During his artistic studies he also obtained a degree in psychology, something which transpires onto the deliberate poetic symbolism of his choreographies. His company emerged only in the year 2004, delayed given the sheer volume of creations and collaborations that have formed what we have come to know as the Daniel Abreu Company. As a consequence of all this creative work, Abreu has been invited to hold various workshops and courses, where he shares his creative vision and techniques of bodily expression. He continues to work closely on other projects with creators such as Fattoria Vittadini, the Zagreb Dance Company, the Nomadas Company, Titoyaya Company, and the Zawirowania Theatre, amongst others.
In 2011, he also became part of a prestigious group of artists in the European programme called Modul Dance. Amongst the many awards received throughout his extensive career, the most important are the National Dance Prize 2014 for Creation, awarded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the Prize for Best Director at the Indi-Festival of Santander 2010, the Jury’s Award for Best Choreography at the XVIII Choreographic Contest in Madrid 2015, the AISGE Foundation for Outstanding Dancer, certificate for attendance of the American Dance Festival 2005, received under the auspices of the XVIII Choreographic Contest of Madrid 2005, and mentioning as Best Dancer at the IV Choreographic Contest of Maspalomas, 1999. In 2015, he was awarded the title of “Favourite Son” by the Town Council of Matanza de Acentejo, Tenerife.
Gumowska’s interest lies in physical theatre, contemporary dance, dance improvisation and acrobatic floorwork. She aims to combine psychological knowledge with experience on field of dance and improvisation.
She is currently a dance lecturer in the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz and leads dance workshops all over the Poland. She is interested in physical movement combined with stage presence. She is intrigued by risk taking – through the mind and the body. How a dancer is not only a movement in the space, but engages reciprocally with others. She is fascinated by rhythm and she loves to observe how change is dependent on time.
Additionally, Gumowska is also a freelance dancer and choreographer who collaborates with various theatres and directors in Poland.
For many years, she was a soloist of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw. She danced in choreographies of Georges Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, Mats Ek, Teresa Kujawa, Witold Gruca and others. For 8 years she worked in Germany (Hagen and Dortmund) – and danced leading roles in performances including Prometheus, Chopin et les Femmes Fragiles and Verhaengte Spiegel. She also created stage movement for opera productions – La Rondine and Salome.
She is a perfect example of how a dancer with classical background may convert to contemporary dance. Piorun's extensive experience varies from opera theatre, through modern dance theatres, to her own group using contemporary and jazz dance. In 2005 she worked at the Polish Dance Theatre as a teacher and dancer. Together with Włodzimierz Kaczkowski, founded Zawirowania Dance Theatre in the same year.
She graduated from the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz with two specialisations - dancer-choreographer and dance pedagogy. She won the Milan International Choreographic Competition with her dance diploma choreography.
Prokopek has had the opportunity to perform works by Daniel Abreu, Minka Marie Haiß, Artur Grabarczyk, Żaneta Majcher and Elwira Piorun. She has also attended the Gaga Intensive Summer Course in Israel, International Summer School of Contemporary Dance in Poland and participated in multiple workshops in London.
Prokopek is currently a dance teacher working with children and adults. She is a member of Zawirowania Dance Theater and H.art Company.
Kuik’s exceptional artistry led him to receive a nomination in 2003 for the Benois De La Danse Award. In 2007, he was awarded the Young Artist Award from National Arts Council of Singapore (NAC). He founded T.H.E Dance Company in September 2008. Since its establishment, T.H.E has quickly ascended to become a well-known company in Singapore and Asia. His critically acclaimed works include Silence (2007), As It Fades (2011), collaboration works Re:OK ...BUT! (2011), and Above 40 (2015), all of which were recognised as one of the best shows in their respective years. Kuik’s works have also toured to prestigious international festivals, such as Les Hivernales Festival in Avignon, France where they performed the festival’s closing event.
Photo by Joie Koo
Various members of T.H.E Second Company have received exposure from avenues such as liTHE, an in-house annual showcase of our second company dancers, Asian Festival Exchange (AFX), an annual collaborative platform between Singapore, Japan and Korea, as well as local performances and overseas tours with T.H.E Dance Company. As the company matures, T.H.E Second Company has evolved from being a mere training company to undertaking more responsibilities in the education and outreach programmes of T.H.E. With more professional performing opportunities and collaborations with regional and international artists in the pipeline, the company indubitably poised to scale greater heights.
Bernie Ng
During her time in NAFA, Sabtu was exposed to choreography and found her natural inclination towards it. She has choreographed a few works, with EMOH TON SI EMOH, which explores masculinity and femininity, being the most recent. In her years of dance, she has worked with choreographers such as Norhaizad Adam, Lee Mun Wai, Noramin Farid and Lim Fei Shen.
In August 2018, Sabtu participated in the Gaga Summer Intensive with Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel. Now, she is currently an Apprentice Project Artist with P7:1SMA Ltd., a local Dance Company in Singapore.
She has been awarded the Arts & Cultural Award by Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan in 2016 & 2017, and the Merit Award by Tan Chin Tuan Foundation in 2018.
He is in search of different ways to move and communicate in our physical realm. Actively observing inclinations towards intrigue and wonder, he negotiates his existence through the dichotomy of his actions and impulses.
He is currently exploring the relationship between sound and movement. Deriving his movements from street dance and mainly practicing HipHop, House, Dancehall & African.
Photo by Shania Regina.
Zhafirah started her dance training in Malay Dance at a young age with Sri Warisan Som Said Performing Arts Ltd, under the tutelage of Cultural Medallion Mdm Som Said. She was part of the pioneer batch at School of the Arts Singapore and danced with T.H.E (Second) Dance Company. In the UK, she was performing in several projects with Punchdrunk, RUBBERBAN Dance (Canada), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Ignition Dance Festival, Just Us Dance Theatre, Richard Alston Dance Company, East Wall and Shechter Underground to name a few. She is also an Associate Artist with the Bhumi Collective, a company that is still actively producing works internationally and locally.
