Yumi Umiumare

Photo: © Albert Comper

Born in Hyogo, Japan,

Yumi is an independent performance artists , choreographer in Melbourne, Australia and the creator of Butoh Cabaret and physical theatre works, which are renowned for provoking visceral emotions and cultural identities.

Yumi has been creating and teaching her distinctive style of works over the last 20 years and her works have been seen in numerous festivals in dance, theatre and film productions throughout Australia, Japan, Europe, New Zealand, South East Asia and South America.




Her works have received critical acclaim and garnered her and her collaborators several Australian Green Room awards.

Her own production’s credits include Tokyo DasSHOKU Girl (1999-2003), DasSHOKU Cultivations!! (Osaka2003), DasSHOKU Hora!! (Melbourne2005 and Sydney Opera House 2006) and most recently DasSHOKU SHAKE!(2012), which won Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards and Innovation in Green Room Awards.

Her solo dance works, Sakasama, Dis-Oriental  and duo works with Tony Yap, How could you even begin to understand? and ZeroZero have been toured Japan, Hongkong, Malaysia, Indoneisa and most recently Columbia.





As a choreographer, Yumi has worked with several aboriginal communities, Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, ESL community groups, and Japanese/Australian productions.

Most recently Yumi has worked in socially engaged theatre productions with women from the sex industry and people who’d recovered from gambling addictions.