Ayako Kato Artist Statement

I am a contemporary choreographer and dancer. My practice is in deep collaboration with music and grounded on the principles of fūryū, Japanese for “wind flow”, as it relates to cyclical transformation and human motion in nature. I create solo and choreograph larger ensemble pieces as well as movement installation. My work is performed on traditional stages and site-specific locations, including historic landmarks and nature. I incorporate live music, visual arts, video, text, and voice. An enduring wellspring has been the writings of 17th century haiku poet Matsuo Bashō, whose pursuit of fūryū was influenced by Taoist Zhuangzi. Seminal to my understanding of nature as the path and teacher for dance is Bashō’s travel diary “…there is something in my body which keeps swaying and easily ripped by wind…because of this, I ended up becoming a useless poet…follow nature, be one with nature…” from The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel. Amidst the mundane of our daily lives, experiencing the miraculous in the ordinary is called fūryū. My dance actualizes and gives form to intangible and invisible energies to focus on the ephemeral, but eternal dignity and beauty of life bestowed within each individual and all humanity through nature and the universe.