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KARAS

KARAS was formed in 1985 with Saburo Teshigawara and Kei Miyata as it's principal members. The group's aim was to search for a 'new form of beauty'. 'Dance' is a form of art that is difficult to describe, as it consists not only of dance but also of elements of art, music, conscience methodology and historical view. KARAS began considering all such factors through rocks like that of Virgin Prunes. There were major discrepancies between what Teshigawara was aiming for and what was going on with dance in the 1970's and the first half of the 1980's -- there was a lack of freedom. Dance has been divided into such categories as classical ballet, modern dance, butoh, post-modern dance, such and such school, and so on. Such names create barriers designed to express the uniqueness of a creation type of dance. This categorization is very much like the conventions found in classical arts. Because Teshigawara was aiming at freedom, he saw the dubious barriers erected around those who were creating and discovering dance as a lack of freedom. In a sense, one could say that "the freedom of dance is the freedom of the dancer".
This does not apply to dance alone. Being an artist in this country means facing the conservative sociopsychological restrictions hidden under an outwardly serene surface.
"Anything goes -- after all, dance is dance, isn't it".
Thus, KARAS believes that art must not stagnate conservatively. New discoveries must be made. Rather than art or art methodology springing from conventional ideas established through history, we hope to act with our own methods with respect to still hidden possibilities. What we discover maybe doubts or questions. We want to express these through action.
There are no ideals in dance. Dance is not simple. But dance can be simple. And it can once again be complex. What is important is clarity. Clear questions have force.
The 'clearly dissolving space' emerging from inside the idea of searching for a 'new form of beauty' -- the melting of this light, these bodies, these lines, this time and this meaning -- becomes visible, or invisible.

SABURO TESHIGAWARA

Saburo Teshigawara began his unique creative career in 1981 in his native Tokyo after studying plastic arts and classic ballet. In 1985, he formed KARAS with Kei Miyata and started group choreography and their own activities. Since then, he and KARAS have been invited every year to perform in major European cities, United States and Canada.
In addition to solo performances and his work with KARAS, Teshigawara has also been receiving international attention as a choreographer/director. In 1994/95 he choreographed for the Ballet Frankfurt at the invitation of William Forsythe, "Le Sacre du Printemps" for the Bayern National Ballet in 1999, Netherland Dance Theater I in 2000. In February 2003, Teshigawara was invited to choreograph a new piece "AIR" for the Paris Opera.
Teshigawara has likewise received increasing international attention in the visual arts field, with art exhibitions, films/videos as well as designing scenography, lighting and costume for all his performances.
Teshigawara's keenly honed sculptural sensibilities and powerful sense of composition, command of space and his decisive dance movements all fuse to create a unique world that is his alone. Keen interests in music and space have led him to create site-specific works, and collaboration with various types of musicians.
Apart from on-going workshops held at the KARAS Studio in Tokyo, a joint educational project called "S.T.E.P."(Saburo Teshigawara Education Project) has been initiated since 1995 with partners in the UK. In 2004 for Lille 2004, he created Prelude for Dawn - a performance evolving from a year-long workshop with visibly disabled students of special school, at the Opera de Lille. From 04, he has been nominated as the mentor of dance for The Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative, to work for one year with a chosen Protege.
Since 2006, he has begun a professorship at St. Paul’s (Rikkyo) University in Japan, where he teaches movement theory and conduct　workshops.
Through these workshops and education projects, he continues to encourage and inspire many young dancers.

KEI MIYATA

The Artistic Co-Director, as well as the managing director of KARAS based in Japan and the United Kingdom. She studied English and American dramatic literature at St. Margaret’s College in her native Tokyo. Sharing Saburo Teshigawara’s vision of creating a new language for dance, she established KARAS with him in 1985. She has collaborated on all of Teshigawara’s projects and selects the sound and music for his works. Teshigawara has made three solos for her: Saracens (1988), The Wisdom of Buttons (1989), and Night Songs (1999). Miyata has also performed with Teshigawara in the duet Absolute Zero (1998), her "enigmatic" existence praised to be a part of "a duet of the highest formal power and mutality" (Die Welt). Highly praised for her energetic yet sensitive dance, her huge capacity to absorb the ideas of Saburo Teshigawara, she has performed in all of Saburo Teshigawara and KARAS pieces, she is always involved in the production and entire creation of Teshigawara's works as his artistic collaborator. She created the soundscape for noted designer Issey Miyake’s Paris collection shows from 1994 to 1997 and has produced joint projects with various musicians and European producers, such as In:Edit (1996) with zoviet*france (Newcastle, UK), Triad (1999) with Merzbow (Hayward Gallery, London), and Raj Packet (2000) with SAND (New National Theatre, Tokyo). In 2000 Miyata produced the compilation CD Absolute Zero (Charrm Records) featuring artists zoviet*france, Biosphere, and Gescom (also known as Autechre), among others.

RIHOKO SATO

Rihoko Sato is the choreographic assistant of KARAS. She studied gymnastics in England and the United States, where she lived until age 15. Having participated in KARAS’ workshops in 1995, she joined the group in 1996. Since then, Sato has performed in all group works choreographed by Saburo Teshigawara, including I was Real_Documents (1995), Vacuum (1996), Q (1997), Morning Glory (1997), Light behind Light (2000), Raj Packet-everything but Ravi (2000), Luminous (2001), KAZAHANA (2004), Scream and Whisper (2005), and the opera Turandot (1999). Sato has also assisted with KARAS’ education project S.T.E.P. and has worked as dance mistress for Teshigawara’s commissioned works for companies such as Nederlands Dans Theater I and Ballet de l’Opera National de Paris. She was acclaimed for her solo performance in KAZAHANA and recently received the Best Dancer Award for her duet with Vaclav Kunes in Scream and Whisper at Les Etoiles de Ballet 2000 Awards in 2005 in Cannes, France.

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