS epidemic and the Reagan assassination attempt. The play runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

Zip! is a 2023 semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Further development occurred during the author’s time as a 2022 fellow in the playwriting cohort of the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ+ Writers-Faculty Advisor, Jewelle Gomez. Zip! was given its second table-read as part of the 2021 End Of Play Program (hosted by the Dramatist Guild of America/ The 24 Hour Plays NYC).

Some of Rey’s other plays include White/House (Finalist, eta New Play Initiative, 2020), Gloria, The (Almost) Last Picture Show, and The Monologue Play: An Ongoing Work Exploring Race, Sex, Identity...And The American Myth (‘22,‘23 Changing Worlds/ Arts Work Fund Award Recipient).

Director: Roger Ellis

Cast: David Goodloe, Caren Skibell, Stephen Glaspie, Wannapa Pimtong Eubanks, Anniela Hubidoro, Donovan Session, and Saleem Hue Penny.

Production Team: Opening Graphic-Rob Riutta/ Ross Parsons, Choreography-Ayako Kato, Props-Julie Williams, Sound-Ayme Frye.


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Nov
8
to Nov 9

Bridge Dance Festival 2024

Ayako Kato image by William Frederking

Bridge Dance Festival 2024 @ Links Hall, 3111 N Western Ave.

Ticket Links: Friday, November 8, 2025, 7 pmSaturday, November 9, 2025, 7 pm

Law of attraction?! Ayako and charismatic dancer Ray Nakazawa met right after Ayako graduated from the University of Michigan MFA program and went back to Japan in 1998. Since then, their paths have been crossing on and off. Both as dance artist moms, they meet and share space again after 26 years. Their duo “Persona” will be presented in reflection of synergetic and synchronic force pushing them forward. The duo will collaborate with Selina Trepp who create expansive live animations reflected on a sculptural mirror ball, Videolah.

Ray, formaly based in Paris and Tokyo, currently based in Mie, Japan, will also invite you to a documentary dance, Respawn, that stages her daily life as a single mother raising a son with a serious illness. 

Chih-Hsien Lin who is specialized in somatic-based approaches presents her solo as an embodied thinker, a clinical counselor, and an immigrant artist originally from Taiwan. 

The Bridge Dance Festival began in 2018 as the culmination of four years of Japanese-focused programming at Links Hall, including the National Performance Network Asian Exchange, Beyond the Box, and Links to Japan.

Curated by Rika Lin/Yoshinojo Fujima

Presented by Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Links Hall

Collaborator Bio for “Persona”

Dancer, director, and producer Ray Nakazawa started ballet and modern dance from an early age. She started presenting her works in her late teens at the Contemporary Dance Association of Japan. She organizes Orbitallink, an improvisational collective with musicians and other genres, and holds 20 raffle ‘improvisational battles’ around the world, including Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo, Paris, and Berlin, which is held throughout the year.

In the 2000s, she moved her base to Paris, France, and presented dance works that collaborate with video and technology. After returning to Japan in 2007, she moved to Mie Prefecture due to her child's illness. While conducting dance and yoga classes for people with mental and developmental disabilities, she began to question the imbalance and over-concentration of dance in Tokyo, and began performing dance in the context of social activities, architecture, welfare, and education, mainly in the Mie Prefecture.

Selina Trepp (Swiss/American, b. 1973) is an artist researching economy and improvisation. Finding a balance between the intuitive and conceptual is a goal. “If in doubt be radical” is the best advice she ever got.  

She works across media, combining performance, installation, painting, and sculpture to create intricate setups that result in photos, drawings and animations. 

In addition to the studio-based work, Selina is active in the music scene. In this context she sings and plays the videolah, her midi controlled video synthesizer combined with her video exploder to create projected animations in real-time as visual music. She performs with a varying cast of collaborators and as one half of Spectralina, her long running audiovisual collaboration with Dan Bitney.

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Nov
9
9:00 PM21:00

Hungry Brain: Tomas Fujiwara/Taylor Ho Bynum with Ayako Kato, Rachel Bernsen, & Jason Roebke

Tomas Fujiwara and Taylor Ho Bynum

HUNGRY BRAIN, Sat, 11/9, 9 pm

Reserve your seats HERE!

Tomas Fujiwara (drums) and Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), with second set guests Ayako Kato and Rachel Bernsen(movement) and Jason Roebke (bass)

Over the past thirty years, over twenty-five albums and hundreds of gigs in dozens of different bands, drummer Tomas Fujiwara and cornettist Taylor Ho Bynum have developed one of the deeper levels of creative communication in the contemporary music scene - in groups under Fujiwara's leadership like Triple Double and Shizuko, ensembles led by Bynum including his Sextet, 9-tette, and PlusTet big band, and collective projects like Illegal Crowns (with Mary Halvorson and Benoit Delbecq) and the Thirteenth Assembly (with Halvorson and Jessica Pavone), and the Chicago meets NYC supergroup Living By Lanterns. Throughout this history, they've maintained their duo, which has released four albums: "True Events" (2007), "Stepwise" (2010), "Through Foundation" (2014), and "Notice" (2022). 

