Ito Dances

An ito signature solo

Ito, who was born in 1892 in Tokyo, studied traditional dance in Japan before moving to Paris in 1911. At the beginning of the World War, he moved to Britain and became acquainted with Ezra Pound and William Butler Yeats. In 1915, Ito choreographed an interpretation of Yeats’s “At the Hawk’s Well.” The following year, he moved to the U.S. and choreographed Broadway revues and experimental dance pieces for the Washington Square Players and the Habima Players. He had a studio above Carnegie Hall where his students included Martha Graham and Lester Horton. During this period, Ito divided his time between New York and Hollywood, where he choreographed films such as Madame Butterfly (1933) and Booloo (1938). He was deported from the United States in 1941 under Executive Order 9066, and returned to Tokyo to establish a modern dance school. The Ito solos are some of his oldest works, from 1914-1926. He died in 1961.