Yuriko
Born
Yuriko Amemiya

(1920-02-02)February 2, 1920
San Jose, California, U.S.
DiedMarch 8, 2022(2022-03-08) (aged 102)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Other namesYuriko Kikuchi
Occupation(s)Dancer, choreographer
Known forMartha Graham Dance Company
Spouse
Charles Kikuchi
​
(m. 1946)​
Children2

Yuriko Kikuchi (née Amemiya, February 2, 1920 – March 8, 2022), known to audiences by her stage name Yuriko, was an American dancer and choreographer who was best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Early life and career

Yuriko Amemiya was born to Chiyo (Furuya) Amemiya and Morishige Amemiya in San Jose, California in 1920, but her mother sent her to Japan in 1923 in order to escape an influenza epidemic in the United States that killed her father and sisters. At age six, she returned to California but was later left in Japan during a 1929 visit after her mother's second marriage ended.[1] She began her dance training with Konami Ishii in Tokyo,[2] and danced with the Konami Ishii Dance Company from 1930 to 1937.[2] In 1937, Yuriko returned to the United States and joined Dorothy Lyndall's Junior Dance Company in Los Angeles.[2]

Internment

From 1941 to 1943, due to the signing of Executive Order 9066, Yuriko was interned along with other Japanese Americans at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, where she taught dance. She was released in September 1943, whereupon she immediately moved to New York City.[1]

Later career

Yuriko joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1944 and continued with the company for the next 50 years. She danced in the first production of Graham's masterpiece, Clytemnestra, as well as in Appalachian Spring, Cave of the Heart and Dark Meadow. She has also reconstructed a number of Graham's dances such as Primitive Mysteries.[3]

In addition to her work in modern dance, Yuriko performed on Broadway in the original productions of The King and I (1951–54) and Flower Drum Song (1958–60) and directed the 1977-78 Broadway revival of The King and I.[4]

On November 23, 1954, she acted in a Broadway play called Sandhog.[5] In the musical, Yuriko alongside Eliot Feld, David Winters, Muriel Mannings, and Betty Ageloff played a group of kids. Paul Affelder of The Brooklyn Eagle praised all the performances, and found the kids talented.[6]

She has also performed on television, and in motion pictures and danced to works by Halim El-Dabh and Eugene Lester. She taught famous dancers such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Reiko Sato, and Miki Orihara.[7]

She formed her own modern dance company in 1967, which remained active until 1973.

Sources from the time frequently confuse this Yuriko with Japan-born Yuriko Kimura, who danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company from 1967-1985.[8] Kimura joined the company a decade after Yuriko, and so they were often referred to as "Big Yuriko" (Kiguchi) and "Little Yuriko" (Kimura).[8][9][10]

Personal life

Yuriko married Charles Kikuchi in 1946 and had two children.[11] She died in Manhattan on March 8, 2022, one month after her 102nd birthday.[1]

Awards

In 1967, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in choreography.[12] In 1991, she won a Bessie Award.[13] Yuriko was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Boston Conservatory in 2006.[14]

Yuriko received the Martha Hill Dance Fund Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.[15]

Films

  • 1956 – The King and I
  • 1957 – A Dancer's World
  • 1960 – Yuriko: Creation of a Dance

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kisselgoff, Anna (March 11, 2022), "Yuriko, keeper of Martha Graham's flame, dies at 102", The New York Times
  2. 1 2 3 International Dictionary of Modern Dance. Gale Biography in Context.
  3. ↑ Arlene Croce, Writing in the Dark, Dancing in the New Yorker. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005. Print. pp. 194-195.
  4. ↑ Yuriko, Internet Broadway Database, https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/yuriko-16566
  5. ↑ "Sandhog Broadway @ Phoenix Theatre – Tickets and Discounts". Playbill. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  6. ↑ Affelder, Paul (December 5, 1954). "Music used generously in 'Sandhog' at the Phoenix". The Brooklyn Eagle. p. 30.
  7. ↑ Magee, Seana K. (2013-06-08). "Dancer says imagination is key to a full life". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  8. 1 2 McGehee, Helen (1993). "Review of Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham". Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research. 11 (1): 99–103. doi:10.2307/1290612. ISSN 0264-2875.
  9. ↑ Reti, Irene H.; Beal, Tandy (2014-09-14). ""Everything was a Stage": An Oral History with Ruth Solomon, Founding UCSC Professor of Theater Arts and Dance".
  10. ↑ PERRON, Wendy (February 14, 2016). "Martha Graham and the Asian Connection". Wendy Perron (Originally written for Dance Magazine). Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  11. ↑ <Asian Week Archived 10 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ "Yuriko Kikuchi". John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  13. ↑ "Bessies Archive". The Bessies. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  14. ↑ "Yuriko to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award". dancemagazine. 2012-09-28. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  15. ↑ Christopher Boyd, Boyd Design Studio/LLC. "Martha Hill Dance Fund, Ltd. • 2012 Awards Gala". www.marthahilldance.org. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
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