Photo by Edmond Terakopian
Hanis started her involvement in dance at the age of 13. Traditional Malay dance was her Co-Curricular Activity at Teck Whye Secondary School, where she trained under dance instructor Fathurahman Said.
Hanis decided to pursue a professional education towards the performing arts, she enrolled in Jakarta Institute of the Arts for a bachelor’s degree in performing arts in July 2011. She has sharpened her skills, explored different genres through numerous experiences, masterclasses and productions in her 6 years of study, and graduated in December 2017.
Hanis is currently exploring choreography in both genres of Asian traditional and also modern contemporary pieces. She strives to fuse different elements of both old and new to achieve an originality and style that portrays Singapore’s evolving community. She hopes that more millennial youths will be eager in indulging themselves in the artistic form.
Currently, she performs for local dance companies P7:1SMA and Chowk that work in between the space of both traditional and contemporary; she is also an associate artist with Dance Nucleus.
When she's not dancing or writing, she is immersed with nature. www.chloechotrani.com
She has trained with Springboard Danse Montréal, AXIS Connect, the Movement Invention Project, and BODYTRAFFIC. She has performed works by Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Takehiro Ueyama, Matthew Neenan, Loni Landon, Zvi Gotheiner, Roy Assaf, Peter Chu, Andrea Pena, Young Soon Kim, Brandon Coleman and Christian Denice, across venues across the United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and multiple digital platforms.
Lim has also taken on roles beyond the stage, as Assistant Director and Dance Captain for the Off-Broadway production of COMFORT WOMEN: A New Musical. She is also Assistant Choreographer to Tony-Award winner and Original Chorus Line Star, Baayork Lee.
As a choreographer, Lim is passionate about exploring the complexities of human experiences: psychology, intimacy, and culture.
Lim is currently creating and presenting her work under MVL + Artists. She has presented her work in the DUMBO Dance Festival and SoloDuo Festival in New York City.
Photo by Kurt Csolak
She has performed professionally with Moving Visions Dance Theatre, Rambert Dance Company, VERVE, and T.H.E Second Company in venues across the UK, the EU, and Singapore. Alongside performance, Lek has choreographed pieces for both on-stage and site-specific venues, such as Siobhan Davies Dance, Lilian Baylis Studio Theatre, and Safehouse 1&2 in the UK; as well as Make It Share It and School of the Arts in Singapore.
She has been active in the competitive dance scene since young and has won numerous awards in various dance competitions locally and abroad. Most recently, Clyde attended dance intensives at Batsheva Dance Company (Israel) in 2018, and East point West Interdisciplinary Festival of Embodiment in 2018.
In his repertoire of works, Hari created Ghulur, that performed at Bozar Studio, Brussels Belgium at the Europalia Festival, Salihara Hela Tari Festival, M1 CONTACT Singapore, Choreo Lab Jakarta Arts Council, Indonesian Dance Festival, China and Malaysia.
Other places that Hariyanto have performed and visited include Europalia Festival (Rosas School) in Belgium, Kaki Seni Art Exchange in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Choreo Lab Jakarta Arts Council and Indonesian Dance Festival.
In July 2018, Hariyanto attended the American Dance Festival's International Choreography Residency (ICR) in Durham, North Carolina, United States. The experience proceeds with artists such as Sukarji Sriman, Rianto, Suprapto Suryodarmo, Hanafi Muhammad, Kuku from Taiwan, Carlos Gracia Esteves from Spain, Park J Chun from South Korea, and Arco Renz from Belgium.
Photo by Made Dhana
Kim has been Resident Choreographer of T.H.E Dance Company in Singapore since 2010. To date, his international choreographic and performance projects have taken him across Asia (Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore), Europe (Netherlands, Belgium), and Latin American (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia). With his extensive international experience, Kim founded Modern Table Dance Company in 2013 and currently serves as its Artistic / Creative Director and Principal Choreographer. Key projects thereafter include Tension Espacial choreographed and directed by Kim on invitation from Argentina Nacional de Danza contemporánea in 2015, and Camping ete hosted by France's Centre National de la Danse, attending as Korea’s representative. For 2017, he was active in NPO Dance Box in Kobe, Japan, New Zealand Dance Company, and Bale Teatro Castro Alves in Salvador, Brazil as a residency choreographer. Other works in his creation repertoire include Kick, Awake, Joker's Blues, Clocker, Sinawi, Smile, and Earthquake.
At home and abroad, Kim is one of the most sought after choreographers, creating cross-genre, interdisciplinary work. His dynamic curves, rapid movements, and ability to re-interpret traditional Korean forms in modern ways, are unique signatures of Kim’s work. His talents also extend to music: in 2009, he participated as a vocalist for Don’t want to fall in love, the O.S.T for the movie Dream directed by Kim-Ki-Duk, and he composes original music for almost all his choreographic work. His method of producing is more intuitive and ‘Dionysus’ than structural.
Driven by a desire to create an inspired and nurturing platform for local and regional dance artists, we initiated the very first annual Singapore contemporary dance festival CONTACT in 2010. A testament to its quality offerings and indelible impact, long-time Company platinum sponsor M1 Limited came onboard as the festival’s Title Sponsor starting 2014.
With our unique brand of highly physical and kinetic works, T.H.E digs deep into the universal human experience. At the heart of our works lies a connection with heritage and collective history as Singaporeans, juxtaposed with incisive, insightful observations on modern society: elements that set apart our repertoire of original creations. Continual pursuit of authentic expression led Kuik to initiate the “hollow body” methodology. The practice aims to nurture our dancers as all-rounded performers able to convey the essence of their identity and lived experiences through the full spectrum of physical, emotional, philosophical and meaningful expression.
T.H.E Dance Company is supported by the National Arts Council under the Major Company Scheme for the period from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2020.
Photo by Bernie Ng
Ong performed in the original As It Fades, the Singapore Arts Festival 2011 commission for T.H.E Dance Company, in 2014 for the re-staging and 2017 in Niigata, Japan. He was one of the performers for Permission to speak, sir, Singapore:Inside Out commission in 2015 that traveled to London, New York, and Beijing. In 2016 he did a month-long residency in Seoul and collaborated with award-winning artists Choi Minsun and Kang Jinan for a work that premiered at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2016, followed by M1 CONTACT Festival 2016.
