Kihako Narisawa directs interdisciplinary art research and collective works, driven by a shared interest in experimental projects that transcend and challenge conventional genres. Her conceptual practice spans diverse media, including spoken text, poetry, soundscapes, video, installation, and physical live performance.

She is committed to developing works that emerge through collaboration — engaging with people across cultures, disciplines, perspectives, and backgrounds. Her process foregrounds intercultural and intersectional research, enabling new forms of influence and exchange.

These exchanges generate spaces of communication, mutual transformation, and artistic presentation, where new connections and common ground can take form.

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Index

Performance Works

Concept-driven stage and site-specific pieces
involving artistic direction, choreography, and collaborative creations.

2025　quite quiet : girlhood
2024　OMG — observation / motivation / glamorisation
2022　TRAJECTORY
2020　Have I ever spoken properly?
2019　wonderland
　　　 a.é.p.s
2018　re/cognition

　　　 into the why #3
2017　into the why #2
　　　 into the why
2015　P.S.
2013　Room 49
2012　glitch
2011　silencing

Conceptual Projects

Projects grounded in artistic and theoretical research,
often presented through text, installation, sound, or image formats.

2023 – 2025　quite quiet
2024 – 2025　layer(s)
2019 – 2020　A STORY
2019 – 2020　COMPO
2018 – 2019　Anti-Specificity
2017 – 2019　FIGURATIVE

Visual Works

Photography, visual and graphic compositions developed
through  observation, interests, and as part of a concept development process.

2024 – 2025　Layers of Diversity
2020　Fake Label of Art Work
2019　jein
2017　Why do I do this?
2016　facet
2015　line
2010　tear the surface away

Co-Creative Works

Collaborative projects shaped through shared authorship—across choreography, performance, concept development, and interdisciplinary exchange.

2025　quite quiet : girlhood — with Chihiro Araki and Miyuki Shimizu
2018　within arm’s length — with Keith Chin
2016　STUDIO ZERO — with Claudio Costantino
2015　phóné phainó phoney  — with Jeremy Nedd and Fabrizio di Salvo
2015　exchange — with Jeremy Nedd
2010　Hadō — with Sakiko Nomura

≪quite quiet : girlhood≫ — 2025 — Choreographic Performance Work

≪OMG — observation / motivation / glamorisation≫ — 2024 — Choreographic Performance Work

≪TRAJECTORY≫ — 2022 — Multimedia Choreographic Work

≪UP-CYCLING≫ — 2022 — Outdoor Performance Work as collective BETTER-LATE

≪Have I ever spoken properly?≫ — 2020 — Participatory Performance Work

≪Fake Label of Art Work≫ — 2020 — Scenic Installation

≪a journal in no time≫ — 2020 — Conceptual Work + Poetry

≪wonderland≫ — 2019 — Choreographic Research + Performance Work with Keith Chin

≪Anti-Specificity≫ — 2019 — Choreographic Research + Creative Praxis

≪re/cognition≫ — 2018 — Choreographic Research + Performance Work

≪a.é.p.s≫ — 2019 — Dance Choreographic Work co-choreographed with Claudio Costantino

≪within arm's length≫ — 2018 — Participatory Physical Performance with Keith Chin

≪into the why #3≫ — 2018 — Conceptual Performance Work + Video Production with De-Da Productions

≪into the why #2≫ — 2018 — Conceptual Performance Work + Video Production with De-Da Productions

≪into the why≫ — 2017 — Conceptual Performance Work + Video Production with De-Da Productions

≪why do I do this?≫ — 2017 — Dance Performance + Photographic Work

≪line≫ — 2017 — Photographic Exhibition

≪FIGURATIVE≫ — 2016 — Choreographic Research + Creative Praxis

≪P.S.≫ — 2015 — Lecture Performance Work

≪exchange≫ — 2015 — Performance Work co-concept with Jeremy Nedd

≪Room 49≫ — 2013 — Dance Choreographic Work

≪glitch≫ — 2012 — Dance Choreographic Work

≪phóné phainó phoney≫ — 2015 — Performance Work co-concept with Jeremy Nedd and Fabrizio Di Salvo

≪tear the surface away≫ — 2011 — Photographic Exhibition

searching for invisible words

who are you?

I don’t know right now.

at least, I know who I was when I got up this morning.

