Seiko Takata
{{short description|Japanese dancer}}{{Eastern name order|Takata Seiko}}{{Infobox person
| name = Seiko Takata
| image = Takata Seiko 01.jpg
| alt = A Japanese woman with hair cut in a curled bob, wearing a jacket and tie with a corsage
| caption = Takata Seiko, from a 1930 publication
| native_name = 高田せい子
| birth_name = Sawano Sei
| birth_date = September 13, 1895
| birth_place = Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
| death_date = March 19, 1977 (age 81)
| death_place = Tokyo, Japan
| native_name_lang = ja
| other_names = Hara Seiko, Takada Seiko
| occupation = Dancer
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
Seiko Takata (September 13, 1895 – March 19, 1977; in Japanese, 高田せい子, or kana, たかた せいこ ), born Sawano Sei, was a Japanese dancer and dance educator. She is considered a pioneer of modern dance in Japan.
Early life and education
Sawano Sei was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. She moved to Tokyo as a young woman, to attend music school.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/japanbiographica0002unse/mode/2up?q=%22Seiko+Takata%22 |title=The Japan biographical encyclopedia & who's who |date=1961 |publisher=Tokyo, Rengo Press |others=Internet Archive |pages=1583}} She trained as a dancer with Enrico Cecchetti,{{Cite web |last=Akoh |first=Erika |title=A short biography of Seiko Takada (My Teacher) |url=http://erikaakoh.com/english/biography/short-bio-seiko-takada.html |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=ErikaAkoh.com}} Giovanni Vittorio Rosi, Mary Wigman, Doris Humphrey, Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis.Akoh, Erika: [http://writings.orchesis-portal.org/index.php/en/articlesen/171-akoh-erika-in-search-of-beauty-seiko-takada-16th-international-congress-on-dance-research-athens-iofa-greece-2002 "In search of beauty: Seiko Takada"], 16th International Congress on Dance Research. Athens, IOFA Greece, 2002.
Career
With her dancer husband, Takata ran the Takata Dancing Society,{{Cite journal |date=October 25, 1931 |title=New Music and Dancing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wl6j5y5oKjIC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Seiko%20Takata%20dancer&pg=RA4-PA36#v=onepage&q=Seiko&f=false |journal=Present-Day Japan; Asahi English Supplement |pages=36}} and toured and studied in Europe and the United States. Their duo dancing act was sometimes billed as "Seiko and Takata" on variety bills.{{Cite news |date=March 25, 1924 |title=Coliseum |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-coliseum/159747791/ |work=The Daily Telegraph |pages=15 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=April 2, 1924 |title=At the Coliseum |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-mirror-at-the-coliseum/159748095/ |work=Daily Mirror |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was a member of the Imperial Theatre, the Negishi Kabukikan and the Asakusa Opera. They were in London when the Great Kanto Earthquake devastated Tokyo in 1923. They returned to Japan in the autumn of 1924, but many of their professional connections were lost in the quake's aftermath.
In widowhood, Takata continued performing,{{Cite book |last=Matida |first=Kasyo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQHZAQAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PT68&dq=Seiko%20Takata%20dancer&pg=PT68#v=onepage&q=Seiko%20Takata%20dancer&f=false |title=Odori: Japanese Dance |date=2013-10-28 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-20806-5 |language=en}} and taught dance at the Takatas' school and in other settings.{{Cite news |date=October 17, 1930 |title=Geisha Girls Take Up Jazz |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-geisha-girls-ta/159747216/ |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=16 |via=Newspapers.com}} After World War II she co-founded the Takata/Yamada Dance Company with Yamada Goro, and was president of the All-Japan Art Dance Association.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/internationaldic0000unse_k9w2/mode/2up?q=%22Seiko+Takata%22 |title=International dictionary of modern dance |date=1998 |publisher=Detroit, MI : St. James Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-55862-359-0 |pages=305, 394-395}} She is considered one of the founders of modern dance in Japan, alongside Baku Ishii and Eguchi Takaya.{{Cite book |last=Baird |first=Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXtqDwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PT96&dq=Seiko%20Takata%20dancer&pg=PT96#v=onepage&q=Seiko%20Takata%20dancer&f=false |title=The Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance |last2=Candelario |first2=Rosemary |date=2018-09-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-53611-8 |language=en}}{{Citation |last=Yukihiko |first=Yoshida |title=Eguchi Takaya (1900–1977) |date=2016 |work=Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism |url=https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/eguchi-takaya-1900-1977 |access-date=2024-11-25 |edition=1 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781135000356-rem717-1 |isbn=978-1-135-00035-6}}
Takata's students included Japanese dancer Erika Akoh and Chinese dancer {{Interlanguage link|吴晓邦|lt=Xiaobang Wu|zh|吴晓邦}}.{{Cite book |last=Ma |first=Nan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iR6uEAAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA66&dq=Seiko%20Takata%20dancer&pg=PA66#v=onepage&q=Seiko%20Takata%20dancer&f=false |title=When Words are Inadequate: Modern Dance and Transnationalism in China |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-757530-7 |pages=66 |language=en}} Choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata trained with a student of Takata's. Modern artist {{Interlanguage link|児島善三郎|lt=Zenzaburo Kojima|ja|児島善三郎}} painted a portrait of Takata in a Spanish dance costume in 1929.Kojima Zenzaburo, [https://jmapps.ne.jp/kmma_en/det.html?data_id=4264 "Portrait of Seiko Takata Dressed in Spanish"] (1929), painting in the collection of the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art
Personal life and legacy
Sawano married fellow dancer {{Interlanguage link|高田雅夫|lt=Masao Takata|ja|高田雅夫}} in 1918. Her husband died from tuberculosis in 1929. She died in 1977, at the age of 81, in Tokyo. A Takata/Yamada Dance Company and Martha Graham Dance Company alumna, Miki Orihara, performed Takata's "Mother" (1938) in San Francisco and New York in 2019.{{Cite web |last=Fancher |first=Lou |date=May 10, 2019 |title=Miki Orihara Brings Female Dance Masters to the Fore in “Resonance III” |url=https://www.sfcv.org/articles/preview/miki-orihara-brings-female-dance-masters-fore-resonance-iii |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=San Francisco Classical Voice |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Dialogue between Japanese and American Modern Dance by Miki Orihara |url=https://www.dance-enthusiast.com/dance-listings/events/view/Dialogue-between-Japanese-and-American-Modern-Dance-by-Miki-Orihara-2019-05-09 |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=Dance Enthusiast |language=en}}
References
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