Norihito
Ishii

Born in 1984 in Tokyo, Ishii began dancing at 17 on the streets of Japan, winning multiple dance competitions before moving to the concert stage in 2006. He studied contemporary dance under Tomohiko Tsujimoto, and appeared in major theatrical productions directed by Yukio Ninagawa and Amon Miyamoto.

In 2010, he joined Sankai Juku — the legendary butoh company founded by Ushio Amagatsu and resident at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris — where he has performed for over fifteen years. With Sankai Juku, he has toured across 45 countries and 700+ cities, taking principal solo roles in works including Unetsu, Hibiki, Kagemi, and Kosa.

As a solo artist, Ishii has performed in over 27 countries and 75 cities. In 2013, he became the first winner of the Jury Prize at the Seoul International Choreography Festival with SAMON. In 2015, he became the first artist in the festival's history to win twice, taking the SCF Award for AFTERGLOW.

In 2021, he appeared in the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In 2024, he was featured on the cover of Atmos Magazine (New York), shot by photographer Tom Johnson. In 2025, the resulting photo book Tom Johnson, Butoh was published by Sixteen World (Paris), covered by Hypebeast and Creative Review.

Also in 2025, Ishii created the XR butoh work Unreal Higi for DIG SHIBUYA, presented at Expo 2025 Osaka, and performed at Rosewood Hotel Hong Kong. He co-choreographed for the D.LEAGUE commercial dance league.

In 2020, he founded Butoh Ishii Gumi as a dance company and creative production house. In 2012, he established DEVIATE.CO as an avant-garde culture company.