Yumi Umiumare

Yumi Umiumare is a rare talent. The only Japanese Butoh dancer in Australia, Yumi's provocative Butoh cabaret series has delighted audiences Australia over since it premiered in 1999.

Yumi’s DasSHOKU Girl was first performed at the Melbourne Fringe in 1999, before touring nationally  through the Australia Council funded kultour program.  The adapted version, DasSHOKU Cultivations!! had a sell-out season in Osaka in 2003, and Yumi’s new work DasSHOKU Hora!! premiered in Melbourne in November 2005.

Born in Hyogo, Japan, Yumi trained in classical ballet and modern dance and has a degree in Physical Education from Kobe University.  

Originally a member of the seminal Butoh Company DaiRakudakan in Tokyo, Yumi came to Australia to perform at the Melbourne International Festival in 1991. She has appeared in numerous dance, theatre and film productions in Australia, Japan, Europe, and south-east Asia. She is also an independent performance artist who has performed at many major national and international festivals including Adelaide Festival, Perth Festival, Melbourne International Festival, Canberra National Multicultural Festival, Hong Kong City Fringe Festival, Trace-Post Butoh Festival(Copenhagen), Image of Asia Festival(Copenhagen), JADE2002(Tokyo), Festivale dell Colline torinese, Portevenere Festivale(Italy), and Japanese Theatre season(Paris).

Yumi’s other major dance theatre productions have been Fleeting Moments (two Green Room Awards, 1998), How could you even begin to understand? (collaboration with Tony Yap, Green Room Award 2001) , in-compatibility (Melbourne International Festival 2003), INORI-in-visible (Toured Takarazuka City, Japan, Melbourne and Copenhagen).

She has also worked in the theatre/ dance productions in Australia with Playbox, Handspan visual theatre, N.Y.I.D, Theatre Kantanka, Marrugeku and Chunky Move. Yumi has worked with Moira Finucane and Jackie Smith in Short Shape Shift (2003), Saucy Cantina (Hong Kong City Fringe 2004), The Banquet Room (BB05, Dancehouse 2005) and in the constantly sell out seasons of The Burlesque Hour (2004, 2005, 2008 Sydney Opera House, Adelaide, Edinburgh Fringe festival and The Famous Spiegel Tent Return season 2005).

Yumi has been funded by the dance board in 2009 to produce a full length solo dance theatre work En Trance at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne during August/September 2009. Funded under the new work category, this work will explore narrative and abstractions, provoking a fundamental question about mortality using contemporary and ancient choreography from both Australian and Asian cultures. For the production Yumi will collaborate with dramaturge Moira Finucane, media artist Bambang Nurcahyadi, visual artist Naomi Ota, sound designer Ian Kitney, costume designer David Anderson and lighting designer Marko Respondeck.