Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company

Dancer

   Shiho as the Girl disrobing to fish for Abalone 

   from "Utamaro"

   Choreography: Saeko Ichinohe

   Photo: Nan Melville^©

Shiho Miyazawa trained at Matsuyama Ballet School, Hakucho Ballet Academy, London Studio Centre, and Merce Cunningham Studio. She participated as a choreographer for Design for Dance Project in London and worked with Sally Owen, Michael Popper, and Ian Spink as a member of INTOTO. She performed for Commonwealth Observance attended by the Queen Elizabeth II and has toured in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, UK, and USA. Her film credit includes "Memoirs of a Geisha" directed by Rob Marshall.

Ms. Miyazawa holds a BFA in Film and TV from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and she is a recipient of Baryshnikov Arts Fellowship. Currently she works as a freelance production sound mixer for film and television. She loves Doctor Who and wishes to direct an episode someday.

Dancer

Heather Currie in "Transcending Traditions" Choreography: Saeko Ichinohe  Photo: Beverly Hugg

Heather began her dance training at the Fort Wayne Ballet in Indiana, and continued her studies at Butler University. She then moved to England to study at the London Studio Centre. She performed and toured with their company, INTOTO, under the direction of Ikky Maas. Also under his direction she studied, performed, and graduated from Millennium Dance 2000 in London.

Since returning to the States, Heather has performed in Chicago, Indianapolis, and New York with such companies as Gehring Dance Theater, Direct Intent, MidGet Dance and currently No Exit. In New York, Heather has furthered her training at the Merce Cunningham Studio where she received a merit scholarship.

Dancer

Tale of Genji - Dance of the Bell Tree

Choreography: Saeko Ichinohe    Photo © Nan Melville  

Ari, a native of Tokyo, was the winner of the 1992 Japan National Contemporary Competition for Dance.  She began performing at an early age as a member of Michiko Shiona Dance Company and also performed in Tokyo Disneyland.  In New York she is a graduate of the Merce Cunningham Dance School and joined the Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company in 2007. 

Dancer

Lize-Lotte Pitlo is from The Netherlands where she earned her BA in Modern and Contemporary Dance. She performed solo at the Eurovision Young Dancers and worked with Truus Bronkhorst and Marien Jongewaard, Paul Estabrook Dance Works and Matthew Kelly Roman.

In New York she completed the Merce Cunningham Certificate with a Merit Scholarship and performed works by Anna Sokolow, Luis Gabriel Zaragoza, Bryan Hayes, Christine Dakin, Merce Cunningham and Mana Kawamura. 

She joined the Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company in 2008.

(1991 - retired from Company in 2009) 

Principal Dancer / Choreographer

Jeff Moen in "Bamboo Forest"   

Choreography" Saeko Ichinohe   

Photo: Nan Melville^©   

Trained at the National Academy of Arts, he holds a BS in Comprehensive Music Education from the Univ. of Illinois. He has danced with American Dance Machine, Yukie Okuyama, NY Theatre Ballet, and Robert Kovitch, among others. Since 1995, Mr. Moen has been a faculty member of the Merce Cunningham Studio. Other credits include Barnard College, NYU, Ballet Met, Alvin Ailey, NY Theatre Ballet, Northern School of Contemporary Dance (England), and the VA School of Arts. In Japan he is a continuing guest teacher at PAS Studio in Tokyo and many schools in other cities and is a judge for the Akita Dance Festival in Japan. As a choreographer he has created pieces in both the USA and Japan.

Jeff's Choreographies for Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company include:

   "A Plastic Life"  2008

    "Lady in the Mirror" 2007

   "Shadows Pierce my Soul"  2006

   "Dreams Wandering"  2005

   'Oiran', the Courtesan Section of "Utamaro"  2004

 (1978 - retired from company in 2009)

  Principal Dancer / Costume Designer

   Yukie in "The Tale of Genji"

   Choreography: Saeko Ichinohe

   Photo: Nan Melville^©

She has performed with the Tokyo Ballet Group in Japan and abroad. As a dancer/choreographer, she received several prizes from the Japan Contemporary Dance Association and The Tokyo Newspaper. Since coming to the U.S., she has not only performed on many occasions, including the Downtown Dance Festival, but has also presented her own dance concerts in NYC. Since 1987, she has been on the faculty of the Merce Cunningham Studio. She has also taught master classes in Toronto and Washington D.C. and teaches workshops in Tokyo twice a year.

She is an excellent costume designer with a keen sense of movement, line and color. She has designed and constructed costumes for Pam Tanowitz, Anita Cheng, Jeff Moen, and many of the productions of the Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company.

Lighting Designer/Technical Director:  Chenault Spence

CHENAULT SPENCE is a winner of Emmy Awards (1987, 1988) for Lighting in recognition of his work with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. With the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre he created critically acclaimed design for Mr. Ailey and guest choreographers. His design has been seen at the company’s appearances in NYC as well as throughout the U.S., Europe, Africa, South America, the Soviet Union and the Near, Middle and Far East. He also worked for Jose Limon Dance Co., Eric Hawkins Dance Co., the Agness DeMille Heritage Dance Theatre, NYC Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, the Houston Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Vienna Opera Ballet, Lyons Opera Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, and others throughout the world. He is the resident lighting designer for Ice Theatre of NY, Swing Dance America, Broadway Dancin! and Verb Ballet, Cleveland. He serves on the advisory board of festivals at the Theater of The Riverside Church.

Costume Designers: Eiko Yamaguchi, Yukie Okuyama, Saeko Horishige

Production Art Director: Jeff Moen

While dancing numerous title roles such as Dosojin in “Dosojin (Japanese deity worshiped in a stone image),” Prince Genji in ”The Tale of Genji,” Fisherman Taro in “Urashima Taro,” section Tranquility in “Bamboo Forest,” JEFF MOEN has been serving the Company as Production Arts Director creating props for its productions, and Shikishi for the Cultural Bridge Award.

Scenic/Decor Designers: Roger LaVoie, Cornelia Ruehlicke

CORNELIA RUEHLICKE   Artist/Painter/Illustrator Cornelia Ruehlicke was born in Berlin, Germany. From the age of four to sixteen she received training in classical ballet. After certification in graphic design and animation at Leonaris Film, she began her professional career having obtained an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart, while studying sculpture with Alfred Hrdlicka in Vienna. She received grants from the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (NYC), the Consulate General of Germany and various awards including Mayor’s Purchase Award (Hampton, VA), the Manhattan Arts Award for Excellence. (NYC) and Resident Fellowship at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, FL). She has exhibited extensively in the U.S., Canada, Japan, India, and Europe. She participated in various forums and symposiums and video productions Her work has been presented in a variety of publications, music disc cover art (for recording of Morton Gould, Walter Piston and Roy Harris) and in the media.