Nobuko Miyamoto
Performing Artist and Founder, Great Leap
"Before 1970, Asians Americans didn’t have our own song. We were the quiet, invisible Americans. And what is a people without their own song? I found my voice (with Chris Iijima) during the birth of the Asian American movement, an explosive moment of self-definition and political struggle for social change. We made songs that told our stories, songs that shared our visions, songs that spoke soul-to-soul with our people, songs that reached beyond our boundaries. Creating art to serve and create community gave me a purpose beyond myself. It began a lifelong journey that inspired my own art making, but also to help others find voice for their stories. Dance and theater are my languages, but always in song."
Biography
Nobuko Miyamoto is a song/dance/theater maker, and founder of Great Leap, a community-based performing arts organization since 1978 which engages people of diverse cultures in creative process to experience interconnection with each other and mother earth. Originally a dancer in films and Broadway, Nobuko found her voice as an activist and troubadour in the ’70s during the Asian American movement. Great Leap pioneered in putting the Asian American story on stage with concerts and musicals for communities hungry for their own reflections. Responding to racial divisions of L.A.’s 1992 uprising, Great Leap brought together Asian, Latinx, and Black artists to perform their first-voice stories on stage. After 9/11, it used its artistic practice to confront Islamophobia, working with faith communities. Addressing global warming from the point of view of people of color, Nobuko’s EcoVids are collaborative environmental music videos seen on YouTube. As part of the Japanese Buddhist community, Nobuko’s song/dances in the Obon tradition are performed by thousands in yearly Obon Festivals. Partnering with QUETZAL and the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, she co-produces FandangObon, a pluri-ethnic festival of art, culture, and environment.