Mutsumi Kimura
🇯🇵Tokyo, Japan
About
Japanese Butoh performer. Began classical ballet at age three, then moved to rhythmic gymnastics in junior high, reaching national level (Inter-High championships, National Sports Festival, Japan Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships) while training with the Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education and the Japanese national team, until an injury ended that path. Ten years later, deeply moved by a documentary on Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno, she discovered Butoh and returned to dance. In 2009 she moved to Tokyo to study under Yoshito Ohno at the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio, where she met her long-time artistic partner Neiro, and also joined the "Kayoukai" Butoh workshops led by Mitsuyo Uesugi. In 2016 she was selected as a model for the ISSEY MIYAKE book, photographed by Yuriko Takagi and published by Taschen. Co-runs Galerie ame, a workshop/performance/residency space in Tokyo, together with Neiro, with whom she has performed as the duo MutsumiNeiro since 2012.