Hiroshi Koike

Hiroshi Koike (小池博史 Koike Hiroshi born on 25 January 1956, in Japan) is a Japanese director, playwright and choreographer.

In 1982, he founded Pappa TARAHUMARA with Ogawa Mariko and other friends from college.

In 1995, Koike established a school for performing arts, PAI, of which he is the president.

Koike has served Tsukuba Art Center as the artistic director from 1997 to 2004, the Asian Performing Arts Forum as a member of the executive committee in 1998, and Japan Foundation as the member of the Special Donation Council from 2005 to 2011.

By converting every movement to a speed of 1/100 or less of the daily speed and communicating in a slow movement, it is said to deepen the awareness of one's "body"; this method is called "slow movement".

From the idea that "the brain that thinks and the mind that feels, the internal organs and muscles, the arms, the legs, the head, etc. are all included in the 'body', 'feel the whole' body 'and feel others and things'".

In addition, based on this method, many workshops for professionals and citizens are held in Japan and overseas.

After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, he decided to dissolve the group in 2012; Koike claimed feeling trapped by Japan and Japanese cultural administration spurred his decision.

In the same year, the group held the Papa-Tara Final Festival.

In June, soon after the dissolution of Pappa TARAHUMARA, he established the Hiroshi Koike Bridge Project (HKBP).

After his former performing arts group Pappa TARAHUMARA was dissolved in 2012, he formed the Hiroshi Koike Bridge Project (HKBP).

He has conducted physical acting training workshops based on his original method titled “slow movement” all over the world.

Koike was born in Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki.

When he came to Tokyo, in order to take a college entrance examination for the department of architecture, he was shocked when he saw a film directed by Federico Fellini.

As a result of that, he became a film director.

While studying sociology at Hitotsubashi University, he started to produce a play, rather than a film, because he was told that "movies and theater are the same" by his friends, and ended up hosting a student theater company.

After graduating from university, he worked as a TV director of documentary programs, but left the company after two years.

Koike was involved in all 55 productions of the group as the director, playwright, and choreographer for 30 years until 2012.

Since 2013, HKBP has been working on a theater adaptation of the ancient epic Mahabharata with artists from various Asian countries for 8 years.

Other productions of HKBP include The Restaurant of Many Orders, which is based on Kenji Miyazawa's novel, and World Series, in which Koike deeply deals with social problems today with his plan known as "sensory approach."

Koike's productions have been highly acclaimed worldwide and have been invited by several international festivals and theaters such as the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Koike's works have been performed in 40 countries.

In addition to his work with many international artists and productions all over the world, he has also conducted workshops for professional artists and citizens.