Rising Stars: Meet Brett Ishida of Austin and Houston

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brett Ishida.

Hi Brett, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Brett Ishida founded ISHIDA Dance Company in 2019, bringing classical rigor, literary intelligence, and choreographic vision to the contemporary dance landscape. The Houston Chronicle writes that “it’s her storytelling ability that truly sets her apart,” while BroadwayWorld notes that her work is deeply informed by literature and poetic tradition.
A fourth-generation Japanese American (Yonsei) raised in Porterville, California, Ishida left home at fifteen on a full scholarship to the Kirov Academy and later the School of American Ballet. She went on to perform with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montréal in principal and soloist roles, working with leading choreographers including Forsythe, Kylián, and Naharin. She later earned a BA in Creative Writing from UCLA and an MA in Montessori Education, and has spent years advocating for experiential arts education in the United States and abroad.
“I formed ISHIDA because I wasn’t seeing what we are doing in the U.S.,” Ishida has said.
The company’s credibility has been established rapidly. In 2023, ISHIDA was named to Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” list—the only company selected—signaling its role as a force shaping the field. Commissioned by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Julie Kent, Ishida’s work was later performed at The Kennedy Center and praised as “remarkable” by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Sarah L. Kaufman.
Ishida’s work intertwines ancient Greek philosophy and poetry with subconscious memory, creating “memory houses” in which themes and characters evolve across works, reflecting the layered nature of human experience

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
no, I definitely faced difficulties as a female and a minority.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Mission and Background
ISHIDA Dance Company was founded in 2019 by Artistic Director and Choreographer Brett Ishida. Its mission is to transform everyday being through meaning-filled, entertaining, thought-provoking, highest-caliber contemporary dance. ISHIDA performs regularly in Houston with world-class productions not seen elsewhere in the United States.

What sets ISHIDA apart?
It is the style of the dance, the approachability of the work, and the quality of the dancers.

Many of us are familiar with traditional ballet which presents beautiful dancers, doing very traditional movements with well-known story lines. Often contemporary dancers move in interesting, but often abstract ways. With ISHIDA we are using the ‘vocabulary’ of both of those worlds. Our work shows off the technique, lines, and beauty that you see in high caliber traditional ballet but with more contemporary and often dramatic movement you might see in contemporary dance. Alonzo King’s company in San Francisco, LINES, would be the closest, but unlike LINES, ISHIDA’s choreography is based on a poetic narrative that addresses universal existential themes such as love, loss, belonging, regret, and community. Thus, in addition to ISHIDA being both beautiful with interesting and contemporary movement, it is relatable to a modern audience and tends to be more dramatic, in that regard, more similar to European companies such Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT).

Then there is the quality of the dancers, whom we draw from the top dance companies from around the world. To Our Knowledge, ISHIDA is the only company presenting this vision in the United States.

More broadly, ISHIDA’s vision is not only to provide beautiful and unique art but to improve our community through:
1) work that encourages introspection, empathy, and regard for others. As we (including the audience) engage with the work, it encourages us to grow as beings and value others.
2) Direct community outreach with the healing power of movement to marginalized and disabled communities, that often are excluded from the performing arts experience.

About Artistic Director Brett Ishida
Ms. Ishida is a fourth generation Japanese American, who grew up on a citrus ranch in California’s central valley. Ms. Ishida trained at the Kirov Academy in Washington D.C. and the School of American Ballet (SAB) in New York City. She danced professionally with several U.S. companies culminating with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montréal, with whom she toured around the world. She collaborated in new creations with choreographers and performed principal roles in creations and repertoire by Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, and Ohad Naharin, among others. Ms. Ishida is strongly influenced by wordplay and ancient Greek poetry from her undergraduate studies at UCLA where she earned a BA in English with emphasis in creative writing and poetry. In 2022, ISHIDA was commissioned by The Washington Ballet performing in our nation’s capital. In October 2023, ISHIDA returned to The Washington Ballet to restage her critically acclaimed work “when shall we three meet again” inspired by Shakespeare’s “Weird Sisters” from Macbeth. In 2024, she premiered her first commission for Houston Ballet which Papercity writer Adrienne Jones described as “iconic”, “an unforgettable piece”; “the audience was on its feet, roaring with approval.”

Critical Reception

Community Outreach and Education
ISHIDA Dance provides educational outreach to communities that typically do not have the opportunity to experience dance. Through dance workshops, ISHIDA cultivates appreciation for contemporary dance, illustrating how ideas and words tangibly morph into movement providing the communal opportunity to experience the life-giving impact of dance. ISHIDA also provides complimentary tickets to community organizations serving lower income families, veterans, and differently abled people, among other underserved groups. ISHIDA is proud to partner with Marshall Middle School and Northside High School (both Title One Schools), the Mary Lee Foundation and the Arc of the Capital Area, that work with people with disabilities, Con Mi Madre, an organization that supports Latina girls and their mothers, and Vet Tix, which provides tickets to U.S. military veterans and their families.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ishidadance.org
• Instagram: @ishidadance
• Facebook: Ishida Dance Company

Image Credits
ISHIDA photographed by Niko Hernandez