Paul Ibey’s prime focus has been butoh for over three decades. He had originally studied with butoh founders Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno and Akiko Motofuji, as well as Natsu Nakajima, Carlotta Ikeda, Manhong Kang, Sankai Juku and Dai Rakuda Kan, among others. He is one of the only Westerners to be respected and approved of by the masters of the genre, and given his butoh lineage, Ibey is now considered to be a butoh master himself.
Prior to his becoming a butoh artist, Paul studied and performed with the Royal Ballet in London. He furthered his ballet training with Lynn Seymour, Gelsey Kirkland, Roger Tulley, Tatiana Tchernova, Lazaro Surmeyan and Stanley Williams.
Paul trained in contemporary dance with Lucy Burge, Sally Owen, Ruth Silk, Nelson Fernandez, Christopher Bruce, and Robert Cohan; mime and movement with Adam Darius, and worked for several years with the renowned Lindsay Kemp Company.
Ibey’s work has been shown in London, Paris, New York, Bangkok, Quito, and throughout Europe and the Middle East. He has taught classes at the Martha Graham School, Northern Ballet Theatre and in Poland, Egypt, Palestine, Albania, Croatia, Mexico, Hungary and the Czech Republic. More recently, Ibey performed with Sankai Juku dancers in Japan.