SO 8 Episode 07: Donna Uchizono - Still the One and Only

Donna Uchizono is the first and only American-born choreographer of Asian ancestry to receive notable national and international recognition in the history of modern dance.  She’s received a Guggenheim and a “Bessie,” been commissioned by the likes of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Oliver Sachs, and toured her eponymous dance company around the world. We mention this first because – as you will hear in our conversation with Donna – it is a reality that she stresses not as a boast, but as an indictment of the dance field. She spotlights the difficult journey that all dancers from excluded groups confront and the importance of creating spaces of solidarity and recognition for others, especially young dancers. Donna’s poignant story of discovering that she was destined to be an abstract choreographer (not a gynecologist), her creation of a now 30-year old dance company committed to innovation and collaboration, and her decision to stop performing in her own pieces offer insights into the joys and challenges of growing up and growing older in these times. Our conversation with Donna was the third in our series of episodes with choreographers/dance artists (see Marlies Yearby and Jody Oberfelder) who re-enforce, compellingly, that getting older and bolder – even for individuals whose lives are based on extraordinary physical feats -- is a never-ending and scintillating process of discovering how to work with what we have.   Check out Donna Uchizono’s website where you will find information about performances of the Donna Uchizono Company, including upcoming pieces that she will be choreographing and presenting with the New York City Ballet in 2023.