The first set will be Fujiwara and Bynum's first duo performance in Chicago in a decade. For the second set, they will be joined by dancers Ayako Kato and Rachel Bernsen and bassist Jason Roebke, to improvise in response to materials from Bill Dixon's Index - the first in a series of explorations into this composition with a variety of configurations that Bynum is organizing around Dixon's 2025 centennial. 

More Details: Please visit Hungry Brain Website

Rachel Bernsen and Ayako Kato

Ayako Kato and Jason Roebke

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Nov
23
1:30 PM13:30

Umwelt

Umwelt — soundscape and movement installation

Saturday, November 23, Open between 1:30-4:30 pm @ HAIBAYÔ, 1132 W Argyle St., Chicago, IL

Image by Mark Diaz

Join us for a project launch of Umwelt by Mark Alcazar DiazUmwelt presents an auditory journey through the alleyways of Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Delve into an intricate urban ecology of sounds that define these corridors.
  
Through meticulous field recordings captured with a binaural microphone, Umwelt unveils the nuanced sonic landscapes of each alley, offering a glimpse into the unseen rhythms of daily life. From the rhythmic clatter of ventilation systems echoing against brick walls to the distant hum of traffic permeating the air, each sound serves as a thread weaving together the fabric of this urban environment.

During this launch event, visitors activate the mapped recordings through overlapping sound stations. Kinetic philosopher and dancer Ayako Kato will respond to the chance interactions throughout the afternoon. The launch event takes place HAIBAYÔ at 1132 W Argyle St on Saturday, November 23 from 1:30-4:30 PM – and the field recordings are accessible through the site 24/7.

Visit mark-a-diaz-umwelt.com to experience this work online. The site is intended for desktop or laptop interface. Headsets are recommended. Umwelt is a part of Navigations, a series of artist projects in and about public space.

*****
Mark Alcazar Diaz is an artist, curator, educator, and arts administrator. He works with various media, including video, drawing, and object making to examine migration, memory of place, and natureculture. Related to his interest in exploring the pedagogy of sites and objects, Diaz facilitates workshops for teachers, artists, and non-artists to collaborate and explore the intersection of making and learning.

Ayako Kato is a contemporary choreographer and dancer originally from Yokohama, Japan. Kato's dance seeks the way of being in relation to nature and illuminates the dignity of life in response to contemporary society. Kato has been awarded a United States Artist Fellowship, Sybil Shearer Fellowship at Ragdale, and Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship, among others. 

HAIBAYÔ is a creative initiative that aims to energize the historic Asia on Argyle corridor through innovative cross-cultural, multi-generational collaborations. 

Roman Susan celebrates and shares the work of artists in the Great Lakes region. We create cultural engagements that provide resources and paid opportunities for artists. We are Chicago-based. We are artist-led. We are experimental and learning. More details at romansusan.org.

View Event →
Dec
5
to Dec 8

Black Air: Kuroi Kūki: a seed

Black Air exhibition curated by Amelia LiCavoli at Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain

October 4, 2024 - January 5, 2025

“Air is black. It is without colour, without luminosity, and without form. Its blackness is not void, but constitutes pure potential, raw creative energy. Air is free. It circulates everywhere, all at once and always, without conceding to architectural or political borders. We are intimately immersed in black air. We are born into it. We breathe it. We move and act through it, speak from within it. Full of electromagnetic energy, black air animates us, it vibrates and sounds, it carries and transmits.”

— Amelia LiCavoli, curator

Artists: Aldo Tambellini, Otto Piene, Ibrahim R. Ineke, Semiconductor, Ayako Kato, Max Kuiper, Lisa Slodki, Hans de Wit

Kuroi Kūki: a seed

Performance by Ayako Kato

Thursday, December 5, 7 - 8:30 pm

Saturday, December 7, 5:15-6:45 pm

Sunday, December 8, 2:30-4 pm

Projected Image by Aldo Tambellini

Ayako Kato will perform, Kuroi Kūki: a seed, as a part of Black Air exhibition curated by Amelia LiCavoli at Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain. Through these three 90 minute performances, Ayako will embody both physical and metaphysical unrecognized transformative moments of the origin, emergence, and phenomena in search of how the universe began and is still evolving within, through, and around our-CELL-ves.

Projected Image by Aldo Tambellini

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Oct
25
7:00 PM19:00

Improv Night at Bim Bom: Kato + Clark; Genetti + Lee; Maraist + Macdonald

Image by Chad M Clark

One day, Chad reached Ayako, and here we are! Come to let your mind play, float …, and land in space with us!!

Friday, October 25, 7 pm @ Bim Bom Studios, 5226 W Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL 60641

$10-15 Save your spot in advance HERE!

Performance by: Ayako Kato, dance + Chad M Clark, guitar; Carol Genetti, voice + Janna Lee, voice; Amanda Maraist, dance and Michael Macdonald, electronics

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Apr
19
to Apr 20

ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago + Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks present

ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth

Have humans forgotten that we are part of nature?

Or, even the fact that the earth is the place where our bodies are from and return to ...

Bridging Reality & Dreams

Outdoor & Indoor Performance at the Lakefront & Agora Sculpture Area, and

the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago

Free Admission & Registration is Highly Recommended to receive more details and a ETHOS journey route map before the show!

(Free will donation is also deeply appreciated!)

