Jennifer Aoki

This work has been in creation since 2021, over residencies at the Dance in Victoria Artist Residence and SCA Alumni Space Residency Program. The Takata family was forced to leave their home during internment of Japanese Canadians in the 1940s. They left many belongings with friends, including an antique piano. After 80 years apart, the piano was finally returned to the family. Eighty Years draws inspiration from the experiences of oppression, grief, resentment, reconnection and healing that exist within the story of the Takatas’ piano, as well as within the Japanese-Canadian community at large.

 

Choreographer: Jennifer Aoki

Sound Designer/Composer: Mary Jane Coomber with music excerpts by composer Cait Nishimura

Performers: Jenn Edwards, Kira Radosevic, Silene Razo, Tomoyo Yamada, Jennifer Aoki

 

Special thanks to Dillon Takata for allowing me to share his family’s story through this piece, and the past artistic collaborators whose creativity and generosity helped shape the work. We acknowledge the support of ArtsNL and Canada Council for the Arts.

 

Choreographer: Jennifer Aoki
https://jenniferaoki.com/ @jenn_aoki
Jennifer Aoki is a Japanese-Canadian performer and choreographer based in Vancouver, BC. She completed her formative dance studies through SFU, earning a BFA in Dance in 2010. Her own choreographic work has been presented all across Canada as well as Seattle, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Presentation highlights include Dancing on the Edge, Nah Drahn, 12 Minutes Max, Vines Arts Festival and Fringe Festivals across Canada. Jennifer’s 2022 film Echoes of Silence has been presented by Dancing on the Edge, Women in Dance International Festival (Japan) and Women in Dance Leadership Conference (Los Angeles). She currently sits on the ACE committee of the National Association of Japanese Canadians.

 

Sound Designer: Mary Jane Coomber 

@maryjane.coomber

Mary Jane Coomber {they/them} is a collaborative composer who primarily works on the unceded, sovereign territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people. Recent commissions: fledgling and face it, tiger (Dory Haley/Blueridge Chamber Music Festival), play{hers} passage (Rachel Iwassa/CMC BC & SUM gallery). Recent theatre: Rubaboo (Persephone/RMTC), Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (Arts Club), Romeo & Juliet (Studio 58), Faye’s Room (Glitch), Miss Holmes & Miss Watson Apt 2b (Gateway), The Mousetrap (Arts Club), Au Grand Jour (Seizième), Lasa Ng Imperyo (Rice & Beans), The Hobbit (Pacific Theatre), Eyes of the Beast and Fat Joke (Neworld). Upcoming: i am beauty (opera adaptation of the HIV In My Day oral history project with Rick Waines), Macbeth (Bard on the Beach).  They are a member of ADC659 and composition & theatre graduate of SFU.

 

Performer: Jenn Edwards 

@Jjedwards 

Jenn Edwards is a multidisciplinary performer, creator, and educator based in Labrador, Canada. Originally from Vancouver, she first fell in love with movement through competitive figure skating before earning a BFA in dance at Simon Fraser University in 2010. As a dancer, she has toured internationally with Flowmotion Dance Company and Tauschfühlung, both based in Vienna. Within Canada she has danced in work by choreographers such as Jamee Valin, Karissa Fyrrar, Patricia Allison and Jennifer Aoki. Her work has been presented at festivals and mixed programs such as Dancing on the Edge, 12 Minutes Max, Fusion Festival, Dance: Made in Canada, and Community Moves. Since 2018, Jenn has been a company skater with Montreal-based contemporary skating troupe Le Patin Libre, and is a cast member in their internationally touring work, Murmuration.

Performer: Tomoyo Yamada 

@tomo_yamada 

Tomoyo Yamada is an interdisciplinary artist originally from Japan. Having spent most of her life moving between North America and Japan, her practice is shaped by her ongoing research into identity politics and her self-reflexive exploration of transnational cultural difference. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from SFU and could be found dancing occasionally in sketch comedy shows, developing multidisciplinary projects, teaching, and singing the same song for hours to her four-month-old daughter.

Performer: Silene Razo 

@silenerazo 

Silene Razo (she/her) is a Mexican dance artist, actress, and choreographer who has found a creative home in Vancouver. Her journey has been shaped by a diverse background in Theatre, Radio, and TV, experiences that continue to ground her contemporary dance practice. Her work remains a heartfelt exploration of motherhood and identity, dedicated to reclaiming personal narratives through movement.

Performer: Kira Radosevic 

@kurathemovie Graduating the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Program in San Francisco and Modus Operandi, Kira Radosevic has had the privilege of working with: Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Khoudia Touré, Francesca Frewer, Generous Mess, Joshua Beamish (MOVETHECOMPANY), Alexandra Caprara, Jennifer Aoki, Anais West, Jay Hamburger, Blackout Art Society, MUCCI and others. Her own work has premiered at SKAMpede Festival, BC Culture Days, F.O.R.M. Festival, and Boombox.