Saburo
Teshigawara Concept, design, choreography

Saburo Teshigawara studied fine arts and classical ballet in his hometown of Tokyo. In 1985, together with Kei Miyata, he founded the ensemble Karas, which creates group choreographies and performs all over the world. Teshigawara's sculptural sensibility and keen sense of composition, understanding of space, and his determined dance movements blend to create a unique world that sets him apart. His profiled interest in music and space has led him to create site-specific performances and collaborate with various musicians. In addition to ongoing workshops at the Karas Studio in Tokyo, Teshigawara has been involved in numerous educational projects. For example, in 1995 he initiated the S.T.E.P. (Saburo Teshigawara Education Project) together with partners in the United Kingdom. From 2006 to 2013, he taught at the College of Contemporary Psychology at St. Paul's (Rikkyo) University in Japan. Since 2014, he has been a professor at Tama Art University, Department of Scenography Design, Drama and Dance. Since 2013, he has established his own private creative space Karas Apparatus in Ogikubo, Tokyo. Here he regularly creates a performance series called 'Update Dance'. Teshigawara's work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors in Japan and abroad, including a Bessie Award in 2007, the Medal of Honor from the Emperor of Japan in 2009, and in 2017, being named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. In 2022, Teshigawara received the Golden Lion for his life's work at the Biennale Danza in Venice.