The Ailey School

Kazuko Hirabayashi is the founder and Artistic Director of Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater since 1971. The company combines classical and modern American dance with Ms. Hirabayashi’s Japanese heritage. Ms. Hirabayashi danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company in the 1962 revival of “Primitive Mysteries” at the American Dance Festival in New London, CT. That same summer, Ms. Hirabayashi was a recipient of the Doris Humphrey Choreography Fellowship for her choreography, “Rashomon”. Together with Richard Kuch and Richard Gain she formed Triad Dance Theater. In the 1970’s and 1980’s she served as Director of the Martha Graham Ensemble and taught at the Martha Graham Center. The Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre performed annually at the Japan House, the Public Theater, Schimmel Auditorium at Pace University, Hunter College Playhouse, and The Theater of the Riverside Church and as part of 2 Dance Umbrella seasons at Camera Mart and at the Roundabout Theater. In addition to The Ailey School, Ms. Hirabayashi is on the faculty of The Juilliard School, and at SUNY Purchase College, where she is the Graduate Program Director. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council for the Arts.