Co. Ruri Mito (company) was launched by Ruri Mito in 2017. In 2019, the company won the Special Jury Prize at the Spiral Independent Creators Festival in Tokyo. The company had its first tour in 2019, and recently toured Europe in March 2023, travelling to Paris, Bucharest and Prague. Works produced by the company include, by year: The Lake (2017), Sumika (2018), MeMe (2019), Where we were born (2020), Hedda Gabler (2021 to 2022), NOBODY IS HERE (2024) and the three-year project TOUCH (2021 to 2024).

Ruri Mito (choreographer, dancer) started studying dance at the age of five at The Modern Ballet Institute, Tokyo. She graduated from the Japan Women’s College of Physical Education with a BA from the Department of Movement Science Dance Studies. Mito was a member of the dance company Leni-Basso from 2004 to 2010. Following this, she became an international freelance performer and has since been actively performing all over the world and received many prizes for her work. She has worked with internationally known choreographers including Wim Vandekeybus, Sasha Waltz and Damien Jalet. In 2017, she received the Tatsumi Hijikata Memorial Award, and in 2020, she received the Newcomer Award from the Japanese government’s Agency of Cultural Affairs for her group choreography. She was a Fellow of the Saison Foundation from 2018 to 2024. Recently, she has been creating works that explore the layered resonances of the body, memory and time, making the unseen visible and pursuing expressions that transcend the physical and verbal.

Lena Hashimoto (dancer) expanded her interests to dance and yoga while studying fine arts in college and eventually studied contemporary dance and bodywork from various teachers in Japan and abroad. In 2014, Hashimoto participated as a dancer in Billy Cowie’s residency and performance of Under Flat Sky. In 2016, she participated in the New Dance for Asia (NDA) International Festival (Seoul) and competed in the Solo and Duo Competition, winning the Jury Award for her solo performance. Hashimoto began assisting Ruri Mito in 2016, and has participated in Mito’s dance company, Co. Ruri Mito, since its foundation. She has performed in The Lake (2017), Sumika (2018), Where we were born (Morioka performance in 2021), and Co. Ruri Mito’s European Tour (2023), among others.

Fuko Ikegami (dancer) studied dance at the age of three under Miho Hirai. She graduated from the Japan Women’s College of Physical Education with a concentration in dance. While in college, Ikegami discovered contemporary dance and started training under Takiko Iwabuchi. After performing at the closing ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she participated in several videos and performances as part of Shintaro Hirahara’s dance unit De/Co. Currently, she performs in Hiroaki Kumagai’s works and provides choreography support for Kumagai. Ikegami has co-directed activities to expand dance outside of theaters under the project Tokoro since 2024. Ikegami also busies herself creating her own work, and won the Architanz Artist Support Award at the Yokohama Dance Collection 2022 Competition I and the Jury Award at the SAI Dance Festival.

Sae Kodama (dancer) recently performed in Co. Ruri Mito’s 2024 performance, TOUCH-#2. Her other credits include the musical Peter Pan produced by HoriPro (2024), Kenshi Yonezu’z Tour Kuusou (2023), MISIA’s THE GREAT HOPE 25th TOUR (2023), the opera Don Giovanni produced by Hyogo Performing Arts Center (Artistic Director, Yutaka Sado) (2023), the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony (2021), Nissay Theatre’s Into The Woods (2022), CHAIN OF INFINITY (Artistic Director: Tamiyo Kusakari) (2021) and various works choreographed by Tomohiko Tsujimoto and Koharu Sugawara.

Risa Makino (dancer) is a versatile dancer not bound by specific genre, skilled in a variety of dance techniques including contemporary, jazz, pop, house, hip-hop and more. Her dancing style makes the most of her distinctive body, with her “slender eyes, long neck, and monkey arms.” She is active in a wide range of art fields, including dance performances, plays, musicals, live music performances and music videos.

