Yoshiko Usami Sienkiewicz (Yokko) is an actor and an interdisciplinary artist from Japan specializing in Butoh, Theatre, and Movement. Yokko has performed in, devised, and choreographed local and international productions and films, earning various accolades. Her show Butoh Medea has won awards including “Best One-Woman Show,” “Best Choreography,” “Best Physical Theatre,” and “Best Actress” in festivals such as United Solo NYC at Theatre Row (2014, 2015), the Hollywood Fringe (2018), and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2015). Her production Hide Your Fires: Butoh Lady Macbeth premiered at Pan Asian Rep’s NuWorks (2017), winning “Best Physical Theatre” at United Solo NYC (2017) and “Best International Show” at Hollywood Fringe (2019). Her ensemble work SHINKA received “Outstanding Premier Production of a Play” and “Outstanding Choreography and Movement” at The New York Innovative Theatre Awards (2019). Recently, Yokko’s Butoh work has been featured in music and arts videos such as I Don’t Know Where We Went Wrong (HOKO, 2020), Ready To Let Go (Cage The Elephant, 2019), and The 8 Dissolutions (Erik Bergrin, 2022).
Yokko has conducted workshops in the USA and Europe since 2014. She has taught at institutions including SUNY New Paltz, City College of New York, Stella Adler Academy of Acting (Los Angeles), The Actors Studio (NYC), and Shakespeare & Company. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Brooklyn College, The New Group/LIU Brooklyn, Pace University, Dell’Arte International, and Atelier Teatro Fisico (Turin, Italy).
With her collaborator Dr. Brian Rhinehart, Yokko published the article “Why Butoh Theatre: Thoughts of the Actor, Questions from the Director” (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2020). She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Butoh Theatre Group, RenGyoSoh (2014-), and the producing artistic director of Unfix NYC Festival (2016-).