Nick chats with Chikako Fujii about her career as a company director and dancer, and the importance of international collaboration.
Chikako was born in Tokyo and has a father who is known as an early pioneer in the Japanese French patisserie industry. Chikako worked in the family business for 16 years and gained various management skills during that time. She became a managing director in 2018 before leaving the business in December 2021 when the family business was sold in January 2021.
Chikako also broadened her skills to provide “active listening service” and started to work as a Support Service Provider at YelI Co., Ltd. in 2020. Since then, she has been promoted to a Support Service Lead.
Chikako trained as a modern and jazz dancer in her childhood. She later developed an interest in contemporary dance and moved to London in 1993 to study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (formerly known as Laban Centre), majoring in BA (Hons) in Dance Studies. Since her return to Japan, Chikako participated in project-based dance performances and assisted workshops for various choreographers and artists (e.g. Fumiyo Ikeda, IÑAKI AZPILLAGA, Kirstie Simoson, etc.) whilst managing her family business. Chikako has been involved in various projects, including contact improvisation, collaborative works with painters and literal works, dance works using sign language for deaf people, improvisation sessions with musicians and poets in Japan and abroad. In 2017, Chikako was invited to a Poetry Festival in Lahti, Finland. She was also invited to the French Japonisme Project at Reims, France in 2019.
For more information about CIC please check the link below.
https://jp.cic.com
Nick chats with Chikako Fujii about her career as a company director and dancer, and the importance of international collaboration.
Chikako was born in Tokyo and has a father who is known as an early pioneer in the Japanese French patisserie industry. Chikako worked in the family business for 16 years and gained various management skills during that time. She became a managing director in 2018 before leaving the business in December 2021 when the family business was sold in January 2021.
Chikako also broadened her skills to provide “active listening service” and started to work as a Support Service Provider at YelI Co., Ltd. in 2020. Since then, she has been promoted to a Support Service Lead.
Chikako trained as a modern and jazz dancer in her childhood. She later developed an interest in contemporary dance and moved to London in 1993 to study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (formerly known as Laban Centre), majoring in BA (Hons) in Dance Studies. Since her return to Japan, Chikako participated in project-based dance performances and assisted workshops for various choreographers and artists (e.g. Fumiyo Ikeda, IÑAKI AZPILLAGA, Kirstie Simoson, etc.) whilst managing her family business. Chikako has been involved in various projects, including contact improvisation, collaborative works with painters and literal works, dance works using sign language for deaf people, improvisation sessions with musicians and poets in Japan and abroad. In 2017, Chikako was invited to a Poetry Festival in Lahti, Finland. She was also invited to the French Japonisme Project at Reims, France in 2019.
For more information about CIC please check the link below.
https://jp.cic.com