Shizumi Dance Theater of Japan: Exploring the Arts of Japan

Experience the grace, strength and humor of 2000 years of Japanese arts and culture as Shizumi Shigeto Manale offers a window into the heart of the Japanese aesthetic.  Shizumi has been trained by well-known masters in traditional and contemporary theater, the art of the kimono, Samurai swordsmanship, calligraphy, masks, Haiku, the secret language of fans, origami and the traditional tea ceremony. With warmth and enthusiasm, she reveals Japan’s beauty and diversity through dynamic programs, workshops and residencies. Shizumi is Artistic Consultant to the National Cherry Blossom Festival Opening Ceremonies. Her documentary, “Geisha: An Artist’s Journey,” aired on PBS in 2007 and is available on DVD.  Ask about performances by her Kodomo Children dance troupe.

Shizumi entranced the students with her costumes, stories, and dances. The students enjoyed trying to do a few dance moves and learning to count using their bodies in Japanese.

— ROCKLEDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Shizumi is a multimedia performing artist, director, choreographer, educator, and film producer born in Hiroshima and raised in Osaka, Japan.  Her primary artistic discipline is dance.  She has trained in Japanese traditional Kyogen and Noh theater, Japanese traditional dance called jiuta-mai, and has also studied at the San Francisco Ballet.

Shizumi has received numerous awards for her works, including the recent 2010 Montgomery County (MD) Executive’s Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Outstanding Artist and Scholar Award as well as Cable TV “ACE Awards” for excellence in dance theater arts.

In addition, Shizumi has produced, coordinated and choreographed a U.S-Japan co-production for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Washington, D.C.’s Gallaudet University—including a tour to Japan and Scotland, as well as performances at the White House Millennium Celebration, the Smithsonian Museum during U.S President Barack Obama’s inauguration, the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. and a “Zen Garden Exhibition” at the National Geographic Society.  Her children’s dance troupe, Shizumi Kodomo Dance Troupe, performed at the World Children’s Festival on the National Mall in June 2011, which she choreographed and directed for the opening ceremony.