Friday, April 19, 6 pm* & Saturday, April 20, 1 pm*

*Please gather at the Dance Center Lobby at 5:30 pm/12:30 pm to travel together to the Lakefront!

Or directly meet us at the Lakefront at 6 pm/1 pm!

The theater part will start at 7:30 pm/2:30 pm. (End time: 8:30 pm/3:30 pm)

@ the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago

1306 S Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605

Direction to the Dance Center

as part of Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival

commemorating the Dance Center’s 50th Season

To experience ETHOS IV fully, joining the outdoor portion is highly recommended. Yet, please feel free to join from the indoor portion at your convenience by checking TIMELINE above! End time of the show is 8:30 pm on Friday and 3:30 pm on Saturday.

RSVP is now available on Eventbrite!!

Experience both festival weekends and See ALL of the works by J’Sun Howard,

Erin Kilmurray & Kara Brody, and SJ Swilley!!

For more information about ETHOS Project, please visit HERE

ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth explores decomposing human-centered capitalistic ways of being and practicing symbiotic nature-centered ways of being as stewards of the land.

ETHOS inquires how to improve the ethical characters of contemporary beings along with historical, cultural, and environmental awareness from the fūryū (wind-flowing) perspective. Ayako, a kinetic philosopher and poet, will be deepening an aesthetic and physical practice for human dignity and beauty to evolve, following the ETHOS mantra of 8As: Awareness, Acknowledgement, Affirmation, Allowance, Action, Acceptance, Affinity, and Appreciation in harmony with the cycle of nature.

Ayako collaborates with biologist and storyteller Billie Warren, a member of the Pokagon Band of Bodewadomi (Potawatomi); Oka Homma Singers; media artist/writer/performer Andy Slater; dance artists Asimina Chremos, Rosely Conz, and Carl Gruby.

TIMELINE*

*In case of increment weather, all the performance contents will happen indoor at the Dance Center. In case of light April shower, we will still perform outdoor. Notification will be sent for those who registered via Eventbrite.com.

PLEASE GATHER at the lobby 30 minutes before the Lakefront performance or directly at the Lakefront near Chicago Hot Dog stand at the Museum Campus). We will head to the Lakefront for a drumming and singing performance by the Oka Homma Singers and a Water and Soil Ceremony presented by Billie Warren, a biologist and member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. Afterwards, we will visit the Agora sculpture area and return to the Dance Center to experience Round Dance. Then, you will watch indoor portion of ETHOS IV at the theater!

ACCESSIBILITY: ETHOS IV with the Dance Center includes open captions and ASL. Audio Description is offered for Blind and low vision audience members, who will be offered a headset upon arrival. The path to the Lakefront and the Dance Center building are wheelchair accessible. Wayfinding assistance will be offered to Blind and low vision audience members as we navigate to and from the lakefront. Please call 312-369-8330 or email columbiatickets@colum.edu for any questions for accessibility needs. Thank you.

ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth Creators

Oka Homma Singers: Niyol Spencer (Head Man), Mississippi Chata/Diné; Dave Spencer (Drum Keeper), Mississippi Chata/Diné; Paul Molina, Kickapoo/Mexican; Jordan Gurneau, Ojibwe; Jasmine Gurneau, Oneida/Menominee; Holly Spencer

Water & Soil Ceremony by Billie Warren, Pokagon Band of Bodewadomi (Potawatomi)

Movement & Content Development Collaboration by Andy Slater, Asimina Chremos, Rosely Conz, Carl Gruby, and Ayako Kato

Sound Design by Andy Slater

Film “no fish no mountain” (2014) by Ralph Kuehne

Piano (recorded improvised music) by Ayako Kato

Lighting Design by Giau Truong

Costume by Amanda Franck and Ayako Kato

Access Dramaturg/Consultant by Maggie Bridger

Technical Management by Kevin Rechner

Stage Management by Siobhan FitzGelard

ETHOS Concept Consulting by Katsushi Hikasa

ETHOS Map Illustration by Kat Montgomery

Conceived & Dramatized by Ayako Kato

Choreography by Ayako Kato in collaboration with cast members & Agora section developed from the solo choreography by Angela Gronroos under the theme of Degrowth

Set & Prop Design by Ayako Kato

Scenic Video by Ayako Kato

ETHOS IV will be featured as part of CHICAGO ARTIST SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL (April, 2024) which dives into the vibrancy of Chicago’s dance community with award-winning artists: dancemaker and poet J’Sun Howard, kinetic philosopher Ayako Kato, pop-fringe creator Erin Kilmurray, and artist/activist SJ Swilley. The Festival activates the entire Dance Center building and Grant Park.

Reserve your tickets at Eventbrite: Friday, April 19, 6 pm (gathering time at the lobby: 5:30 pm) & Saturday, April 20, 1 pm (gathering time at the lobby: 12:30 pm)

The Dance Center 50th Season Half Pass Now on Sale

Photo: Ayako Kato & Carl Gruby by William Frederking; Billie Warren, Courtesy of Artist; Oka Homma Singers by Seeger Grey; Andy Slater by Tressa Slater; Asimina Chremos by XFestMA; Rosely Contz by Patrizia Herminjard

ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth is generously supported by the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago’s Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival, A. Montgomery Ward Foundation, Chicago Moving Company, Chicago Park District’s Night Out In The Parks, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events (DCASE), High Concept Labs, Morrison-Shearer Foundation, 2023 National Dance Project (NDP) Grant Finalist Award made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation, and Ragdale Foundation.

