Yoshiko Usami Sienkiewicz

Yoshiko Usami Sienkiewicz (AKA Yokko) is an actor and an interdisciplinary artist from Japan specialized in Butoh, Theatre and Movement. She has acted in, devised, and choreographed a variety of local and international shows and films, winning various awards, including “Best One-Woman Show,” ”Best Choreography,” “Best Physical Theatre,” and "Best Actress" for Butoh Medea, in festivals such as United Solo NYC (2014 & 2015) and the Hollywood Fringe (2018). Butoh Medea appeared in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning a nomination for the “Asian Arts Awards.” It has toured the US and Europe (Poland, UK, Italy, Turkey, Germany and Czech Republic) since 2015. Another of  Yokko’s original productions, Hide Your Fires: Butoh Lady Macbeth, premiered at Pan Asian Rep’s NuWorks (2017), was the winner of the “Best Physical Theatre” award at United Solo NYC (2017), and “Best International Show” at the Hollywood Fringe (2019). Her choreographed & directed ensemble work SHINKA won “Outstanding Production of an experimental or a dance piece” at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity (2018); then at The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, the show was nominated in 4 categories and won “Outstanding Premier Production of a Play,” and “Outstanding Choreography and Movement” (2019). Recently, her Butoh work has been seen in several music videos and Art videos.

Yokko has held her workshops in the USA & Europe for the past 10 years. She has been teaching and performing regularly at Atelier Teatro Fisico/Performing Arts University in Torino (Italy) since 2016. In the US, she has taught “Butoh & Movement,” “Movement for Actors,” “Physical Theatre,” “Japanese Theatre'' and “Transformation” at such institutions as SUNY New Paltz, St. Lawrence University, Amherst College, City College of New York, Stella Adler Academy of Acting (Los Angeles), The Actors Studio (NYC). On faculty at: Brooklyn College MFA Acting, The New Group/LIU Brooklyn BFA Acting Studio, Pace Performing Arts BA Acting & Directing International Performance Ensemble, Dell’ Arte International, and Actors Studio Drama School MFA at Pace. She has published an article with Dr. Brian Rhinehart, titled “Why Butoh Theatre: Thoughts of the Actor, Questions from the Director, (Routledge / Taylor and Francis, 2020).

Yokko is the founder and Artistic Director of a NY Based Butoh Theatre Group, Ren Gyo Soh, the producing artistic director of Unfix NYC Festival, and a member of a physical theatre company, The Ume Group. She has an MFA in Acting (Actor Studio Drama School), and a BA in Theatre (SUNY at Albany).