I think I must have changed several times since then.

what do you mean by that?

I can’t explain myself, because I’m not myself, you know.

I don’t know.

I can’t explain it, because I can’t understand it myself.

it's very confusing.

it isn’t.

well…

perhaps not yet.

but when you have to change someday,

you will also find it confusing.

not a bit.

well…

your feelings may be different.

all I know is — it would feel very strange to me.

you…

who are you?

I think you should tell me who you are, first.

why?

・

Profile

Freelance Practice

2016 – Now　 Conceptual Research / Creation / Choreography / Performance / Dance / Text-Based Work / Graphic and Sound Experimentation / Artistic Collaboration / Dramaturgy / Concept Development / Creative Process Facilitation / Exchange and Feedback / Contextual Translation and Multilingual Writing / Cross-Disciplinary Contributions / Funding-Focused Conceptual Dossier Writing / Project Structuring / Production Management

Professional Engagement

2013 – 2016　Ballett Theater Basel
2009 – 2013　Thoss Tanzkompanie – Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden
2005 – 2009　Fondazione Nazionale della Danza Aterballetto
2002 – 2004　Cannes Jeune Ballet

Education

2021　M.A. in Design from Masterstudio Design
　　　 Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures IXDM (formerly Institute Integrative Design)
　　　 Academy of Art and Design – University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland
　　　 Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst HGK – Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW 
2006　B.A. in Dance from Codarts
　　　 University of the Arts – Rotterdam Dance Academy  – Hogeschool voor de Kunsten
2004　Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower

Kihako Narisawa

Having lived and worked in Europe for over two decades, her artistic practice is shaped by an ongoing inquiry into spatial theory, anthropological concepts, and both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. She primarily creates live performances, often in close dialogue with installation, sound, and text. Her understanding of choreography as a method of spatial composition underpins both her staged works and her contributions to interdisciplinary collaborations. She frequently integrates improvisational strategies with choreographic structure, crafting works that question visibility, cultural identity, and the role of embodied language.

In parallel with her own creations, she regularly contributes as a performer, choreographic assistant, movement director, and collaborator in research and concept development within the work of other directors, choreographers, artists, and creators across disciplines, including theatre, installation, product, and fashion. She is committed to collaborative processes that foreground marginalised perspectives, including projects led by People of Colour and any minority communities, and engages with intersectional themes and practices across her work.

Her works and collaborations have been presented in theatres, art spaces, and site-specific contexts. Most recently, she was nominated by Hussein Chalayan as one of the selected artists for the mentorship programme for the Forecast Forum in July 2025, where she will present a new project concept at Radialsystem, Berlin. In parallel, her ongoing project “quite quiet” explores silence and visibility through the lens of Japanese femininity and cultural icons of the modern era, and is currently in the preparation phase for a new production at ROXY Birsfelden (CH) and Berliner Ringtheater (DE), scheduled for 2026.

Kihako’s previous work “OMG – observation / motivation / glamorisation” (2024) received support from the Fonds Darstellende Künste research grant scheme #TakeHeart, as well as research trip grants from Atelier Mondial and the Goethe-Institut. As a production, the premiere was later realised as a co-production with ROXY Birsfelden. In “OMG”, she collaborated with artists from diverse disciplines to explore performative codes, the glamorisation of identity, and the objectification and presentation of self.

Earlier projects include “TRAJECTORY” (2022), presented as part of Fabula Collective’s mixed bill at Sadler’s Wells (UK), London, where she was invited as a guest choreographer, and “Have I ever spoken properly?” (2020), a participatory performance developed during the pandemic, which concluded her MA research and examined spatial relationships between language and proxemics. This work evolved from a series of earlier research-based projects under the title “FIGURATIVE” (2016–2019), in which she explored proxemics through performance and collaboration. As part of this series, she developed “wonderland” (2019), presented at Frankfurt LAB (DE) as the culmination of a residency with Keith Chin, which laid the groundwork for “Have I ever spoken properly?”. Other works within the “FIGURATIVE” series include “into the why” (2017), and “within arm’s length” (2018), a duet with Keith Chin presented at Festival TanzArt Ostwest in Gießen (DE); as well as “re/cognition” (2018), developed during a two-month residency supported by the Goethe-Institut Kanada and presented at Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique in Montréal (CA).