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago’s Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival are generously supported by the, Alphawood Foundation, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events (DCASE), Illinois Arts Council, and Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

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Dec
15
8:30 PM20:30

Breath/Carries/Ritual & For Three Sleepless Nights

Breath/Carries/Ritual

by

Yiheng Yvonne Wu, Jennifer Torrence, Ayako Kato


Conceived by Yiheng Yvonne Wu and co-devised by all three performers, Breath/Carries/Ritual is a transdisciplinary exploration of “things we carry.” Grounded in the body and the breathing cycles of the performers, movement and sound become one another. Stories emerge of burdens, sundries, and things that push us forth.

For Three Sleepless Nights

by

Mabel Kwan, piano; Jason Roebke, bass; Ayako Kato, dance

JAM (Jason, Ayako, Mabel) trio


For Three Sleepless Nights is a trio by pianist Mabel Kwan, double bassist Jason Roebke, and dancer Ayako Kato. Their craft to pursue tranquility with the play of kinetic and sonic space, silence, and stillness generates a void for the flow of wind, gravity, and grace to come in.

Friday, December 15, 2023

Doors: 8:00pm/Show 8:30 pm

Constellation Chicago

3111 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Reserve your Ticket Here

Tickets $20 door

 $5 - livestream


Sponsors

University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Visual and Performing Arts Department

University of Colorado President’s Fund for the Humanities

Artist Biographies

Yiheng Yvonne Wu is a composer and interdisciplinary artist whose work ranges from conventionally

notated pieces to staged experimental works. Interdisciplinary projects have incorporated ASL, poetry,

dance, and installation. Wu has received commissions from the La Jolla Symphony, Arraymusic,

Michael Mizrahi, Figmentum, and the Bardin-Niskala Duo, among others. Her music has been

performed by the MIVOS string quartet, a.pe.ri.od.ic, Bent Frequency, and Ensemble SurPlus and

featured in the WasteLAnd concert series, the University of Tennessee Contemporary Music Festival,

New Music on the Bayou, SoundSCAPE, and Aspen Music Festival. Collaborators have included

Jennifer Torrence, Ayako Kato, Bonnie Whiting, Jessica Aszodi, Rachel Beetz, Dustin Donahue, and

Todd Moellenberg. She was awarded the 2018 Judith Lang Zaimont Prize by the IAWM and the 5th

Mivos/Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize. She is Assistant Professor of Music at the University

of Colorado Colorado Springs. yvonnewu.com


Jennifer Torrence is a percussionist, performer, and artistic researcher based in Oslo, Norway.

Originally from the United States, she has performed and taught in a variety of contexts across the

entire globe. Much of her work is built upon deep collaborative processes with composers and artists

from various experimental practices. In addition to solo and collaborative projects she is a member of

the Norwegian ensemble, Pinquins. Her artistic research has been supported by the Norwegian

Academy of Music (NMH) and the Stockholm University of the Arts. She holds a PhD in Artistic

Research from NMH and the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. Jennifer is Associate Professor

II of percussion at the Norwegian Academy of Music. For more information

see www.jennifertorrence.com


Pianist Mabel Kwan is fascinated by sounds, contradictions, and our perception of what is familiar or

strange. She is a founding member of Ensemble Dal Niente, Restroy, Mega Laverne and Shirley, Fifth

Season, and Honestly Same. A native of Austin, Texas, her interest in art and music began at an early

age when she started accompanying her father on lieder, arias, and Chinese folk songs. Mabel is

a 2017 3Arts Awardee, 2018 High Concept Labs Artist, and 2020 City of Chicago Esteemed Artist.

mabelkwan.com


The diversity of Jason Roebke’s musical associations make him one of the most sought after

bassists, composers, and educators in Chicago and beyond. He composes music that is extreme in

its pairing of silence and explosive gestures. His music is rooted in jazz and takes inspiration from

experimental music, noise, and improvisation. Solo performance and a duo with dancer Ayako Kato

are also at the forefront of his creative activities. As a double bassist, his playing is intensely physical,

audacious, and sparse. The Chicago Reader described his work as “a carefully orchestrated rummage

through a hardware store.” Roebke studied privately with saxophonist and composer Roscoe Mitchell

as well as legendary double bass pedagogue Stuart Sankey. In 2009, he was awarded the Fellowship

in Music Composition from the Illinois Arts Council. Roebke tours widely in the US and Europe.

jasonroebke.info


Please visit Ayako’s profile HERE


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Oct
19
to Nov 2

Suzuribako Japan Tour 2023

Suzuribako Trio

Japan Tour 2023

October 19 - November 2

12 Locations in

Sapporo, Furubira, Morioka, Ogose, Takasaki, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Fukuoka

Frantz Loriot, viola (Zurich), Sebastian Strinning, reeds (Lucerne), & Ayako Kato, dance

日本語スケジュールプロフィールはこちら

Frantz Loriot by Philippe Pierre; Ayako Kato by Ralph Kühne, Sebastian Strinning by Dragan Tasic

Suzuribako is a multicultural, interdisciplinary improvisation trio featuring Sebastian Strinning, Frantz Loriot and Ayako Kato. Named after a Japanese calligraphy box, this trio creates its own ink from ancient stones, draws fine lines in wide landscapes and jumps into the mysticism of the universe. 

