The School of Hard Knocks [SOHK]
is a collective of artists including dancers, musicians, visual artists, media artists, theater technicians and designers. The company has performed extensively in the US and in Europe in works ranging from theatrical dance concerts to street performances and to large scale performance art spectacles. In the course of the company's history, more than 1,000 people have performed under Yoshiko Chuma's direction in the US, Europe and Asia. The School of Hard Knocks was the title of the company's first production, a collaboration between Yoshiko Chuma, filmmaker Jacob Burckhardt and composer, Alvin Curran. Yoshiko Chuma has choreographed more than 40 works for the company and as commissions. Recent and current works include:

The School of Hard Knocks has been commissioned and/or presented in New York by many venues including:

SOHK in Japan
and in the US at:
In Europe Chuma's works have been commissioned or presented by: The School of Hard Knocks also curates the Brand New Dance Series for Dixon Place and serves on the artistic advisory board of Performance Space 122, both in NYC.


Yoshiko, R.Black and R.Een Yoshiko Chuma (choreographer, director, dancer)
A native of Japan, moved to the United States in 1976. Chuma's first theater experience was as a member of a children's performing group, which included performing and writing her own play at the age of 10. Her childhood experience and the atmosphere of Japan's counterculture movement in the 1960s and 70s influenced her direction in the performing arts. Living and working in New York City is the perpetual muse that also informs all her work.In 1983, her work Five-Car Pile-Up was a turning point which led her to work with large spectacle performances with themes that related to social context issues.

The Company
Company members and collaborators have included director/choreographer Yoshiko Chuma, performers Harry Whittaker Sheppard, Donald Fleming, Dan Froot, Gayle Tufts, and David Rousseve, Nicky Paraiso (piano, violin, voice), Robert Een (composer, cello, voice), Rocky Bornstein (dance), Simon Deacon (piano), Robert Black (bass), sound designer/filmmaker Jacob Burckhardt, painter Yvonne Jacquette, composer/singer Nona Hendryx, costume designer Cynthia Flynt, composer Lenny Pickett, composers Mark Bennett, Tan Dun, Aska Kaneko, Frank London, and theater director Danny Yung.

MAJOR AWARDS AND CONTRIBUTORS


GOVERNMENT

National Endowment for the Arts/Fellowship to Yoshiko Chuma
New York State Council on the Arts/ Dance Program
Ibaragi Prefecture, Japan


FOUNDATIONS

John Simon Guggenheim Foundation - Fellowship to Yoshiko Chuma
Meet the Composer
Joyce Mertz Gilmore
The Trust for Mutual Understanding
The Soros Foundation/CultureLink
ArtsLink /CEC International Partners
Arts International/Fund for U.S. Artists at Festivals
Japan Foundation/Fellowship
Saison Foundation


CORPORATIONS

Stewarts Ice Cream
Philip Morris Companies Inc
. Merchants Association of Tsurugi, Japan
PLUS MANY INDIVIDUALS


COMMISSIONS

92nd Street Y/Harkness Dance Center
Dancing in the Streets
Japan Society
Charlroi Danses (Belgium)
Roko Kawai Dance
Danspace Project at St. Marks Church
Paris Opera (GROP)
Reflex (Belgium)

The School of Hard Knocks is managed by Bonnie Sue Stein,
GOH Productions and Lynn Kable, Development Consultant.
For information please contact:

GOH Productions
239 East 5th Street, Suite 1-D, NY, NY 10003-8544
Tel (212) 777-3891   fax (212) 529-0939
GOHPROD@aol.com


The School of Hard Knocks
201 E. 4th St.
New York, NY 10009-7233
Tel (212) 533-9473   fax (212) 260-5382




CREDITS