Most recently, Ong performed in Double, choreographed by Albert Tiong for M1 CONTACT Festival and subsequently in Macau and Shanghai.
Goh joined T.H.E Second Company in 2009 and has choreographed for its liTHE showcase in 2014, 2015, and 2017, as well as T.H.E Dance Company’s New Vision platform. His works have also been performed by art institutions in Singapore, and been featured in festivals in Singapore – Esplanade Da:ns festival, M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, and abroad – d’MOTION International Dance Festival in Malaysia, Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) and N.D.A Festival in South Korea, and Gothenburg Fringe Festival in Sweden.
Goh has also been involved as a choreographer in theatre projects such as Toy Factory’s PRISM (2017) directed by Rei Poh.
Photo by Tan Ngiap Heng
From the period of 2010 – 2015 he performed with The Human Expression (T.H.E) Second Company. His performances with T.H.E includes As It Fades (2014), The Singapore Writer’s Festival 2012, Bedfellows (2013) and M1 CONTACT Dance Festival 2010 – 2014. Marcus presented a solo work in Hong Kong for the 5th Contemporary Dance Asian Male (2015) showcase presented by E-Side Dance Company and was a dancer for British choreographer Joe Moran, in his 2016 residency at the Delfina Foundation, London.
In recent years, Foo began taking on the role of a choreographer. He has choreographed for T.H.E SECOND Company for their annual platform liTHE in 2013, 2014, 2017 & 2018. International collaborative efforts include works for BIENNALE des DANSES des SEYCHELLES with Parisian dancer Jimmy Vairon, Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2014 with Korean dancer Jin Byoung Cheol and DancePort 2018 (Tokyo) with Yokohama Dance Collection winner (2013) Daisuke Inoue and Seoul Dance Collection winner (2013) Lee Sang Hyun. In 2017 he choreographed for the 3rd edition of Dance in Situ (Singapore), a platform that explores contemporary dance within public spaces in Singapore.
As a dance educator, Foo has taught technique classes for Republic Polytechnic (2008-2010), Le Grande School of Dance (2007-2010), Nanyang Technological University (2012-2015), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (2010-2012), National Junior College (2014-2015) and most recently for LASALLE College of the Arts.
In 2017, Foo completed his postgraduate studies at LCDS and graduated with a Master of Arts degree with distinction from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. He most recently completed his 200hr Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Movement Academy (Singapore) validated by Yoga Alliance, the international standard for Yoga Teacher Training.
Foo is currently an associate artiste of T.H.E Second Company (Singapore).
Goh has danced, performed, and worked with international artists including James Cousins (UK), Kerry Nicholls (UK), Zhang Xiao Xiong / Wu Chien-Wei (Taiwan), Pichet Klunchun (Thailand), Jeffrey Tan (Singapore), Albert Tiong (Singapore), Naoko Ito (Japan), MADBOOTS DANCE (US), Francesca Harper (US), and Sarah Foster (NZ). She performed with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, based in New Jersey, for its 2015/16 season. Now based in Singapore, she is a certified GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Instructor eager to share her knowledge and find creative solutions for her clients and students. She teaches dance and the Gyrotonic work at various studios and institutions including The Moving Body Group, NAFA, and Firstpointe. Goh also undertakes choreographic projects, as well as performs with The Human Expression (T.H.E) Second Company helmed by Silvia Yong.
She is a graduate of the Kibbutz Gaaton Dance Program.
Freed and his Tami Dance Company has performed in 5 out of 7 continents in the world, and has been involved in Brisbane Festival, Australia, the International Biennale of Architecture in Venice, Italy, Central Park Summer Stage Festival, NYC, Shanghai Expo and the Guangdong Festival, China, AZA Biennale for Architecture, Johannesburg, Goa international film festival, India, Minsk Opera House, Belarus, The Israel Festival, Suzanne Dellal Center and many more.
Freed collaborates internationally with dance companies in various countries such as Tokyo, Johannesburg, Australia, Spain, Cyprus. He has also won many awards and grants, and has worked and performed for 10 years in NYC, with Kei Takei, Min Tenaka, Bessie Schonberg and others.
For 10 years, he was the founder and artistic director of the performance series ``On the Edge`` at the Tami House, cultural centre for the central Tel Aviv community – an intimate, revolutionary project of dance, live music, and theatre that provided an experimental, different stage for most dance choreographers in Israel. He was also artistic director of the ``Red Line`` project at the Tel Aviv Museum for Modern Art, co-artistic director at the ``Curtain Up 2009`` Festival, and ``Home Port`` for the Choreographers' Association.
Freed teaches at the Kibbutzim College's School of Dance Arts, and at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He holds an MA from Columbia University in New York.
Photo by Eyal Landsman
Martin works primarily as Artistic Co-Director of Company 605, a Vancouver-based arts organisation creating and producing new contemporary dance works through a collaborative process, regularly touring their expanding repertoire throughout Canada, and internationally in the USA, Central America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. As a collaborator, he has performed for numerous companies such as Wen Wei Wang, Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Dana Gingras, Serge Bennathan, Justine A Chambers, and Le Groupe Dance Lab. Martin was the recipient of Vancouver’s 2013 Mayor’s Arts Award - Emerging Dance Category. His independent work received the 1st Prize for Choreography at the International SoloTanz Festival in Stuttgart.
She has danced in all of Sigma’s productions, M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival 2013, Verve Arts Festival 2014, Dance Circus International Dance Festival 2016 (Malaysia), Dance In Situ 2017, and Blossom Arts Festival 2017 (Malaysia), performing works by Hong Guofeng, Jessica Christina, Benedict Soh and Marcus Foo. She recently took interest in choreography and created her first short work, Cookie’s Legs vs Chicken Wings for 24 Hours, a choreographic exploration initiative by Sigma in 2016. She was also invited as a guest choreographer for the contemporary dance clubs of various local Institutions, such as Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s D3, NTU Contemp{minated}, and SIM'S Dance Arts.
