Ikuyo Kuroda: "Shoku", "Flowers Flow,..."

European audiences may remember Ikuyo Kuroda as the outstanding Oriental dancer who appeared in “Asobu” by Josef Nadj. In Japan she is also acknowledged to be one of the country‘s most promising choreographers. Often described as an “enfant terrible” on account of her striking expression and impulsive dynamism, Ikuyo Kuroda burst on to the scene with her appearance at the Yokohama platform for Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis in 2002, where she formed her all-girl company Batik.

After training as a ballet dancer with Momoko Tani Ballet Company, she went on to study at the Laban Centre in London before exploring dance from a new perspective under Kim Itoh. For Kuroda, analysing the body is the path to self-recognition. Although the eroticism of the body is a focal element of her work – and theme of this year’s Venetian Dance Biennale in which she is taking part – the Eros she investigates seems to be more existential than sexual.

Her piece “Shoku” (“touch”), originally created as a solo, presents a dramatic but delicate analysis of young girls’ psychological labyrinths, punctuated with impulsive explosions of movement. It opens with a scene featuring ...