Jay Hirabayashi

Jay Hirabayashi, photo by Chris Randle

Jay began dancing in 1977 at the Paula Ross Studio. He was invited to join the Paula Ross Dance Company one year later. He met Barbara when she joined the company in 1979 and they toured across Canada with Paula until 1982. Barbara and Jay performed with the Evelyn Roth Moving Sculpture Company across Canada, including Robert Davidson's Potlatch for the Living Haida in Masset, and at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival.
Jay performed briefly with Mountain Dance before becoming an inaugural member of the Karen Jamieson Dance Company in 1982 while also forming EDAM with Barbara, Peter Bingham, Ahmed Hassan, Lola MacLaughlin, Jennifer Mascall, and Peter (now Lola) Ryan.

In 1986, Barbara and Jay formed Kokoro Dance with the intention of pursuing butoh as their primary dance aesthetic. Jay has been teaching dance for the past 30 years and has choreographed over 80 dance works. A former downhill ski racer competing in the United States and Canada and as a member of the University of Alberta ski team, Jay's classes begin with a warmup influenced by his athletic background in strength and stamina exercises and follows with transmission of 40 years of butoh research.

604-662-7441
#236-111 West Hastings Street Vancouver BC Canada V6B1H4

Media:Press
Logos

Join our mailing list!SUBSCRIBE

Kokoro acknowledges that it is on unceded territories belonging to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
We are immensely grateful to be allowed to continue to be here.