Chua is currently a freelance ballet and contemporary dance educator working with children, youths, and adults.
Photo by Jingkai
Hong creates works based on the ongoing development of his movement and choreographic practices. The Straits Times and Arts Equator have described his works as “compelling”, “slick”, “immersive”, “clever”. Stating that it “not only showcase`{`s`}`, but involve`{`s`}` the audience in the process”. Hong was also a judge for the inaugural Flux Dance Competition 2018, a contemporary dance competition dedicated to pre-professional youths aged 16 -25 and was appointed Artistic Director of SMU Indancity in 2018.
He actively shares contemporary dance with young adults and working adults through workshops and master classes both locally and abroad and has been invited to create works for contemporary dance clubs of local tertiary institutions.
She is active mainly in jazz dance and Japanese traditional Yosakoi dance. At Obirin College Shimojima, she studied contemporary dance under Kuniko Kisanuki and formed her own dance company, Kedagoro, in 2013.
Out of the theatre, Shimojima often performs at public facilities such as art museums, temples, and stations. She has been awarded “Wanna see your dancing!” - new face series 15’s New Artist Prize in 2016, Yokohama Dance Collection EX Competition II’s Outstanding New Artist Prize, and the Touchpoint Art Foundation Prize in Yokohama Dance Collection EX 2017 for Monkey in a Diaper.
Photo by Bozzo
Currently, Möllmer is a freelance performer, choreographer, and teacher. He has performed for choreographers as Emanuel Gat, David Hernandez, CieLaroque/Helene Weinzierl, Reinhild Hoffmann, Moya Michael, Rainer Behr, and many others. Together with Tsai-Wei Tien, he founded the dance company Peculiar Man in January 2017 which produces and spreads their common choreographic work.
Photo by Simon Baucks
Since 2015, Tien has been a full-time member in the Pina Bausch company. She has worked with choreographers such as Dimitris Papioannou, Emanuel Gat, Johannes Wieland, David Hernandez, Francois Chaignaud & Cecilia Bengolea, Moya Michael, Henrietta Horn, Malou Airaudo and others. In 2017 Tien co-founded the company Peculiar Man that produces and spreads choreographic work and has since been awarded numerous prizes in Germany, China, and Taiwan.
Photo by Jan Möllmer
Starting in 2010 his productions have been included in the network “Anticorpi XL” in Italy, and he has presented his work internationally as part of the networks “Les Repérages” and “Dance Roads” supported by Mosaico Danza (I). In 2010 he was invited to participate in the residency program “Transforme” as a choreographer, under the artistic direction of Myriam Gourfink at the Fondation Rouyamont (F).
In 2012 his work TROIS CORPS was selected to perform at DNA Romaeuropa Festival and in 2013 he was a finalist in the Premio Equilibrio Roma. In September 2012, he began working as a dancer with the company EASTMAN – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
ROCK ROSE WOW, the first production of his own dance company, debuted in 2013 thanks to the support from Movin’Up 2nd session for the foreign residency project in 2012 at Tanztendenz Munchen (D). In the same year he received the production prize ‘Teatri del Tempo Presente’, supported by Fondazione Piemonte Dal Vivo and MIBAC Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali.
In May 2013 Ninarello presented his project VERTIGO at Confluenze, a project of Unione Musicale di Torino and Torinodanza / Fondazione Teatro Stabile di Torino.
In 2014 with L.A.N.D. WHERE IS MY LOVE? he was awarded the production prize COLLABORACTION#2 which supports young choreographers, sponsored by the network “Anticorpi XL” and coordinated by Mosaico Danza.
He has danced with internationally renowned musicians and composers including Kai Gleusteen, Ezio Bosso, etc. In recent years his work has been supported by festivals and national and international dance centers such as TorinoDanza / Fondazione del Teatro Stabile di Torino, Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo-Circuito Regionale dello Spettacolo, MosaicoDanza / Festival Interplay, CSC-Centro per la Scena Contemporanea Bassano del Grappa, TROIS-CL Centre Choreographique Luxemburgeoise, Grand Studio Bruxelles, CDC Le Pacifique Grenoble, Centro de Documentação e Pesquisa em Dança Rio de Janeiro, CDC Les Hivernales Avignon, CANGO Cantieri Goldonetta Florence, ecc.
The new production KUDOKU realized with the musician Dan Kinzelman had his debut in BIENNALE DANZA 2016 (Teatro La Fenice – Venice). In 2016 KUDOKU was selected by AEROWAVES TWENTY17, by NID Platform 2017 and for Rencontres Choreographiques – Seine Saint Denis – France.
STILL, his latest project, received the Prospettiva Danza Prize (I). STILL is part of the project STILL Body Experience with Digital Brain realized with the support of Compagnia di San Paolo “ORA! linguaggi contemporanei _ produzioni innovative”.
Photo by Viola Berlanda
Natalie is a Green Room Award winner for “Best Female Dancer” in Sydney Dance Company's 2 One Another and a 2017 Australian Dance Award nominee for Outstanding Performance by a female dancer in Ohad Naharin's Decadance in 2016 MoveMe Festival, Perth.
Recent choreographic works include Sublime…. - Perth FRINGE WORLD Festival 2017, Climacteric - Strut Dance's In Situ 2017 & Micromove 2018, Panthea made on the graduating dance students of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and #thatwomanjulia for Strut's 'Next' program at MoveMe Festival.
Natalie will perform Maxine Doyle's new work, Sunset, for Perth Festival 2019 & is the successful recipient with Samuel Harnett-Welk for Strut Dance's International Seed Residency in South Jakarta.
Photo by Timothy Green
As a mover and performance-maker, she experiments with different forms and modalities, and cares about going beyond ``action`` into ``activation``. What does an action do beyond its effect on the doer? She sees dance as an embodied culture, works with performative states and deals with time as her most important material.