2023 Japan Tour

◆ Thur, 10/19: Coo, Sapporo, Hokkaido w/ Yuta Yokoyama, trampet map Door: 7 pm, Start: 7:30 pm, Advance Ticket: 3,000 yen, Door: 3,500 yen (both + 1 drink 600 yen)

◆ Friday, 10/20: Gano Temple, Furubira, Hokkaido map Door: 6 pm, Start: 7 pm, 2,500 yen 

◆ Saturday, 10/21: Cafe Bar West38/Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Museum (map), Morioka, Iwate, with Ken Sakagami, dance & Ryohei Kanazawa, percussion Start: 7 pm, 3,000 yen Flyer

Ken Sakagami, dance, in Morioka & Shibuya

Photo by Masahiro Takahashi

◆ Sunday, 10/22: Yamaneko-ken (map), Ogose, Saitama, with Naoto Yamagishi, percussion. Start: 6pm, Advance Ticket: 3,000 yen + 1 order, Door: 3,500 yen + 1 order. Reservation: info@naotoyamagishi.com Flyer

Naoto Yamagishi, percussion, in Ogose, Shibuya, and Sengawa

Photo by Yoshiyuki Oki

◆ Monday, 10/23: Palais de Paris (map), Takasaki, Gunma, Door: 7 pm, Start: 7:30 pm, Tipping System Flyer

◆ Tuesday, 10/24: Koendori Classics (map), Shibuya, Tokyo, with Michiyo Yagi, koto and Naoto Yamagishi, percussion, and Ken Sakagami, dance. Door: 7 pm, Start: 7:30 pm, 3,500 yen Reservation (Scroll down toward the bottom)

Michiyo Yagi, koto, in Shibuya

Photo by B.B. Balboa

◆ Wednesday, 10/25: Karada Junction Workshop@ Annex Sengawa Factory (map) with Naoto Yamagishi Instructor: Suzuribako & Naoto Yamagishi, percussion. 1st session: 3-5 pm & 2nd session: 7-9 pm (Contents will be the same). Tuition: 3,500 yen Workshop Reservation, Inquiry (scroll to the bottom) Flyer 

◆ Thursday, 10/26: Karada Junction Performance@ Annex Sengawa Factory (map) with Naoto Yamagishi. Door: 7 pm, Start: 7:30 pm, 3,500 yen Live Reservation, Inquiry (scroll to the bottom) Flyer

◆ Friday, 10/27: Permian (map), Gotanda, Tokyo, with duo Yasumune Morishige, cello/Akaihirume, voice 1,000 - 3,000 yen (Sliding Scale) 

◆ Saturday, 10/28: MIIT, Osaka map Door 5:30 pm, Start: 6 pm 1,000 yen

◆ Sunday, 10/29: Studio T-Bone (map), Osaka, with Ezaki Masafumi, Nakada Kayu, Arimoto Rabitto and Shinichi Isohata & Shin Sakuma Door: 4 pm, Start: 5 pm, 2,000 yen + 1 order

◆ Tuesday, 10/31: UrBANGUILD (map), Kyoto with Dancers: Eiichi Maeda, Kenta Kuroda, Manaki Uno、Niina Namie. Door: 7 pm, Start: 7:30 pm, Adv.: 2,200 yen + 1 drink, Door: 2,500 yen + 1 drink, Dancer: 1,600 yen + 1 drink

◆ Wednesday, 11/1: Yanoke・Kura Gallery (map), Ukiha, Fukuoka  with Noritaka Tanaka, percussion. Door: 7 pm, Start: 7:30 pm, 3,500 yen Reservation, Flyer

◆ Thursday, 11/2: Guggenheim House (map), Kobe. Door: 7 pm, Start: 7:30 pm, Adv.: 3,000 yen, Door: 3,500 yen. Reservation: guggenheim2007@gmail.com *Please write your name, the date, and how many tickets you need/ *Our response will mean the completion of your reservation/ *We are off on Tue & Wed, so please wait our response until Thursday.

Ayako Kato: Photo by William Frederking

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Jul
9
4:00 PM16:00

Soft Skills by Sabina Oehninger + AUH Duo at Comfort Station

Swiss artist Sabina Oehninger creates these colorful gentle touch towel tapestry pieces which allows you to feel, “It’s okay.” Jason Roebke, double bass, and Ayako Kato, dance, are honored to be invited to perform with these pieces as part of Sabina’s exhibition, Soft Skills, at Comfort Station on Sun, July 9 from 4 pm (Rain date: Saturday, July 15 @ 4 pm). Free Admission.

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May
27
2:00 PM14:00

Art of Being: Freestyle Inside Out: Informal Showing + Dialogue

Photo by Ayako Kato

Art of Being

Dance/Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

2023 Spring: Freestyle Inside Out


INFORMAL SHOWING! + Dialogue
Sat, May 27, 2 pm, Free Admission
Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater Studio, 3035 N Hoyne, 2nd floor.  + also on Zoom, please RSVP furyuayajp (at) gmail.com to receive a link.


