This year, marks Denise Fujiwara’s 43rd year as a dance artist. A singular voice on the Canadian dance scene; a sought-after choreographer, dancer, teacher, and impresario.
She began her interesting career in childhood, as a gymnast when she competed internationally for the Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics team. Upon completing an Honours B.F.A. in Dance at York University, she became one of the founders of T.I.D.E. (Toronto Independent Dance Enterprise). Here she was instrumental in the creation of a diverse body of work for the now-defunct, but still notorious, company that danced across Canada for 10 years.
In 1991 she formed her own company, Fujiwara Dance Inventions, to house the development of her solo projects. To date, her six solo dance concerts, Spontaneous Combustion, Vanishing Acts, Sumida River, Elle Laments, Brief Incarnations, and Komachi have garnered praise across Canada and have toured to festivals in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia.
In addition to her career as a dance artist, Ms. Fujiwara works in film and television. Walls, a CBC Television documentary about her life and work by celebrated filmmaker Jeremy Podeswa, won the 1995 Gemini Award for Best Performing Arts Program. In 1997 she co-founded CanAsian Dance where she is the Artistic Director. Her work with CanAsian promotes the work and development of dance artists from Toronto and across Canada.
