Shizumi Dance Theatre of Japan       Upcoming performances and new projects    "An exquisite dancer...haunting, cannily inflected vignettes...choreography of depth that fused all the theatrical arts in the service of an original idea."--San Francisco Examiner "Shizumi reconfirmed her extraordinary finesse, dexterity, imagination, and subtlety as a performing artist...the accent is on concise, poetic imagery and the effect is haunting, even magical."--Washington Post Shizumi, born and raised in Japan, has performed in the United States since 1983. Recent commissions include: producing and directing a children's dance performance for the White House Millennium Celebration celebrating the children of the world; creating and performing "Miyabe! Sensual Grace--the Poetic Art of Shizumi" for the Embassy of Japan and the Duchy of Luxembourg, selected as one of the best performances of 1999 by the Luxembourg News; and writing, choreographing, and directing the multimedia event, "Waltz with the Moon," featuring Japanese poetry from the 3rd Century B.C. to the 20th Century A.D. at the Embassy of Japan's Information and Culture Center in Washington, D.C. Her video production for Time-Warner Cable Television, "Shizumi Dance Theatre," won the cable television ACE award for excellence in dance and drama and her video,"Artist in Loneliness," was selected in the dance category for the Van Gogh Centennial by the Van Gogh Foundation of the Netherlands. At the Smithsonian Institution, Shizumi performed in an adaptation of Yukio Mishima's "Sotobakomachi." Gallaudet University commissioned her to write, direct, and choreograph the dance/theatre piece, "Kakurenbo," for its Japan tour focusing on deaf culture. And Washington Opera owes its recent successful performances of "Madame Butterfly" at the Kennedy Center to Shizumi's choreography and movement coaching. She has received numerous grants and awards from the Maryland and California Arts Councils for choreography, dance, and theatre. Through the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and other grants for artists in education, Shizumi has taught the seminar, "Exploring the Arts of Japan," to over half a million students and adults. In its first year, her new children's dance company, Kodomo Dance Troupe, was honored with a nomination for the 2002 Metro D.C. Dance Award for Outstanding Youth Performance. It was a finalist in 2003 and 2004.