Art of Being: Freestyle Inside Out participants: Russell Norris, Mary Willmeng, Emily Becket, Anne Shook and more would like to invite you to the end-of-session showing!! We have been discussing the issues/darkness that we are carrying as contemporary individuals,ethical individualism,how to embody the intangible, and beyond while we are constantly seeking out grounding and flying. 

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Apr
29
to Apr 30

ENSO—a multi-media ikebana performance

ENSO Image by Hunter Lewis

Sat & Sun, April 29 & 30, 2023, 7:00 pm @ Elastic Arts

3429 W Diversey Ave. #208, Chicago, IL 60647 map

Enso, the circular Zen image that begins and ends at the same time and place.

An installation and performance piece featuring traditional Japanese arts of chado (tea ceremony), kado (ikebana) and origami fused with contemporary music, video, and dance. Two consecutive nights of exhibition and performance embody creation and birth, and destruction and death.

Ikebana by Charles Harris, Senior Professor of Ikenobo School of Floral Art 
Video installation by Hunter Lewis
Origami by Ty Yamamoto
Dance performance by Ayako Kato
CLEAT sound installation and performance by Billie Howard
Costumes by Anna Gaukel

Supported by Japanese Culture Center and Elastic Arts

$15 per evening, $25 for both evenings Click Here for Reservation

Ikebana by Charles Harris

Photo by William Frederking

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Jan
8
to Jan 9

HUNGRY BRAIN: Caroline Davis, Tomeka Reid, Rachel Bernsen, and Ayako Kato

Thanks to Caroline Davis (saxophone, NYC), 4 Female Quartet of Music & Dance gathered by Tomeka Reid in Moers, Germany, in Oct 2022 along with attuned skillful improviser Rachel Bernsen (dance, VT) is freshly back to celebrate an artful happy new year 2023!! Join us with drinks!

Photo: Thomas White

Rachel Bernsen, dance

Caroline Davis, saxophone

Tomeka Reid, cello

Ayako Kato, dance

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Dec
3
8:30 PM20:30

Art Union Humanscape Duo in 2 x 4 @ Constellation

Art Union Humanscape Duo

Jason Roebke, double bass & Ayako Kato, dance

Sat, December 3, 8:30 pm @ Constellation as part of 2 x 4

Admission: $10 Buy Tickets

Reaching nearly 25 years in collaboration, Art Union Humanscape (AUH) Duo, Ayako Kato, dance & Jason Roebke, double bass, creates a sonic and kinetic landscape meditatively superimposed with silence and stillness.

Photo by Ben Billignton

 
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Oct
28
to Oct 30

3KlangTage: Patterns of Light, Zug, Switzerland

3KlangTage: Patterns of Light, Theater Burgbachkeller in Zug, Switzerland

October 28-30, 2022: A 3-day innovative contemporary and experimental music festival curated by Hildegard Kleeb and Roland Dahinden in Zug, Switzerland.

October 29, 8:00 pm: Collaboration with Hildegard Kleeb, CH, Piano / Marie-Cécile Reber, CH, Electronics

October 30, 5:00 pm: Collaboration with Radim Hanousek, CZE, Saxophon / Roland Dahinden, CH, Posaune / Ayako Kato, dance

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Oct
15
11:00 AM11:00

LUCA/Res Communis: ETHOS Episode III

11 am - 1:30 pm & 3 pm - 5:30 pm @ Palmisano Park

2850 S Halsted, Chicago (CTA: Orange Line, Halsted Sta.; Halsted #8 Bus to 27th St. or 29th St.)

Free Admission

Dance Installation & Performance Running Time: 150 minutes

Reservations encouraged (yet, not crucial) and open around mid-September with information on accessibility at chicagodancemakers.org

Presented by Elevate Chicago Dance Festival in partnership with the Chicago Park District; Produced by High Concept Labs in Joint Residency with the Monira Foundation at Mana Contemporary

“A compelling combination that simultaneously embraces both the molecular and the cosmic; ‘ETHOS’ is a feat made possible through an abundance of integrity evident in Kato’s work that embodies a gentle power and divine beauty paralleled only by nature itself.”

— See Chicago Dance

LUCA/Res Communis: ETHOS Episode III at Palmisano Park is part of the ETHOS project by Ayako, that sets art practice in natural environments. Episode III draws on the land’s history as the quarry that built modern Chicago, acknowledges the past, present, and future Indigenous people living among us, and is created in collaboration. It is organized as timed dances, land and water acknowledgements, and a culminating circle. Visitors choose to be guided by docents, or roam on their own.

Titled after the “Last Universal Common Ancestor”, and the common elements necessary for human life on Earth (air, water, soil), it follows To the Shore: ETHOS Episode I (2019), which used the setting of the beachfront and Colvin House at North Sheridan Road, and Inception: ETHOS Episode II (2021), set on the beach and prairieland behind the South Shore Cultural Center.

ETHOS Guidance Performers: Susana Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzia Bañuelos (Aztec Nahua, vocal-music artist and storyteller, Aztec Dance Chicago), Joseph Lefthand (of Cheyenne-Arapaho, Taos, Zuni descent, performer), Danielle Gallet (water storyteller), Ambrosio Martinez (music, Aztec Dance Chicago).