Her works have shown internationally in Vientiane, Solo, Jogjakarta, Bangkok and New York. She often devises performances collaboratively and those works have been presented in Singapore at ArchiFest, ArtScience Museum, Arts House, The Substation, and TheatreWorks. A prolific performer, she has worked for Frontier Danceland (2012-2014) and Maya Dance Theatre (2014-2017).
Currently, Lee has been developing Ghosting, her approach to creating and improvising.
Photo by Jeff Low
In 2013, Lee met Yeonju Lee in university and they both joined Goblin Party, a contemporary dance collective based in South Korea.
Goblin Party was formed in 2007, as a “party” where goblins gathered. Goblins possess people with special talents and are perverse in both behaviour and sight. There is no representative in Goblin Party. All members are choreographers and make a story together, creating space, situation and characters which focus on interaction with their audience.
Their first piece Do you copy, Huston? was invited by Changmu Performing Arts Festival, Seoul International Choreography Festival and PAMS LINK in 2015. It won the Best Piece Award by International Duet Festival in 2017 and was invited by Sai Dance Festival and Korea-Japan Duet Festival which was hosted by Korea Cultural Center in Tokyo.
The second piece, Breathing Hole, premiered in Laboratory Dance Festival which was hosted by Korea National University of Arts in 2017. After its premiere, It was performed at SAC art hall.
Photo by Jusung Lee
In 2013, Lee met Kyunggu Lee in university and they both joined Goblin Party, a contemporary dance company based in South Korea.
Goblin Party was formed in 2007, as a “party” where goblins gathered. Goblins possess people with special talents and are perverse in both behaviour and sight. There is no representative in Goblin Party. All members are choreographers and make a story together, creating space, situation and characters which focus on interaction with their audience.
Their first piece Do you copy, Huston? was invited by Changmu Performing Arts Festival, Seoul International Choreography Festival and PAMS LINK in 2015. It won the Best Piece Award by International Duet Festival in 2017 and was invited by Sai Dance Festival and Korea-Japan Duet Festival which was hosted by Korea Cultural Center in Tokyo.
The second piece, Breathing Hole, premiered in Laboratory Dance Festival which was hosted by Korea National University of Arts in 2017. After its premiere, It was performed at SAC art hall.
Photo by Jusung Lee
On stage, her hypnotic focus and gracefully articulated movements draw her audience into the story. This remarkable grace and rich texture are derived from her prior training in classical dance forms such as Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam as well as ballet. Coupled with her training in contemporary dance, yoga as well as martial forms Kalarippayattu, and capoeira at the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts.
Palani's choreography is deeply personal and evocative. Her works include Chaaya and Uruvam, which won the Robert Bosch Young Choreographers Award. She was invited to create a solo piece at Ballet National de Marseilles, France, as part of their Open Studio residency. This resulted in her acclaimed work Trikonanga, which received the Audience First Choice Prize at Stuttgart International Solo Dance Festival 2014. Hema also has created a trio called Twine and a dance film Toss for Dance Umbrella and Fuel Theatre in London. Most recently, Palani's Yasshti was selected as one of the two works by female choreographers from India as part of the ‘BENCH’ initiative by 2-Faced Dance Company (UK); the Re-imagine India programme by the Arts Council of England. She won the Female International Choreographer and Performer Award at the Festival Dances Quartiers (Montreal) in 2018. Given her quality of work, Palani has performed her choreography in some of the biggest contemporary dance venues and festivals.
Currently, she is the rehearsal director, teacher and choreographer at Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts as well as a choreography fellow at Rambert Dance Company (London). Apart from performing in numerous countries and festivals, she has also completed residencies under mentors like Jonathan Burrows, during her Sadler's Wells Summer University programme for four years.
Photo by Arvind
During his time as a dancer, Hwa has had the opportunity to work with choreographers like Pichet Klunchun, Wu Chien Wei, Noa Zuk, Ole Khamchanla, Shahar Binyamini, Gabrielle Nankivell and Luke Smiles, and Sita Ostheimer. In 2018 Hwa completed the ELEMENT Residency at Dance Nucleus in Singapore, as well as a residency in Rimbun Dahan in Malaysia, during which the piece The Art of Falling was made.
Hwa was also selected by the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival (Singapore) to collaborate with Kim Hoyeon and Lim Jung Ha of the Dab Dance Project in Korea to create Ignoramus, which has been performed in both Singapore and Korea.
Today, Hwa continues to delve into the worlds of hip-hop dance, b-boying, and tricking; disciplines that feed into his contemporary dance practice. He also organises an annual event called Paradigm Shift, aimed at bringing contemporary dancers together with dancers of other backgrounds and influences.
Photo by Faye Tan
Li has established Neo Dance HK with Wong Tan-Ki in 2010. Currently working as an independent dancer and choreographer, her recent choreographies and projects include: Soul Casting; Transfigured Night (Hong Kong Sinfonietta); Division (CDE Springboard 2017); Creative Meeting Point: HK x Finland (West Kowloon Cultural District); Dance Internship II (I-Dance Festival 2016); Dance Internship I (Hong Kong Ballet); Human Internship; Trouble-maker’s Concerto (Hong Kong Arts Festival); Galatea X; The 3.5th Dimension (City Contemporary Dance Company); Galatea & Pygmalion (Hong Kong Dance Festival 2010 & 2013).
Li received the Hong Kong Dance Award 2014 for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer. She also received the Hong Kong Dance Award 2011 for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance. Li was also nominated for Outstanding Performance in the same year.
Photo by Tony Chan
His multimedia design work can be seen in CCDC's Six Degrees; BAU's Farewell; Hong Kong Dance Federation's As Time Goes By and R&T's Office Mad Man.
In 2007, Ji founded Goblin Party, a choreographer's collective in Korea, and has been actively performing pieces all around the world since then. In 2011, and 2012, he was selected as the Rising Star by the Korea Performing Arts Center. He won the best prize for the AK21 at Busan International Dance Festival with his piece Human's Empire. He also worked with choreographer Idit Herman from Israel's Clipa Theater, Danish choreographer Martin Forsberg in For Works, and many other renowned artists.
