Kazuko Hirabayashi (October 18, 1933 – March 25, 2016) was a dance teacher and choreographer. She was born in Japan, where she completed her college education before going to New York to enroll in the Juilliard school.

Early life and education

Hirabayashi was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on October 18, 1933. She received a college bachelor of science degree before leaving Japan for the United States. At the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

she studied with

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, and

Antony Tudor Antony Tudor (born William Cook; 4 April 1908 – 19 April 1987) was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer. He founded the London Ballet, and later the Philadelphia Ballet Guild in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., in the mid-1950 ...

Dance and teaching career

Hirabayashi formed her own dance troupe in 1965 with Richard Kuch and Richard Gain, both dancers in the Martha Graham technique. In 1967 she founded her own Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater. She also was for a time director of the Graham school and director of the junior troupe of the Martha Graham Ensemble. She had a long legacy as a teacher. She began teaching at Juilliard in 1968, and then was hired as a founding faculty member of the Dance Division at

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges ...

in 1972. Among her students were

Ohad Naharin Ohad () was the third son of Simeon; he is mentioned in Genesis 46:10. Ohad may also refer to: __NOTOC__ People Surname * Daniella Ohad, American design historian Given name * Ohad Benchetrit, Canadian musician * Ohad Cohen, goalkeeper for Hapoel ...

, director of the

Batsheva Dance Company The Batsheva Dance Company (Hebrew: להקת בת שבע) is a renowned dance company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 1964. Its inception was inspired by Israel's growing intere ...

in Israel, and Robert Swinston, of the Merce Cunningham company. Many of her choreographed works were premiered at SUNY Purchase and Juilliard.Memories from the Juilliard Archives
/ref> Her works, and those of other choreographers, were performed by her troupe.

Death

In 2012, she learned that she had

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

. She died at age 82 in 2016.

References

External links

Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre at Asian Arts AllianceMemories from the Juilliard Archives
* https://www.ciudaddeladanza.com/espacio-kaz.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirabayashi, Kazuko Japanese choreographers Japanese female dancers Japanese women choreographers 1933 births 2016 deaths