As a toddler, Yuriko Kikuchi lost her sisters and father to illness in California, was raised by relatives in Japan and then returned to the West Coast to face internment at a World War II relocation camp — all before realizing her dream to be a dancer in New York.
Through life's highs and lows, the 93-year-old recalled many challenges and the countless times dance became her "salvation" — a safe haven from loneliness and loss. It was also a focal point of her passion.
"Dance is living. Dance is, for me, it's survival," the first Japanese-American pioneer of the modern dance movement said during an interview at her apartment last month.