With his latest solo piece, SHYNESS, Ji won his first Jury Prize in the Solo Contest at MASDANZA in 2017. Once Upon A Time, another well-received work by Ji, received the Excellent Artwork for Dance Creation award by the Korea Arts Council in 2016, and was selected as one of the Best Five Artworks of the Year by the Korea Dance Critics Association the same year. After his appearance at Aerowaves with his co-choreographed piece Silver Knife, Goblin Party has been invited to more than 10 overseas festivals just for the years 2019 and 2020.
Photo by Jungeun Lim
In addition to her regular attendance from the years 2011 to 2017, Giustina has received vocational training in contemporary dance in Progetto Azione, consisting of monthly masterclasses with Tuscan choreographers, the yearly Carolyn Carlson’s one-week masterclass at the Atelier de Paris and the vocational training in Nikolais technique held by Simona Bucci and Paolo Mereu in Florence. Through these courses, Giustina continued to hone her skills and refine her art.
Most recently, Giustina has been involved in works such as La scomparsa delle lucciole by Gianfranco Pedullà, Nata Femmina by Paola Vezzosi-Compagnia ADARTE in 2017, Alla Montagna by Sabrina Mazzuoli, Re-Mark by Sang Jijia, and Sea Rant by Company Blu/Alessandro Certini and Charlotte Zerbey in 2018.
Venturing into choreography, she has also created several solo pieces. Mutamenti (2018) was selected for the Fabbrica Europa 2018 Festival in Florence, and was crowned the winner project of TenDance 2018 in Italy. Her work Destinata Guerriera (2017) was selected for Vetrina del Network Antcorpi XL platform, the Essenziale Festival in Germany and the Solo Dance Contest Gdanski Festiwal Tanca in Poland in 2018.
While pursuing an undergraduate degree in Drama, Art and Music at the University of Florence, Giustina is also creating a new piece together with Danish director Karin Grand and musicians Francesco Giorgi and Francesco Gherardi. This work focuses on the interaction of dance, music and video and will debut at the Festival Fabbrica Europa 2019.
Photo by Giuseppe Stoppiello
Her work with them gave her the opportunity to perform outside Japan and to cooperate with Japanese filmmakers and photographers when she embarked on her own solo work. In 2013, her solo Highlight of Decline in Japan was awarded The French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographers and the MASDANZA Prize at Yokohama Dance Collection EX-2013. Highlight of Decline was also awarded the Jury Prize at MASDANZA in the same year. To date, this piece has replayed 13 times in 5 countries such as Tokyo, Spain, Panama, Singapore and Malaysia.
Miwa’s study of Indonesian Martial Arts and Yoga forms the foundation of her choreography. This encompasses her video work (the extension of her inner self) and her sublime body movements, overtaking the performance space with an aim to reach/touch the innermost beings of her audience, to transport them to the rhythm of her moves, accompanied by the the background music, skin; flesh; blood; bones, and the projection of her postures and movements onto the screen.
In 2013, she created a piece in France (Coregraphique national de Rillieux-la-Pape, Centre choregraphique national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussion, Vivarium Studio/Philippe Quesne). In 2014, she was invited to T.H.E Dance Company in Singapore as a choreographer and visual artist, where she collaborated with Malaysian dancer and choreographer, Lee Ren Xin, to create The Body Speaks. This piece was picked up as ``the most solid of the three (works)“ by the local media newspaper TODAY in Singapore.
In the same year, she founded her company, N///K, with composer Yohey Fujishiro. They have worked together since 2012 with the aim of creating a space filled with images and energy.
Since 2015, Miwa has also been studying inter-media art to pursue her work at graduate school, Tokyo University of the Arts.
Photo by Hoga Akiko
Lee first started choreographing in 2009 in T.H.E Dance Company's Emerging Choreographers, curated by her then-mentor Kuik Swee Boon. Her work, B.E.D., supported by the Krishen Jit Astro Fund 2014, was presented in five different chapters in Malaysia, Festival BO:M 2015 in Seoul, and Festival/Tokyo 2016, with a brief residency at the Morishita Studios. In 2016, Lee was also invited as a Fellowship Grantee to the Festival Teaterformen in Braunschweig, Germany.
In 2017, she collaborated with Singaporean dance artist Lee Mun Wai for their duet Where's the speficifisfety?, and presented a work-in-progress, Spare Rib? Spare Me!, at the Incheon Arts Platform during a short residency in South Korea. She also experimented with an initial version of her Private Dance Show project in KL. She collaborated to devise and perform Version 2020 led by Mark Teh of Five Arts Centre in Malaysia. The work has toured to Festival SpielArt in Munich and to Theater Commons Tokyo, before showing at home in Kuala Lumpur March 2018.
Lee Ren Xin has been working on a long-term research based on daily ritual/practice, investigating and inhabiting the local neighbourhood and city. In April 2018, she was invited as an artist-in-residence by the Department of Cultural Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong for research and creation.
Photo by Bernie Ng
During her 5 years abroad, Chong was part of the teaching faculty at the University of Auckland Dance Studies programme, where she specialised in contemporary techniques and the creative process of dance. Her context in choreography and dance education moves between Singapore, New Zealand, and China. She has also been invited to be an international guest teacher at Beijing Dance Academy, China, and Dulwich International College Seoul, South Korea.
In 2016, Chong was part of the Short+Sweet New Zealand Festival (Dance), where she was awarded the Standout Female Performer Award, as well as The Wallace Arts Trust Highly Commended Award, for her self-choreographed solo, Duality.
Having returned to Singapore early last year, Chong hopes to continue developing her dance practice within the local dance scene.
Photo by Natalie Chong
Dancer and choreographer Kitt Johnson is one of a kind in the Danish dance and performance scene. For more than 25 years, she has been developing her own artistic universe; a universe that is at once minimalist, expressive and innovative. Her work is characterised by extreme body control and a unique feel for simple but effective stage effects, and she uses these effects to create intense, physical and visual transformations that explore the deepest layers of human existence.
