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Yoshito Ohno大野慶人

Yoshito Ohno

Second son of Kazuo Ohno. Yoshito Ohno began studying dance with Kazuo as a junior high school student, and made his debut in Kazuo Ohno’s modern dance performance ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ in April 1959. One month later he performed with Tatsumi Hijikata in ‘Forbidden Colours’, and went on to perform in many of Hijikata’s works throughout the the 1960s. Although he stopped performing for some time after his first solo recital in 1969, Yoshito continued to support Kazuo’s creation of works such as ‘Admiring La Argentina’. In 1985 he made a stage comeback with ‘The Dead Sea’, choreographed by Hijikata. After Hijikata’s death in 1986, he began directing all of Kazuo Ohno’s works, and also performed with him. He also continued to teach workshops weekly at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio in Yokohama, and around the world, passing on what he studied and created with Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata.

Basic Information

ID
PER2
Born
15 July 1938 　Tokyo, Japan
Died
8 January 2020 　Yokohama, Japan
Profession(s)
Butoh Dancer,Director
Nationality
Japanese

Short Biography

1938    Born on 15 July in Meguro, Tokyo, while his father Kazuo Ohno was enlisted

1940    Relocated to Katsuura, Chiba prefecture, with his mother, brother and grandparents

1951    Played football at Kanto Gakuin Junior High School while practicing dance with Kazuo Ohno

1959    April: Performs the role of a young man in Kazuo Ohno’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ at Daiichi Seimei Hall in Tokyo

　　　May: Co-performs with Tatsumi Hijikata as the young man in ‘Kinjiki’ at the 6th Newcomers Presentation by the All Japan Arts Dance Association

1961    Participated in the opening recital of Hironobu Oikawa’s Japan Mime Studio. Oikawa at the time was Yoshito’s ballet and pantomime teacher. Yoshito then performs in Hijikata’s works and Oikawa’s Maison d’Artaud events throughout the 1960s.

1969    Solo Performance: Yoshito Ohno DANCE EXPERIENCE at Kosei Nenkin Hall, Shinjuku (Tokyo)

　　　He subsequently stopped performing in public and began managing a drugstore in Yokohama, then later working as a personal assistant for Jiro Osaragi’s wife. 

1977    Première of Kazuo Ohno’s ‘Admiring la Argentina’ for which he acted as a sound operator and a production director.

1980    Joined Kazuo Ohno on his tour to Quebec. Thereafter Yoshito constantly accompanied him on his overseas engagements.

1983    Kazuo Ohno’s tour in Italy and Israel, where they visited the Dead Sea. 

1985    Comeback performance with Kazuo Ohno in ‘The Dead Sea’ at the Butoh Festival 85 at Ginza Marion Asahi Hall, Tokyo

1987    Directed and co-performed with Kazuo Ohno in the world première of ‘Water Lilies’ in Stuttgart

1991    Co-performed in ‘EROS’ with Maureen Fleming at La MaMa E.T.C., NY

1998    ‘The Last Portrait of Dorian Gray’, a solo performance based on a posthumously published manuscript by Masakatsu Gunji at Theatre X, Tokyo

2001    Directed ‘Flower’, Kazuo Ohno's final solo performance at Shinjuku Park Tower Hall

2004    Performed ‘An Important Person’ at the Kazuo Ohno Festival (BankART 1929, Yokohama)

2006    Collaborated with Korean dancer Kim Maeja in ‘Spring Flowers, Autumn Moon’ in Paris

2007    Directed the Kazuo Ohno Centennial Gala performance ‘Hyakkaryouran’ (Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center, Yokohama)

2008    March: Performed ‘Kuu’ as part of the the Kazuo Ohno exhibition at Tokyogaqui, held in São Paulo, Brazil

　　　June: Performed ‘Flower’ with Lucie Grégoire at the Canada Dance Festival in Montreal

2010    Joint performance with Antony and the Johnsons at ‘Antony and the Ohnos – Food for the Soul’ (Sogetsu Hall, Tokyo) 

2013    Première of ‘Flower and Bird; A Letter to my Future Self’, at the Kazuo Ohno Festival

　　　‘Flower and Bird’ went on to become his masterpiece, and from 2017 was performed in Europe, Brazil and China.

2017    March: Supervised and performed The Green Table 2017 in Kobe (Choreography: Toshiko Oka) 

　　　December: Collaborated with Anohni in ‘Clear-Eyed Spirits’, part of the Dance Archive Project (Warehouse Terrada, Tokyo) 

2019    June: Appeared in the Dance Archive Project ‘ALL ABOUT ZERO’ (Theatre X, Tokyo)

　　　July: Workshop in Taipei

2020    Yoshito Ohno passed away at 6:06pm on 8 January, aged 81.

Awards

2006   38th Dance Critics Society of Japan Award

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