ETHOS Team LUCA Dancers: Tuli Bera and Darling Squire (Team LUCA Co-Leaders), and Sophie Allen, Silvita Diaz Brown, Angela Gronroos, Carla Gruby, Lydia Jekot. 

Costume by: Darling Squire

Directed and choreographed by: Ayako Kato.

LUCA/Res Communis: ETHOS Episode III is generously supported by High Concept Labs, the Chicago Park District, the Reva & David Logan Foundation, 3Arts, Artist Communities Alliance, Montalvo Arts Center, the Chicago Moving Company, the Chicago Art Department, and an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

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Sep
4
to Sep 8

Suzuribako Trio Euro Tour

Frantz Loriot by Philippe Pierre; Ayako Kato by Ralph Kühne, Sebastian Strinning by Dragan Tasic

Suzuribako is a multicultural, interdisciplinary improvisation trio featuring Sebastian Strinning, Frantz Loriot and Ayako Kato. Named after a Japanese calligraphy box, this trio creates its own ink from ancient stones, draws fine lines in wide landscapes and jumps into the mysticism of the universe.

The trio will go on their Euro tour in September.

September 4th: Subsol, Düsseldorf, Germany

September 6th: Joined by Tomeka Reid, cello at Grafschafter Museum im Moerser Schloss, Moers, Germany

Tomeka Reid

September 7th: Gemeinde, Köln, Germany
September 8th: Joined by Angela Stöcklin, Diego Kohn, Beat Unternährer at Mullbau, Luzern, Switzerland

Beat Unternährer, Angela Stöcklin, Diego Kohn: Photo on the left by Christian Glaus

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Jun
10
7:00 PM19:00

Open Labs for ETHOS III presented by High Concept Labs

Susana Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzin Bañuelos

Friday, June 10 @ High Concept Labs, 7 pm

2233 S. Throop, 4th floor (MANA CONTEMPORARY)

ADMISSION FREE

RSVP HERE

ETHOS performers and Ayako are excited to invite you to a sneak peek of LUCA/Res Communis: ETHOS Episode III on Friday, June 10, 2022 at High Concept Labs (HCL) from 7 pm. Supported by HCL, ETHOS III is taking off to provoke and practice new contemporary nature-centric ETHOS. This aesthetic and physical inquiry seeks out a new community building on the common ground, even further tracing back to LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all living things. 

ETHOS Team LUCA (Left to Right): Sophie Allen, Angela Gronroos, Lydia Jekot, Ayako Kato, Silvita Diaz Brown, Darling Squire, Tuli Bera, and Carla Gruby

Acknowledging humans as a part of transformative and cyclical nature and the nature itself, ETHOS Episode III is reflecting on intersections of humanity through its past, present and future. Res Communis or Commons, the natural elements which are considered as necessary resources for all humankind to live such as air, water, and soil on the earth as habitat, are acknowledged through the ceremonial movement work along with Native American, Aztec traditions and contemporary water conservation/restoration approaches.  

Joseph Lefthand

Prior to the presentation at Palmisano Park in October, please join us to witness the ETHOS creative process and dialogue on how humans as urban residents can keep practicing to drop invisible walls beyond differences and work together.

ETHOS Dancers: Tuli Bera, Darling Squire, Sophie Allen, Silvita Diaz Brown, Angela Gronroos, Carla Gruby, Lydia Jekot

Danielle Gallet

ETHOS Guidance Performers:

Joseph Lefthand, Movement Land Acknowledgement

Susana Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzin Bañuelos, Aztec Dance, Music, & Singing

Danielle Gallet, Water Acknowledgement

ETHOS Musician

Susana Ollin Kuikatl Tekpatzin Bañuelos, Aztec Music

Ambrosio Martinez, Aztec Music

"LUCA/Res Communis: ETHOS Episode III" by Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape

〰️

"LUCA/Res Communis: ETHOS Episode III" by Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape 〰️

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Feb
25
to Mar 6

CALL for the ETHOS Project New Cast Members!

Darling Squire & Tuli Bera in "Inception: ETHOS Episode II"

Darling Squire & Tuli Bera in “Inception: ETHOS Episode II”

Free Workshop (Audition)
for the ETHOS Project Training Program


Submit Google Form by March 6!

Ayako is looking for dance artists who are ready to deep dive together into artistic endeavor and journey for an upcoming year and beyond, developing the ETHOS project and related presentation possibilities.

Experience the windflow movement approach of Ayako through this free workshop and see if you are interested in being a part of ETHOS Final Episode cast member training program Spring 2022.

Please visit the Google Form HERE for more details and submit the form by Sunday, March 6, 5 pm CST.

Free Workshop (Audition) Dates/Times (you can pick later in the form) are:

  • Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 11 - 1 pm @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. Chicago, IL

  • Thursday, March 17, 2022, 12 - 2 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S Throop St. 4th fl. Chicago, IL

  • Saturday, March 19, 2022, 9:45 - 11:45 am @ Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N Hoyne Ave. 2nd fl. Chicago, IL

  • Expected start week of the training program (once a week): around Monday, April 4. Upon completion of the training and showing in June, trainees will receive a stipend.

