Yuriko Kikuchi (b. February 2, 1920), known to audiences by her stage name Yuriko, is an American dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
She was born in San Jose, California, but moved to Japan at age 3, remaining there until her graduation from high school.[1] From 1941 to 1943 she was interned along with other Japanese Americans at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, where she taught dance.[2] She was released in September 1943, whereupon she immediately moved to New York City.[3]
She began studying with Martha Graham in 1944 and continued with the company for the next 50 years. She danced in the first production of Graham's masterpiece, Clytemnestra, as well as in Appalachian Spring, Cave of the Heart, and Dark Meadow. She has also reconstructed a number of Graham's dances.
In addition to her work in modern dance, Yuriko performed on Broadway in the first performances of The King and I (1951-54) and The Flower Drum Song (1958-60). She has also danced and acted on television and in motion pictures. She formed her own modern dance company in 1967, which remained active until 1973. She has also danced to works by Halim El-Dabh and Eugene Lester.
Yuriko married in 1946 and had two children.[1] She lives in Manhattan.
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In 1967, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in choreography. In 1991, she won a Bessie Award. Yuriko was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Boston Conservatory in 2006.