Johnson has a background in elite athletics, modern and contemporary dance, contact improvisation, butoh, martial arts and German expressionist theatre. As a dancer and choreographer she has worked with Mark Tompkins, Nobert Stockheim, Sacha Waltz, Anita Saij and other leading figures in these fields.
Johnson’s trademark is solo performance, but her repertoire is broad and also includes many ensemble works, new circus, site-specific work and productions designed for children. She also organises and curates performance festivals, including the site-specific concept MELLEMRUM, contributing to her ambition to create a platform from which Danish and international performing arts can engage in dialogue and share experiences.
With universal themes and minimalist idioms, Johnson’s works are attractive abroad, and since early on in her career she has toured the length and width of Denmark and many other countries. In addition to her own works, she is continually involved as an artistic consultant in other projects, as well as a sought-after public speaker, teacher and workshop organiser in many different contexts.
Over the years her work has been widely acknowledged through a range of awards, nominations and grants in Denmark and abroad. In 1999, she received a Reumert nomination for Stigma, and received the Danish Arts Foundation’s award for the same piece; in 2003 she won a Reumert for Best Dance Production with The Mirror. In 2003 she made the New York Times’ Top Ten list of dance experiences of the year, and the NOW Toronto list in 2004 with The Lemonkeepers and Stigma. She was awarded the Danish Stage Directors Award of Honour in 2008, received the Haslund Award of Honour in 2009, and the award for most innovative work for DRIFT or drive at the INFANT festival in Serbia in 2013. Nominations also include a Dora for Dance Production of the Year for Rankefod in Toronto 2009, and the Danish Theatre Journalists’ Theater Cup, 2011.
Most recently, she was awarded the Danish Reumert as Dancer of the Year 2015 for her performance in POST NO BILLS, which also earned her one of the prestigious grants from the Danish Arts Foundation that same year.
Photo by Per Morten Abrahamsen
She danced for Moving Visions Dance Company in London before moving to Israel to study and perform with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company under the MASA programme.
Goh was a company artist with Frontier Danceland from 2013 to 2018. During her time in the company, she has worked and collaborated with local and international choreographers including Low Mei Yoke (Singapore), Lee Mun Wai (Singapore), Noa Zuk and Ohad Fishof (Israel), Matej Kejzar (Slovenia), Liu Yen-Cheng (Taiwan), Stephanie Lake (Australia), Shahar Binyamini (Israel), Sita Ostheimer (Germany) and Thomas Lebrun (France).
She has also made works including Take me to your leader (2014), Silent Run (2015), Babel for SIDES (2017) and Ur (2018).
Photo by Faye Tan
In the past 11 years in C/Ompany, Oue has created and performed numerous works, such as bo.le.ro in Singapore and Malaysia in 2014 and Dan-su in Japan in 2016.
Prior to C/Ompany, Oue’s career includes dancing for Nederlands Dans Theatre 2, as well as a 3-year stint at Sweden’s leading repertoire company for contemporary dance, Cullbergbaletten. A freelance artist since 1999, Oue has created several works and won prizes in various choreography competitions, including the first prize at Hannover International Choreography Competition in 2005.
Photo by Matron
In 2013, Omiya became the first Japanese artist to win the Emerging Choreographer Award at the Italian International Dance Festival. He was also the winner of the Jadin Wong Award in 2014.
In 2016, he became a certified instructor of Sivananda Yoga and in 2017, he was a finalist at the Internationales Solo Tanz Festival in Germany. Omiya has performed in numerous films and videos, including Wheelchair Dance directed by Yasuhiro Tamura, 005 by HWLS’, directed by Branden Lee, and Piller Point’s Dreamin’ directed by Jacob Krupnick.
Omiya has been working with C/Ompany with IKI.SHI.TAI and blue dot.
In recent years, he has produced and starred in live dance productions, broadening his horizons beyond those of an actor.
Currently, he is based in Tel-Aviv, Israel, deployed overseas by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs as Japan Cultural Envoy in its 2014 Cultural Exchange Program.
Photo by Matron
As a student, she performed with Singapore Dance Theatre and the Washington Ballet before furthering her studies at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London. Since graduating in 2012, she has performed with RAW Moves and her choreography has been showcased at Dance Nucleus’ HATCH and M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival.
Cheng received the award for Best Dancer in the finals of the 5th edition of Sprouts. She has also created an interactive installation for Pop-up Noise: Soul Searching.
Wee was involved in all Arts Fission productions and community projects. Some notable performances include,Temple Reimagined (2013): a dance film, Make It New: Future Feed (2014): a collaboration with Irene K Compagnie and presented in Belgium, In the Name of Red (2015): a site specific performance commissioned by National Gallery Singapore, Fire Monkey: a site specific performance under the arts festival of Mapping Melbourne (2016), and again at Northcote Townhall, Melbourne (2018), with many more in his repertoire.
Wee is currently a freelance artist who is actively choreographing, performing and teaching.
In 2017, she joined The Arts Fission Company as a movement artist. In addition, she has created numerous dance works, with No Corners earning an invitation from the Lift Off Dance Festival in Bracknell, United Kingdom. As a freelance artist, she has performed in M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, CDE Springboard Dance Festival Macau and DANCESTAGES Shanghai.
Lum is currently a freelance artist and yoga instructor.
Festival Guests
She has been involved in the INSIDE/OFF project, from 2007 to 2017, arranging choreographic residencies and support for the mobility of young choreographers in synergy with national and international partners. All these actions are now part of INTERPLAY ExtraFestival projects.
Casorati has been a cultural operator for several performing arts events, and she currently lectures at many master and training courses.
Production & International Relations Manager
MASDANZA International Contemporary Dance Festival of the Canary Islands, Spain
David has a degree in Economics and Master Degrees in Travel Management and Marketing from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) and The Wharton School of Economics (USA). In 2005 he joined the team of QUÉ TAL ESTÁS, S.L. (QTE) as Production
Manager. QTE is responsible for the organization and production of major dance events in Spain, such as ACROSS HIP-HOP LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA, an educational project introducing young adults to urban dance, and MASDANZA, The International Contemporary Dance Festival of The Canary Islands, one of the world’s most renowned festivals.