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Dec
15
to Dec 18

Dance & Film Festival at MuCCC

Laurie MacFarlane and Ruben T. Ornelas curate and present 17 live dance works and dance for camera works in person at MuCCC (Multi-use Community Cultural Center) in Rochester, NY from December 15 through 18. The intimate and tender dance community demonstrates magical experimental spirits and strength through their commitment and passion for dance. Ayako Kato and Jason Roebke are honored to be brought back by popular demand to present their duet “Eclipse” filmed last year. Ayako is also glad to present her award-winning dance for camera work “Just being” (See Chicago Dance Best of Dance 2020).

Please visit more details on Facebook. Tickets are available HERE.

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Dec
5
2:00 PM14:00

"Reading Experiment in Progress" Curated by the Red Rover Project as part the Lumpen exhibit "Successful Failures"

Stop by “The Buddy Store” at the Chicago Cultural Center to experience the Red Rover project curated by poet Jennifer Karmin. From Nov 30 - Dec 5, poets and artists perform in the tiny box space for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This is a pandemic project for tiny audiences with safety concerns in mind. Please visit for more details on Facebook or Instagram. Ayako will be presenting pieces titled “Listening”.

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Oct
11
11:00 AM11:00

Inception: ETHOS Episode II

Chicago Park District Night Out in the Parks presents

Inception: ETHOS Episode II

Monday, October 11, 2021/Indigenous Peoples Day

South Shore Cultural Center Park

Admission Free

Pick your entrance time from 11:00, 11:10, 11:20, & 11:30 am for the morning performance, and 4:00, 4:10, 4:20, & 4:30 pm for the afternoon performance for a loosely guided nature walk style outdoor dance and music installation performance. The finishing times are at 1:15 pm and 6:15 pm respectively for the morning and afternoon performances.

RSVP NOW at EVENTBRITE

Photo by William Frederking

“. . . an intimate and one of a kind experience . . . generous and full of heart . . .”

A nature walk style music and dance installation Inception: ETHOS Episode II is the second iteration of the ETHOS project that reflects humanity’s ancient and ancestral relationships to nature. 

The pandemic has been teaching us to appreciate the ordinary moments of our lives and to reflect on what matters most to us, including just being, moving, and breathing. With Inception, I will invite audience members on a 105-135-minute aesthetic and physical inquiry about an ideal ethos of humanity and how it is perceptible through movement and the way of being. This project envisions the intangible and invisible ETHOS into the tangible and visible.

The ETHOS performers: Tuli BeraLesley KellerAmanda MaraistDanielle RossDarling Shear, Aaliyah Christina, Xochyl Perez, Maryam Salem. We will be joined by musicians Michael Zerang and Mabel Kwan.

Sense the wind and just allow yourself to be

and

Find sound, movement, and relationships

within and around you



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Apr
12
4:00 PM16:00

CAPE Dialogue

Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education presents

WHAT IS THE BODY?

Free Event: Register HERE

What is the Body_Speakers Photo.png

Scholars have discussed the intentional boundaries surrounding certain bodies in art: what bodies are seen, what bodies do, and what bodies can look like. CAPE Dialogue: What is the Body? aims to explore the many interdisciplinary ways in which we can center our bodies within others and our environment to reimagine equity within the arts.

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Apr
1
6:00 PM18:00

Walder Foundation presents Chicago Takes 10

Art Union Humanscape Duo

Ayako Kato, dance & Jason Roebke, double bass

Watch Performance

Ayako Kato by Bill Frederking_2.jpg


Art Union Humanscape (AUH) duo, Ayako Kato (dance) & Jason Roebke (double bass) creates a sonic and kinetic landscape meditatively superimposed with silence and stillness. Their ritualistic performance is grounded on experimental performance and the aesthetics of furyu, Japanese for “wind flow,” as it relates to cyclical transformation, human motion in nature, and cosmic ephemera. The duo deliberately construct radical transgression and the web of non-linear tensegrity (tension and integration) for the audience members to travel through their own imaginative journeys. As if the repetitive patterns in nature form fractal spontaneously under the principles, the AUH's sound and movement energetic waves slowly engulf space-time and the audience members, making the intangible into the tangible. In resonance with their own memories and experiences, the audience members envision and experience their being through new layers of perspectives and awareness.

Ayako Kato

Ayako Kato is a dance artist originally from Japan. She has collaborated with more than 60 musician-composers, and toured in the US, Japan, and Europe. Working on dance as the art of being, she received residencies at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA and Camargo Foundation in France through 3Arts; Best of Dance from the Chicago Tribune and SeeChicagoDance; fellowships from the High Concept Labs and Links Hall; a 3Arts Award, a Meier Achievement Award, and a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award.

Jason Roebke

Jason Roebke is a bassist and composer who tours widely in the US and Europe. In addition to playing bass in Chicago’s most compelling jazz groups such as Mike Reed Flesh & Bone and Tomeka Reid Quartet, he has composed music for his own Octet and groups. His playing is intensely physical, audacious, and sparse. The Chicago Reader called his work as “a carefully orchestrated rummage through a hardware store.” He is a recipient of Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Music Composition.

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