Yoshiko Chuma is a Japanese-born dancer, choreographer, and educator known for her innovative work in contemporary dance and interdisciplinary performance. Based in New York City, Chuma has been a significant figure in the avant-garde arts scene since the 1980s, blending elements of traditional Japanese movement with modern dance, theater, and experimental sound. She is the founder of the performing arts collective The School of Hard Knocks, which has become a platform for her unique choreographic vision, often exploring themes of cultural identity, memory, and transformation. Chuma has collaborated with a diverse range of artists from various disciplines, including musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers, creating site-specific performances, multimedia works, and cross-cultural projects. Her work is known for its physicality, abstraction, and a strong emphasis on the body as both an expressive and political tool.