Yayoi Kambara (she/they) has been a Bay Area dance artist since 2000. Kambara was a company member with ODC/Dance from 2003 to 2015 and has danced as a freelance artist with numerous Bay Area dance companies. Yayoi was honored as lead artist for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Hewlett 50 Award and premiered her first evening length piece “IKKAI means once: a transplanted pilgrimage” in February 2023. Weaving together modern dance, Japanese American (JA) Obon dance and taiko, IKKAI explored the unjust Japanese American incarceration and current solidarity with communities facing violence. 二度と(NI DO TO): an XR pilgrimage, created alongside IKKAI, is an exhibit that journeys through Kambara’s choreographic research for IKKAI in means of technology based activities. Kambara has created staging for Opera Parallèle and was recognized by Opera America as a female stage director. Yayoi recently received an MFA from the University of The Arts.

About KAMBARA+
KAMBARA+ was founded in 2015 after Yayoi Kambara’s retirement as a company member at ODC/Dance. KAMBARA+’s mission is to create multidisciplinary performances that cultivate belonging. Belonging is the bridge we build to narrate and perform new dynamic works and expand our collective empathy. Kambara+ is interested in the authentic voice of the body and its ability to perform our intersectional identities. Our mission drives our equity framework and is resonant in our creative, collaborative, and producing practices by hiring mainly BIPOC artists and dancers.