This event occurs during a three-day residency with alumni guest artist Ayako Kato (MFA ’98, dance), who is leading class sessions and giving a featured talk during her time at U-M. This event features improvisational performances by Kato, joined by dance faculty members Robin Wilson, Amy Chavasse, and Dr. Stephen Rush, and Alex Wand, Joe Tech, and first year dance majors.

Kato writes, "The final outcome is not a chance. It’s deeply up to all of us, the responsible beings. We will perform for everything and nothing."

GUEST ARTIST BIO

Described as “moving everyday sculptures, artfully cast in naturalness” AYAKO KATO, 2023 United States Artist Fellow, is a kinetic philosopher/poet, contemporary choreographer, dancer, and improviser originally from Yokohama, Japan. She has been creating experimental work since 1998 under Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape, collaborating with 101 musicians/composers and 15 visual artists across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Advocating fūryū – Japanese for “wind flow,” cyclical transformation in nature as the beauty of being as it is – Ayako creates solo and ensemble works as well as large scale site-specific movement installations for traditional stages, galleries, and outdoor environments. In 2025, she toured Japan and Taiwan with Suzuribako music and dance ensemble and presented ETHOS: Ways of the Wind at the University of Colorado- Colorado Springs in collaboration with the Heller Center for Arts and Humanities and the Native American Students Alliance. In 2024, she premiered ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle Rebirth for the Chicago Spotlight Festival, supported by a Sybil Shearer Fellowship at Ragdale, a 2023 National Dance Project Grant Finalist Award, and the A. Montgomery Ward Foundation. She also performed in Black Air at Casino Luxembourg Forum d'art contemporain, which also published her artist book Art of Being through Emptiness.

http://ayakokatodance.com