2026 Artists
Mitsuyo Uesugi
Mitsuyo Uesugi was born in Fukuoka in 1950 and trained in classical ballet before moving to Tokyo in 1967. At twenty, she became a student of one of the key founders of butoh Kazuo Ohno, appearing in his experimental film Mr. O's Book of the Dead (1973) and performing in his European tour (which included The Place in London) in 1980. She went on to establish herself as one of the first female solo butoh dancers, creating work that continues to explore the depths of the body across five decades of performance. Winner of the Dance Critics Society of Japan Award (2009). Recent work includes Melancholia - A Portrait of M, which was performed in the UK in 2023, and again more recently at Theatre X, Tokyo in 2024.
Photo: Makoto Onozuka
Makiko Takamatsu
Makiko Takamatsu graduated from Tama Art University with a degree in film, winning the Kirin Art Award in 2001 for her 16mm work Idleness Dada Theater. As a student she danced at Shogun, the show club founded by butoh pioneer Tatsumi Hijikata, before beginning her study under Mitsuyo Uesugi in 2002. Solo butoh performance is the heart of her practice. She premiered Naked Rabbit in 2023, and created the video piece that accompanies for Uesugi's Melancholia - A Portrait of M in 2021 and 2024. She is the sole dancer with WCN, Yokohama's improvised music collective. In 2025 received the Dance Critics Society of Japan New Artist Award for her solo work Idleness.
Photo: Tomoko Kosugi
Seiji Tanaka
Seiji Tanaka studied under Yoshito Ohno at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio before establishing his own Butoh Studio in his hometown of Nara in 2011. That same year he was invited to perform at the Düsseldorf Butoh Festival as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of Japan-Germany relations, to critical acclaim. Since then he has toured extensively across Europe, with butoh performance and workshop tours in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024. He continues to perform and hold workshops across Japan and throughout Europe.
Photo: Uwe Beutnagel-Buchner
MUTSUMINEIRO
MUTSUMINEIRO is a Japanese butoh duo formed by Mutsumi and Neiro, who began collaborating in 2012 after meeting at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio, where they studied under Yoshito Ohno. Mutsumi brings a background in ballet, Neiro in mime, and together they create evocative, experimental physical works deeply influenced by Mitsuyo Uesugi. Their internationally toured piece Tonight or Never... established their distinctive voice. Currently based in Norway, they continue to tour globally, sharing butoh as a living and transformative experience across cultures and audiences worldwide.
Photo: Maciek Zdrojewski
