Ayako Kato
Chicago, IL
Dance
A 2023 United States Artist Fellow, Ayako Kato is a kinetic philosopher/poet who has been described as, “moving everyday sculptures, artfully cast in naturalness” (Luzerner Zeitung, Switzerland). Since 1998, her creative nest, Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape has been in deep collaboration with live music and grounded on the principles of fūryū, Japanese for “wind flow,” cyclical transformation and human motion in nature. Ayako creates solo, ensemble pieces, and movement installations for traditional stages and site-specific locations. In 2023, Ayako toured Japan and performed in thirteen locations as music & dance trio ensemble Suzuribako. She also collaborated with Ikebana master Charles Harris, a musician/composer Billie Howard, and video artist Hunter Lewis for "ENSO," inspired by Japanese Zen one stroke circle painting, and co-devised "Beath/Carries/Ritual" led by Yvonne Wu, composer/multidisciplinary performer, and in collaboration with Jennifer Trrence, percussion/performer. In fall 2022, Ayako toured Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland for music & dance projects and also presented "LUCA―the Last Universal Common Ancestor/Res Communis: ETHOS Episode III", a nature-walk style dance and music installation piece at 27 acre former quarry Palmisano Park, as part of Elevate Chicago Dance Festival. During her residency fellowship at Ragdale, Ayako Kato will be working on "ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth," an evening-length piece created to shift focus from human-centered, capitalistic ways of being to a more symbiotic, nature-centered way of being. It will be premiered at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago on April 19 and 20, 2024 as part of its Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival commemorating the Dance Center’s 50th Season.
Through Artist Communities Alliance and as a 3Arts Residency Fellow, Ayako experienced AIR at Camargo Foundation, France in 2018 and Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA in 2022, also presenting her work for their Claiming Space Festival. Her other AIR opportunities includes: High Concept Labs Fellow Artist in Residence (2021-2022); Trillium Arts ACE (Asheville/Chicago Exchange) Residency Fellow in Dance (2021), Links Hall Co-MISSION Fellow Artist in Residence (2018-1019), Chicago Moving Company Dance Shelter Artist in Residence at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater (2010-present), Chicago-Lucerne Sister City Art Residency by Swiss Benevolent Society (2014), LinkUP with Dance at Illinois Artist in Residence (2014), Chicago Cultural Center DanceBridge Artist in Residence (2006), Links Hall LinkUp Performer in Residence (2005).
She enshrined into the Hall of Fame by Newcity Stage's 50 People Who Really Perform for Chicago 2023 and received a 2022 Esteemed Artist Award from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the 2021 Artist Fellowship Award in Choreography by the Illinois Arts Council; 3Arts Award; Best of Dance by the Chicago Tribune and See Chicago Dance.
In addition to classical ballet and modern dance, she also studied Tai Chi, Noh Theater, and Butoh with master Kazuo Ohno, one of the founders. She holds MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and a certificate from the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance of Wesleyan University. Since 2010, Kato has been an artist in residence at the Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater under Chicago Moving Company’s Dance Shelter Program.