Sachiyo Ito has brought together East and West through her delicate and powerful performances of classical, traditional and contemporary Japanese dance for nearly the last 40 years. She received Foreign Minister’s Award from Japanese Foreign Ministry in 2008.

Born in Tokyo, Sachiyo Ito is an artist, choreographer, and arts educator. She has taught at major colleges such as the Juilliard School and New York University since 1972. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Dance from New York University. She was awarded the name, Sachiyo Fujima from the Fujima School of Japanese classical dance in Tokyo.

Sachiyo Ito choreographed Yeats’ Trio, Three Irish Noh Plays in Ireland as well as the New York production, And the Soul Shall Dance, Monkey Music at the LaMama Theatre, and the Off-Broadway production of Shogun Macbeth. She was the Kabuki consultant for the Off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures.

Extensive performance credits in Japan, the United States, South America, and Europe include: the American Dance Festival, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Dublin Theatre Festival, Japan Society, Asia Society, the Bonn International Dance Workshop, the Riverside Dance Festival, and numerous appearances on television including Channel 4, 11, 13, and at universities.

She has also taught and performed for the educational programs sponsored by Japan Foundation, Japan Society, Asia Society, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Council on the Arts in the states of Alaska, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New York.

She has contributed articles to the International Encyclopedia of Dance, published by Oxford University Press. She founded Sachiyo Ito and Company in 1981 as a not-for-profit educational organization. The Company performs a versatile range of dance styles including Kabuki, Noh, Okinawan court, Jiuta-mai, and contemporary dances that are created by Sachiyo Ito. The Company performed at Japan Society, Asia Society, Lincoln Center Institute, Cherry blossom Festival at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. among others.

Also, the Company offers the Salon Series, artistically inspiring and educational on-going series of lecture demonstrations on performing arts of Japan three times a year. Established as a school of various forms of Japanese dance in New York City, Sachiyo Ito and Company is the New York Branch of Taka-ryu Hana no Kai of Okinawan Dance in Naha, Okinawa as well, and the only New York City–based Japanese dance company that performs both Okinawan dance and Japanese classical dance namely, Kabuki dance, and choreographing contemporary works based on these classical forms.