A collaborative work, “phóné phainó phoney” (2015), created with Jeremy Nedd and Fabrizio di Salvo, was presented at ROXY Birsfelden, and marked her initial steps into the European independent scene, after her engagement careers with dance companies and state theatres. This strand of inquiry stemmed from her earlier solo piece “P.S.” (2015), which marked the beginning of her engagement with anthropological approaches to space and embodied communication.

Her professional stage career began at Cannes Jeune Ballet in France (2002-2004), and then Aterballetto in Italy (2005–2009), under the direction of Mauro Bigonzetti and later Cristina Bozzolini. She went on to dance with Thoss Tanzkompanie at Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden (2009–2013, artistic director Stephan Thoss), and subsequently with Ballett Basel at Theater Basel (2013–2016, artistic director Richard Wherlock). Alongside these institutional engagements, she began developing her own independent choreographic and visual works, which were presented both within the companies she worked for and in the broader European freelance scene. Over the years, she has performed in creations and repertoires by major European choreographers including William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, and many others — as well as being creatively involved in workes by Giuseppe Spota, Frank Fannar Pedersen, Nicole Morel, Jeremy Nedd, Alessandro Schiattarella, Zino Wey, and more.

Kihako began her dance education in 2002 at the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower in France, where she also joined the junior company, Cannes Jeune Ballet. She continued her training at Codarts – Rotterdam University of the Arts, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in 2006. In 2021, she completed a Master's degree at the Institute Experimental Design and Media Cultures (Masterstudio Design) at the Basel Academy of Art and Design, HGK FHNW.

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She is committed to developing works that emerge through collaboration — engaging with people across cultures, disciplines, perspectives, and backgrounds. Her process foregrounds intercultural and intersectional research, enabling new forms of influence and exchange.

These exchanges generate spaces of communication, mutual transformation, and artistic presentation, where new connections and common ground can take form.

ナリサワ キハコ

Index

Performance Works

Conceptual Projects

Visual Works

Co-Creative Works

≪quite quiet : girlhood≫ — 2025 — Choreographic Performance Work

≪OMG — observation / motivation / glamorisation≫ — 2024 — Choreographic Performance Work

≪TRAJECTORY≫ — 2022 — Multimedia Choreographic Work

≪UP-CYCLING≫ — 2022 — Outdoor Performance Work as collective BETTER-LATE

≪Have I ever spoken properly?≫ — 2020 — Participatory Performance Work

≪Fake Label of Art Work≫ — 2020 — Scenic Installation

≪a journal in no time≫ — 2020 — Conceptual Work + Poetry

≪wonderland≫ — 2019 — Choreographic Research + Performance Work with Keith Chin

≪Anti-Specificity≫ — 2019 — Choreographic Research + Creative Praxis

≪re/cognition≫ — 2018 — Choreographic Research + Performance Work

≪a.é.p.s≫ — 2019 — Dance Choreographic Work co-choreographed with Claudio Costantino

≪within arm's length≫ — 2018 — Participatory Physical Performance with Keith Chin

≪into the why #3≫ — 2018 — Conceptual Performance Work + Video Production with De-Da Productions

≪into the why #2≫ — 2018 — Conceptual Performance Work + Video Production with De-Da Productions

≪into the why≫ — 2017 — Conceptual Performance Work + Video Production with De-Da Productions

≪why do I do this?≫ — 2017 — Dance Performance + Photographic Work

≪line≫ — 2017 — Photographic Exhibition

≪FIGURATIVE≫ — 2016 — Choreographic Research + Creative Praxis

≪P.S.≫ — 2015 — Lecture Performance Work

≪exchange≫ — 2015 — Performance Work co-concept with Jeremy Nedd

≪Room 49≫ — 2013 — Dance Choreographic Work

≪glitch≫ — 2012 — Dance Choreographic Work

≪phóné phainó phoney≫ — 2015 — Performance Work co-concept with Jeremy Nedd and Fabrizio Di Salvo

≪tear the surface away≫ — 2011 — Photographic Exhibition

searching for invisible words

who are you?

what do you mean by that?

I don’t know.

it isn’t.

not a bit.

you…

who are you?

why?

・

・

・

・

・

Profile

Freelance Practice

Professional Engagement

Education

Contact

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