Michael Sakamoto is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar active in dance, theatre, performance, photography, and media. His solo, ensemble, and visual works have been presented in 15 countries throughout Asia, Europe and North America.
Michael’s current touring projects include "time/life/beauty", a dance theater and music program in collaboration with Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky and Mohammed Smahneh aka Barges, and "asymm", a dance theater solo, both inspired by the Afro-Asian arts and anti-war activist legacy of famed Japanese-born composer-musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Other recent touring projects include: "Flash," a butoh/hip-hop duet with Rennie Harris; "Soil," a dance theater trio with performers from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam/USA; and "blind spot," an intermedia performance around personal identity and corporate militarism.
Michael's research and performance interests include contemporary imaginings of the butoh-based "body in crisis," corporeal and mediated embodiments of self-reflection and social resistance, and performing the cultural commons and cultural sustainability. He holds an MFA in Dance and PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA, is former Co-Director of Goddard College's MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts Program and former Assistant Professor in Dance at the University of Iowa. In addition to his artistic and scholarly practice, Michael currently serves as Director of Performing Arts at the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center.
