Donna Uchizono

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Donna Uchizono is an American choreographer and the artistic director of the Donna Uchizono Company, based in New York City. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and a United States Artist award recipient, and has received many grants and honors from national and city funders for her work.

Life and career
Donna Uchizono was born on a U.S. Army base in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in Southern California. She danced with local companies and earned her BA in Dance from California State University, Long Beach. In 1986 she moved to New York City, where she continues to live and work. She was a founding member (and later chair) of Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church (1990–1995) and founded the Donna Uchizono Company in 1990, serving as artistic director. She is recognized as a prominent Asian American choreographer in modern dance, and she has used her platform to highlight the visibility and experiences of American-born dancers of Asian descent.

Honors and awards
- National Endowment for the Arts: multiple Company Project Grants and Fellowships
- New York State Council for the Arts: multiple grants
- New York City Department of Cultural Affairs: multiple grants
- New Music USA and other major funders
- 2016 United States Artist Award
- Alpert Award, Bessie Award, Creative Capital, MAP Fund, Rockefeller Foundation MAP Grants
- Jerome Foundation, National Performance Network Commission and Touring support
- Dance Magazine grants and Metropolitan Life funding
- Numerous additional awards and sustained funding from New York State and New York City

Works
Selected works include:
- March Under an Empty reign (2018)
- Sticky Majesty (2016)
- Break (2016)
- Fire Underground (2013)
- Out of Frame (2013)
- Excerpt of Seven (2012)
- Revisiting Drinking Ivy (2011)
- Longing Two (2010)
- 50 Miles from Forsyth (2009)
- Badlands (2008)
- Thin Air (2007)
- Leap to Tall (2006)
- Moving Liszt (2006)
- Approaching Green (2005)
- Hug (2005)
- Butterflies from my Hand (2004)
- Low (2002)
- Featherweight (2001)
- On Shaky Ground (2000)
- Invitados (1999)
- Summer Sprinkle (1999)
- Opening (1999)
- State of Heads (1999)
- Catching (1998)
- The Wayne Sisters (1998)
- Teetering High (1998)
- Me Emociono (1997)
- Fly Bye Buenos Aires (1997)
- Falling Upward (1997)
- Sipping Air (1996)
-Quietly Goes a Giant Jane (1995)
- Drinking Ivy (1994)
- Iron Wings (1994)
- Angels on Granite (1994)
- Fax Me (1994)
- A Sage Passage (1993)
- Improvisation (1993)
- The Interview (1993)
- Four Play (1993)
- Desiree (1992)
- Flores Para Lorenzo (1992)
- Clandestina (1992)
- The Wayne Brothers (1991)
- It Comes in Threes (1991)
- Talking Ball (1991)
- Recollection Bruise (1991)
- San Andreas (1990)
- Siren (1990)
- Fault (1990)
- Pelican Dive (1990)
- Accommodations (1989)
- Waving, Not Drowning (1989)
- Short Tahitian Temper (1989)
- Leaning Tall (1989)
- Surfacing (1988)
- Water on the Knee (1988)

Note: Uchizono is noted for her trailblazing role in modern dance as an American-born choreographer of Asian descent and for building a company that has toured nationally and internationally.