David is the Production Manager and in charge of all international relations for the MASDANZA Organization and represents the Festival at major international festivals and events.
He is the only one who published 4 books about contemporary dance in Japan. Writing many articles on newspapers and magazines（Asahi Shimbun, Dance Magazine…）.
An advisor of many dance festivals in Japan and other countries as well.
Committee Member, Advisor of Theater
・Tokyo Metropolitan Theater (Dance Department)
・EL Sur Foundation（Selection committee of the Newcomer Award）
・SAISON FOUNDATION（Examination of Grant 2013-2015）
Festival Advisor, committee member, Jury of Competition
・Dance New Air International Festival（ex. Dance Triennial TOKYO）
・Fukuoka Dance Fringe International Dance Festival
・Odoru Akita International Dance Festival （Ishii Baku · Hijikata Tatsumi Memorial）
・Hokkaido Dance Project
・NEW DANCE FOR ASIA International Festival（Seoul）
・Asian Solo & Duo Challenge for MASDANZA（Seoul）
・Seoul Dnce Collection（2008-2012）
・Seoul International Choreograph Festival（2010-2018）
・Eastern Connection（ROMANIA Bucharest 2013-2015）
・Solo Danza Festival（Tokyo CERVANTES Center 2014）
・MASDANZA（2019 Spain/Canary）
In 2006, the Japan Society of New York accepted him in fellowship.
In 2007, Norikoshi was a director of the dance festival“JAPPONE DANZA” in Genova, Italy.
Director of NDA International Festival.
Yu graduated from Kyung book Special Arts High School
and Han Yang University with a major in contemporary dance and was exempted from Korean
military obligation as 2006 winner of the national young generation dance competition, which earned him the status of ``renowned modern choreographer`` from Korea. He was also
selected as 2009-2010 Young Art Frontier by Korea Art Council, which further allowed him a
fellowship to study abroad in US and a grant to support foundation of Designare Movement and
its first performance.
In 2007, he received exceptional performance reward from national new generation choreography competition, with his performance, closed
In 2008 Korea Dance association, he won the best choreographer award with his signature
performance, heavy circulation. This performance prompted him to be invited by MODAFE, SCF– Seoul International Choreography Festival and Fukuoka Dance Fringe Festival, where he was critically acclaimed by Norikoshi Takaoka, a renowned dance critique from Japan.
In 2013, he was invited by Dance Asia in Japan, earning critical acclaims with his performance, Zebra Melody. He received an “Audience Honor”, a reward given by having 500 members choose which performance was a best, with his performance I Owe
You an Apology. At the 2013 Fukuoka Dance Fringe Festival.
He was appointed as a judge from the MASDANZA, Spain at 2015. Widely recognized as the new generation dancer representing Asia, he currently travels between Korea, Japan, Singapore, USA, Malaysia, and Europe.
Idel has been teaching dance for more than 20 years. As an independent artist, her work deals with social issues, and is multi-disciplinary. She also curates and supports projects in the community.
She is currently the Co-artistic director of Machol Shalem dance house since 2002, in collaboration with Ruby Edelman.
Photo by Liron Shazo
``ODORU=AKITA ' Festival Director
BUTOH Critic, Nonfiction Writer
Major book / ``Swan Lake Legend: Masahide Komaki and the Age of Ballet``
Independent Curator | Choreographer | Arts Critic
Daniel Yeung graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a major in Fine Arts and a minor in Chinese Music. Yeung is a self-taught dancer and was twice awarded scholarships to study choreography in Holland and London.
Yeung was raved by Europe’s BalletTanz yearbook as “The Choreographer to Look At” and was awarded the “Rising Artist Award” by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council 2002. He is also a six-time awardee of the Hong Kong Dance Awards (2000, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014), organized by the Hong Kong Dance Alliance, and twice-won “Top Five Best Dance Works of the Year” from the South China Morning Post.
In 2013, Yeung was awarded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council as the “Best Artist of the Year (Dance)” for his total contributions on curating, choreographing, performing, teaching and criticism on developing Hong Kong dance culture.
Artistic Director
CDE (Contemporary Dance Exchange) Springboard, Macau
As founder and artistic director of “Stella & Artists”, Stella has taken part in production, administration, choreographing and training for the company. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cross-disciplinary Arts from National Taiwan University of Arts and a Bachelor’s degree of Business Administration from University of Macau.
She finished the 3-year choreography course provided by the Macao Conservatory Dance School in 2004. She has collaborated with artists namely Amy Marshall (USA), Jacek Luminski (Poland), Alexandra Battaglia (Portugal), Ku Ming Shen (Taiwan), Yuri Ng, Mui Cheuk Yin and Xing Liang from Hong Kong.
Since its establishment, Stella & Artists has organized the Solos/Duets Showcase every year, which was then expanded to be ``Contemporary Dance and Exchange (CDE) Springboard ” in 2017, serving as a dance platform that motivates creation and brings Macao dance works for international exchange.
She has been awarded international performing art and choreographer grants by DanceWeb (Austria), Asia-Europe Foundation (Japan), UNESCO-Ashberg (The Hague), Foundation Royaumont (France), the Uchida Fellowship of the Japan Foundation (Japan) and CPI-SIDance (Kor), etc.
In 2009 she has debuted as an opera director at the Hungarian State Opera House.
In 2016 she has directed her first film. Batarita has performed and choreographed in more than 20 countries and continues to perform and choreograph all around the world.
In 2006-2007 she was a guest professor of Dance Centre School of Performing Arts in Bangkok, Thailand. Batarita taught her own unique method at Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, where she served as a professor (2003 to 2010), and at the Theatre Academy in Budapest, Hungary (2011). To date, she has conducted workshops in 19 countries.
She is the founder, director, and curator of BODY.RADICAL International Performing Arts Biennial in Budapest (Hungary) and its Eastern-European touring program since 2009.
In 2013 she was awarded the ``Parallel Culture” life achievement award by Mediawave Foundation (Hungary).
