Yayoi Hirano:Clad in austere black, YAYOI’s lithe figure unfurls a ribbon of movement on the small stage to the tune of Bolero: one moment she is hunched in the posture of age, the next rocking a child, shooting a gun, placing invisible flowers around her head with gestures as delicate as lace, as precise as time. Her face registers both history and the ineffable; the audience caught by awe at her lyrical transformations. YAYOI: one of the rare Japanese performers whose talent and creative spirit reach beyond the boundaries of their native land. Her contemporary productions, rooted in mime, dance, mask and drama, showcase a sculpted sense of physicality engaged in recreating traditional and modern narratives.
* YAYOI graduated from Toho Gakuen College of Performing Arts, co-founding the Mime Theatre Pierrot-kan in 1975 to popularize pantomime in Japan through modern works.
* YAYOI’s prolific career as a solo performer began in 1985. Her early one-woman shows included “A Woman”(1985) and “YAYOI DOJOJIi”(1988). In 1989, she became the first mime artist ever to receive the Ministry of Education Fellowship, and spent a year collaborating with artists in Germany and Canada.
*In 1990, she founded YAYOI Theatre Movement. Her extensive international performance credits include festivals in Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, South Korea and Singapore as well as five North American tours. She has performed in 13 countries and 28 cities.
* YAYOI’s further shows include programs with prominent international artists. She has worked with Canadian photographer, Courtny Milne in “The Sacred Earth”(1995), with Japanese Jazz musician Terumasa Hino in “UZUME”(1996), with Artistic Director Halina Witek of the Theatre Het Klein from Holland in “BLAUBAAD”(1997) and “Divine Commedia”(1998), with the Fuchu-City Orchestra in “Borelo”(1997), and with Chinese opera singer Jin Youg Zie in “Carmen”(2000). In July and August 2001, Yayoi presented “Snow's daughter” with the leading Bulgarian mime artist Nicky Sotirov in Japan and Bulgaria. For this work Yayoi was awarded the Annual Prize of Bulgarian Actors for Experimental and Avant-garde Performance Art.
*YAYOI first visited Vancouver to perform at the Japanese Pavilion during Expo’86. Since then, she has returned to participate in numerous summer Fringe Festivals. In August 2001 she and Tokyo dance troop “RAKUDO” presented “A Human Nature” to three western Canadian Fringe audiences. In summer 2002 she brought a company of nine from Tokyo to perform the original work “Wind’s Traveler” at Fringe Festivals in Winnipeg, Swift Current, Saskatoon and Edmonton. Since becoming a permanent resident of Vancouver in the fall of 2002, YAYOI has continued to stun audiences with her performances and mask carvings, infusing an ancient art with the stark and supple imagination of the millennium.
“A beautiful, evocative piece...”(Minnesota Star Tribune)
“A fascinating and successful approach to communication through mime and body language. Her face and body are exquisite in their expressiveness.”(The Gazette Montreal)
“Graceful and unequivocal, an emotionally subtle and visually stunning manner” (The Edmonton Sun)
“What amazing pleasure dwells in the theatre of Yayoi Hirano!…a glittering jewel of contemporary performance...An extraordinary experience.” (The Edmonton Journal)
“A very gifted Japanese soloist Yayoi Hirano...Her performance was a highly elaborate technical and acting masterpiece” (PRADA Slovakia)
“There are few women solo mime artists in the world. Among them, Yayoi Hirano is one of greatest...”(Chunchon International Mime Festival in South Korea)
“Yayoi will forever dispel the notion that the words “mime” and “artist” cannot be used in the same sentence.” (Banana Magazine Summer 2001)
Lori Hamar began dance training in Edmonton, Alberta and continued with professional training at LADDMI in Montreal, Dancers Studio West in Calgary, MainDance in Vancouver and various summer programs in the U.S. She quickly discovered her drive to create as well as perform and has honed this craft by co-founding three different companies to date: Motivity Modern Dance in Fort MacMurray, AB, Suddenly Dance Theatre, and triPOD dance collective in Victoria, BC.
Lori began teaching preschool children improvisational dance 5 years ago and working in integrated dance three years ago. Lori recently completed her tenure as the Acting Artistic Director for Holly Bright with the Crimson Coast Dance Society. She works as an independent dance artist while continuing the facilitation of children’s improvisation classes.
Lori is eager to continue creating new dance works and contributing to the exquisite art form. She has been supported by the CRD, BC Arts Council, and Canada Council. She works with the Victoria School of Contemporary Dance and is passionate about building healthy foundations that will continue to develop and grow both the dancer and the art form
A founding member of Viveza, Fawcett has recently retired as Principal Bassist with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra and Associate Principal with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared frequently in the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival and the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, and as a studio and chamber music player (including concerts with the Melos Quartet and the Vogler Quartet).
Previous playing positions have included the National Arts Centre Orchestra (as a guest performer) and the Edmonton Symphony, and his teaching positions have included the University of BC, Douglas College, the Vancouver Academy of Music, the Courtenay Youth Music Camp, the Banff School of Fine Arts and Indiana University (as a teaching assistant). Fawcett has performed and recorded many solos in the bass repertory, including Mozart's Per questa bella mano (K612), a baroque concerto for violone by Karl Kohaut, and the Canadian premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Strathclyde Concerto No.7 for Double Bass for CBC broadcast.
Wilmer also enjoys playing jazz guitar.
Ron Hadley: Ron is originally from the Boston area, where he took private lessons at the New England Conservatory with jazz piano legend Jaki Byard while studying theory and jazz improvisation at Berklee College of Music. He has performed throughout North America and Japan, and his lifelong professional involvement in the latter country (In addition to ongoing concert and workshop tours in Japan, Ron also works as a translator and interpreter.) led to his relocation to the Pacific Northwest.
