Yui Kawaguchi

is a true border-crosser in both the cultural and artistic sense. Her dance draws from the tension between East and West, tradition and modernity. Her dance language is a free creation that has grown from elements of ballet, Butoh, urban dance, and pantomime. With a special sensitivity, Kawaguchi is able to bring out the individuality and personal expressions of her dancers in her choreographies. She collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and scientists in various constellations to transport her audience into a unique sensual landscape of dance, music, and stage design.

She began dancing at the age of 6 and studied dance and the age of 11, Kawaguchi started choreographing alongside her ballet lessons and has been working as a choreographer for theater, concerts, film, and television in Japan since 1996. As a dancer in various Japanese companies such as H.art.Chaos or Kota Yamazaki, she quickly gained presence on renowned stages worldwide. In 2001, she choreographed the East Asian Olympic Opening Ceremony. With Media-Drive Unit 66b/cell (2000-2004), she was active in the vibrant Tokyo club scene as well as internationally in the art scene, including the ARS Electronica, Seoul International Dance Festival, and Japan Virtual Reality Conference.

Since 2005, she works in Berlin. She has danced with Ismael Ivo, Helena Waldmann, Nir de Volff, Tomi Paasonen and Flying Steps, among others. She is part of the original cast and choreographer of the world-successful production "Flying Bach" (Echo-Klassik Sonderpreis 2010) by Flying Steps. Since 2008 she has been a member of the Berlin theater ensemble Nico and the Navigators. As a choreographer, Kawaguchi has presented her own productions at numerous international dance festivals, including the New Vision Festival Hong Kong, International Dance Festival Vancouver, New National Theater Tokyo, OPENLOOK St.Petersburg International Dance Festival, Ozasia Festival Adelaid, MODAFE Soeul or en DANZA Madrid.

"andropolaroid" (Cologne Dance Prize 2010) is considered a milestone in her work, and her unmistakable signature as a choreographer became established at the latest with her piece "MatchAtria" (2014), which was created together with the Japanese visual artist/film director Yoshimasa Ishibashi. The two productions were received with great enthusiasm internationally by audiences and the press and toured worldwide.

Her "special sensitivity to music (Dance Magazine Japan)" led her to work closely with music and enabled her to collaborate with renowned musicians such as Aki Takase, Louis Sclavis, Daniel Hope, Avi Avital, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi or Kussquartett and choreographed projects at the Berlin Philharmonie, Hamburger Bahnhof, Kunsthaus Bregenz and Nicolaisaal Potsdam, among others.

In particular, the duo series "The City in the Piano" with jazz pianist  Aki Takase, launched in 2008, celebrated an international success. The sixth version "ACCENTO" premiered in 2022 at the Kuppelhalle silent green Berlin. Over the years, she has also deepened her connection to early music, delighting audiences with her unique interpretations and dances with the Ensemble ImPuls der Suite, Vox Nostra, Anna Fusek, among others.

During the Corona Crisis, Kawaguchi began to explore the physicality of dancers in VR space, expanding her concept of choreography to virtual reality and began to learn 3D programming herself. Kawaguchi strives to seek a different form of existence for dance in virtual reality, which is often parameterized and consumed as mere decoration. Using her own physicality and sensibility as a dancer, she devotes herself to creating her own animations to create an alternative value for dance in the virtual world. Since then, she has created the AR dance performance "You must render your life!" (Nico and the Navigators 2022, nominated AUREA Award ), the music video "Flow My Tears" (Ensemble ImPuls der Suite 2023) and choreographed and animated the AR Loopmachine exhibition at the German Dance Archive Tanzmuseum Cologne (2023).