Miyu Motegi (dancer) started training for classical ballet at the age of six and moved to Germany after graduating from high school. There, she studied classical ballet and contemporary dance at a ballet school and joined the Budapest Dance Theater after obtaining a diploma. She moved back to Japan in 2018, starting a professional dance career based in Tokyo. She sees inspiration within the smallest unit of dance and creates works while trying to find and express movements in the sensations that trigger between body and mind. She is interested in the body that can only be found in dance.

Miki Sasaki (dancer) started training in classical ballet with Chikako Konma at the age of six, and started contemporary dance training under Shintaro Hirahara at the age of 20 while she was attending Aoyama Gakuin Women’s Junior College. Sakai completed the first semester of the master’s program at Ochanomizu University Graduate School. From 2019 to 2023, she was a member of Kaori Seki’s Co. PUNCTUMUN. In addition to her work with Seki’s dance company, Sasaki also appeared in works by Masahiro Yanagimoto and Honoh Horikawa. In 2022, she started creating her own dance pieces and has presented her work in various locations in Japan.

Mariko Shibata (dancer) started dancing when she joined the dance club in high school. She received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award at the All Japan High School and University Dance Festival twice. She began training under Kazuyuki Futami at the age of 19. After graduating from Bunka Fashion College, she joined the costume department of Shiki Theater Company, overseeing costumes for CATS, The Little Mermaid, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame before leaving the company in 2019. She has appeared in dance works choreographed by Ruri Mito, Kazuyuki Futami and Shiragami Momoko, as well as video works choreographed by Mikuni Yanaihara, Mayumu Minakawa and Daisuke Omiya.

Maho Takahashi (dancer) started training in classical ballet at the age of three, and contemporary dance and hip hop at the age of 10 at the Iwafune Dance Theater. After graduating from high school, she moved to Tokyo and performed in various productions with the Japan Ballet Association and Shakespeare Theatre. In 2012, she traveled to the UK on her own to deepen her practices in contemporary dance, physical theater, and classical ballet. In 2013, she studied abroad for one year at the Zurich Opera Ballet School in Switzerland. In 2015, she became a member of Organworks, a contemporary dance company led by Shintaro Hirahara, and has participated in numerous performances both in Japan and abroad. Currently, in addition to being active as a dancer, she is also an instructor and director at RETREAT STUDIO myak in Tochigi.

The North American tour of Co. Ruri Mito is produced and organized by Japan Society, New York, NY. This performance is supported by Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture) and The Harkness Foundation for Dance. Support for the international travel of Co. Ruri Mito for Matou & Where we were born is provided by The Japan Foundation.

On our open-air Pavilion Theater stage, in our Black Box Theater, across our expansive grounds—and in our surrounding communities—PS21 cultivates and presents productions that transcend boundaries and encourage your expression and participation. Our programming often engages creatively with critical global and social issues: you’ll leave recharged, invigorated, and perhaps thinking differently.

We also host residencies for dancers, musicians, actors, and creators—supporting their development of new, even unclassifiable, work.

A model of innovative theater design, our green-energy spaces are state-of-the-art, and sit atop our 100 acres of unspoiled meadows, woodlands, and trails—all open to the public every day. With the sights and sounds of nature seeping into every Pavilion performance, PS21 offers truly unforgettable experiences and demonstrates our commitment to be open, inviting, and designed for everyone’s enjoyment.

Through our PATHWAYS programs, we bring visionary artists into workshops, classes, installations, and performances on our grounds and into the community—all free of charge or at low cost. PATHWAYS also fosters collaboration between community arts groups and the Town of Chatham—enhancing cultural life in the Hudson Valley.

Extraordinary times require both new art forms and innovative approaches to time-honored disciplines. PS21 is challenging and joyful, of our community and of our world, thought-provoking and magical.

Join us!

PS21’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Amphion Foundation, The Alice M. Ditson Fund, MidAtlantic Arts Foundation, Veillette Nifosi Foundation, J.M. Kaplan Fund, Robert Craft/Igor Stravinsky Foundation, GKV Foundation, Bank of Greene County, Stewart’s Holiday Match, Japan Arts Council,  as well as our valued donors through Memberships, our Circle of Supporters, commissioning, and our annual Gala.

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