Maureen Fleming is an American dancer, performance artist, and choreographer from New York City. She studied butoh dance in Japan, and was described by The New Yorker magazine as "perhaps the foremost American practitioner of Butoh."[1]

Early life

Fleming was born in Japan and grew up in Yokohama,[2] the daughter of parents in the United States Navy.[3] She was injured in an automobile accident at the age of two, losing the disc between her fourth and fifth vertebrae, which she only learned of many years later.[4] She moved with her parents to the United States when she was three years old, and began dancing at approximately age seven.

Dance career

Fleming studied ballet with Cecchetti method master Margaret Craske (1892–1990), and performed briefly with several New York City-based dance companies. She was first exposed to butoh in 1984 when she met butoh dancer Min Tanaka in New York City, joining his company, Maijuku, for a time. Following this, she studied butoh in Japan with Tanaka, and later with Kazuo Ohno, one of the founders of the art form.

Fleming has performed in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, and collaborated in her multimedia works with playwright David Henry Hwang,[5] composer Philip Glass,[6] photographer Lois Greenfield, ikebana artist Gaho Taniguchi and artist Christopher Odo.[7] She has toured with Min Tanaka[8] and pianists Peter Phillips[9] and Bruce Brubaker.[10] She has also performed with the dancer Jean Erdman.[11]

She directs the Maureen Fleming Company, an interdisciplinary performance ensemble.[12][13][14][15][16] Maureen Fleming began creating photography installations in conjunction with her live performances in NYC in 2009.[17] She is known for her original form of visual theater.[18] Fleming has also taught at the Juilliard School and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

In 2022 she had a four-week residency on the Irish island of Inisheer (Inis Oirr), with support from the Guggenheim Foundation, which "allowed her to create a bridge with her own ancestors and her cultural heritage".[19]

Art

Fleming has stated that she attempts to create archetypes in her dances, and described the female nude as a universal artistic image.[20] She has stated that it often takes her ten years to create a new dance.[2]

Awards

Source:[21]

  • National Endowment for the Arts (1993-1995, 2001, 2004, 2013, 2015), New England
  • Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project (1997-1999),
  • Rockefeller MAP Fund (1997, 1998),
  • New York Foundation for the Arts (1990, 1997)[22] National Performance Network: Performing Americas Project (2003, 2012),
  • Meet the Composer Choreographer Project (1992),
  • the Asian Cultural Council (1990, 2004, 2006),
  • NEA Japan US Friendship Commission (2001),
  • Japan Foundation Performing
  • Arts Japan (2002, 2004, 2007).
  • Arts International (1993- 2003),
  • USArtists International 2009, 2016.

Maureen Fleming was a Fulbright Scholar in Ireland[23] 2016 - 2017 at the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick and the National University of Ireland in Galway.[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Decay of the Angel". New Yorker. April 12, 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Choreographer sets "Eros" in Motion". Boston Herald. March 1, 2002. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Current Biography, March 2010". Maureen Fleming. March 1, 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Dancer-choreographer Maureen Fleming to speak at Skidmore". February 15, 2012.
  5. ↑ "MAP Fund | Maureen Fleming through the New York Foundation for the Arts". Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Maureen Fleming traces Persephone myth in otherworldly 'B. Madonna'". Star Tribune.
  7. ↑ "Butoh, the Body, and Perception". October 31, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ↑ Foster, Catherine (February 24, 2002). "Childhood Accident Shapes Choreographer's 'Eros'". Maureen Fleming. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Maureen Fleming mesmerizes in 'B. Madonna' - the Boston Globe". The Boston Globe.
  11. ↑ Maureen Fleming hatchfund.org
  12. ↑ "Review". www.maureenfleming.com.
  13. ↑ "Maureen Fleming". January 2002.
  14. ↑ Sataline, Suzanne (February 20, 2004). "Celestial navigations". Boston.com.
  15. ↑ "Maureen Fleming's butoh is magical and elegant metamorphosis - the Boston Globe".
  16. ↑ "NEW ADAGIO: Maureen Fleming".
  17. ↑ "Maureen Fleming's Dances from Home | Dance | reviews, guides, things to do, film - Time Out New York". Archived from the original on December 6, 2017.
  18. ↑ "About Us". Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  19. ↑ Tierney, Ciaran. "Maureen is like a child in a candy store on Inis Oirr". Áras Éanna. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Cover Bio from Current Biography Monthly Magazine - March 2010". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011.
  21. ↑ Biography worldmusic.org
  22. ↑ Directory of Artists’ Fellows 1985-2013 New York Foundation for the Art
  23. ↑ "Maureen Fleming". Fulbright Ireland-USA. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  24. ↑ "June 2017 - University of Galway". www.universityofgalway.ie.
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