Saburo Teshigawara

Saturday 23 July, 12:00 noon
Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, Venice

La Biennale di Venezia will present the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to the Japanese choreographer and dancer, painter, sculptor and designer Saburo Teshigawara.

“Brave, singular, humane and thrilling, Saburo Teshigawara has inspired, challenged and agitated many generations of dance makers”, writes Wayne McGregor in his motivation for the award. He continues: “Teshigawara’s keenly engineered sculptural sensibilities, powerful sense of choreographic form and his individualistic dance language blend to create a unique world that is his alone. His practice spans a broad and ever-increasing gamut of disciplines from live theatrical performance to visual arts, films/videos as well as designing scenography, lighting, and costumes for all his performances. It is his ability to construct whole artistic eco-systems that sets him apart from most of his peers as well as his insatiable courage to unlearn. Teshigawara, understands the power of the body in constant flux and is determined to expand the potential of choreography beyond its traditional limits. His pioneering spirit, his immense skill and his fluency of medium allows for work that crosses boundaries and slips between genres”.

Saburo Teshigawara (Tokyo, 1953) is acknowledged as one of the greatest contemporary choreographers at the international level. A complete and multifaceted artist – painter, designer and author of films and installations – he began his career in 1981, in his native Tokyo, after studying plastic arts and classic ballet. In 1985, he formed KARAS with Kei Miyata and started to choreograph for himself as well as other artists and international companies such as the Ballet National de l’Opéra de Paris. For Teshigawara, dance is the central element in a greater visual and sensory experience. From 2006 to 2013, he taught at St. Paul’s (Rikkyo) University in Japan, and since 2014 he is a professor at Tama Art University in the department of Scenography Design, Theatre and Dance. In 2004, he was selected as the mentor of dance for The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Since 2013, he has established his own private creative space “KARAS APPARATUS” in the Ogikubo district in Tokyo. His works have won numerous awards and honours in Japan and abroad, including a Bessie Award in 2007. In 2017 he was made Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

Through his projects, Teshigawara continues to encourage and inspire young dancers.