Cross Transit

Akiko Kitamura was born in 1970 in Tokyo. Learning ballet and street dance in her youth, she studied dance theory at Waseda University and stayed in Germany for one year as a research fellow through the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program.
Since 2001 Akiko Kitamura has taught at Shinshu University, Nagano, as an associate professor of the Faculty of Arts. Also in 2001, she was invited to the Bates Dance Festival to create two short pieces: a group piece and a solo work, Face-Mix, which attracted great attention and won her recognition in the U.S.
In 2003, she was invited to the American Dance Festival (ADF) to create a short piece titled Enact Oneself, which was chosen as one of the best dance pieces of the year in North Carolina. In 2005, at the request of the Group Motion Dance Company of Philadelphia, she made and premiered Rondo in Philadelphia. In 2007, she made a commissioned work named “Blind Trip”-SKIN Project for ACE Dance and Music in Birmingham, UK, and toured 20 cities in the UK during the 2007/2008 season. In 2011, she created ICE for the same company, and it toured during the 2011/2012 season.
She began an international collaboration, To Belong, with Indonesian artists in 2011. To Belong-cyclonicream- was premiered in Japan and Singapore in 2013 and 2014. To Belong-Suwung- was performed at the Dance New Air festival 2014 and at Geothe Haus in Jakata, and Teater Besar ISI-SURAKARTA, in Indonesia. She started the Cross Transit project in 2015, and it’s latest installment, “vox soil,” premiered in Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) in October 2018, was awarded the grand prize at the 2018 Japan Dance Forum Award.

Born in a poor urban family, Mangangsana started learning Manipuri traditional Pena music at a very young age under the guidance of Oja Leimapokpam Yaima and continued learning under various teachers such as Oja Thongam Thoiba (Pena), Oja Khangembam Mangi (Pena), Oja Thongam Goshe (Khunung Eshei), Oja Ngangom Ebopishak (Folk ensemble), and Ema Langathel Thoinu (Moirang Sai).
He performed for the first time in the Republic Day Celebration in 1978 at Imphal and participated in many Lai-haraoba ritual festivals and other cultural functions. He has performed in many prestigious festivals, projects and workshops including the “Esplanade Dan:se Festival” in Singapore (2015), “ABU Radio Song Festival 2014” in Colombo, “Tapestry of Sacred Music” in Singapore (2013), “Festival of India”, jointly organized by the World Music Institute and Asian Cultural Council at the Peter Norton Symphony Space New York (2007), the Opening Ceremony of the Sixth Session of the United Nation Permanent Forum on Indigenous People (2007), “Exploratory Colloquium on the Foothills Culture of Manipur - Mapping a Mountain Path to Top 20 Scholarships” at Kentucky University in the US (2007), A Page Out of Order in Niigata, Osaka, Tokyo, and New York New York (2006-2008).
He has collaborated with renowned artists of different fields such as the Japanese American contemporary dancer, Yoshiko Chuma, the Manipuri traditional dancer and choreographer, Priti Patel, the theatre exponent, Heisnam Kanhailal, and the Portuguese contemporary musical band, Cla. He is currently a visiting faculty member at the University of Manipur and the Artistic Director for Laihui Ensemble in Imphal on a voluntary basis.

Born in Battambang City, in Northwestern of Cambodia.

Hak is a full-time photographer whose work brings together storytelling and artistic aesthetic. Hak has focused on several themes including survivor stories, the funeral of King Sihanouk, architectural documentations and also the changing landscape of his homeland. His work has been featured at art and photography festivals such as Auckland Festival of Photography, Photo Quai and Photo Saint Germain in Paris, Renaissance in Lille, World Event Young Artists in Nottingham, OFF_festival in Bratislava, Ballarat International Foto Biennale in Victoria, Photo Kathmandu, Singapore International Photography Festival, Photo Bangkok and ASEAN Eye Culture in Bangkok, International Multimedia Art in Yangon, Angkor Photo Festival in Siem Reap and Histories of the Future and Photo Phnom Penh in Phnom Penh.

His photographs have been exhibited in Australia, New Zealand, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Slovakia, The United States, Canada, Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Burma and Cambodia.

In 2011, he won prize “Residency Program” of Musée du quai Branly, Paris and second prize of Stream Photo Asia in Bangkok. In 2012, he was designated Best Artist in the “Best of Phnom Penh” issue of The Advisor, a weekly Cambodian arts and entertainment magazine.

His portfolio has been featured in several international well-known publications throughout his career.

In 2015, Kim Hak has been featured as a main protagonist in a documentary film “Hidden Photos” which produced by Davide Grotta, Gabriele Borghi and Alexander Fontana. This film is about Kim Hak, a young and talented Cambodian photographer looks for a new imaginary of his country, far from stereotypes. Nhem Ein, a photographer enrolled in the Khmer Rouge regime, took more than 14.000 mug shots of the S-21 prison victims. He’s trying to establish himself as entrepreneur of the so-called dark tourism. Every day, a cleaner and an audio guide clean up Cambodian history in the wax museum of the country. Which images are to be chosen to represent one’s history and country? But above all, what to do with it?

End of 2015, Kim Hak has started working on collaboration with Japanese choreographer/ dancer, Akiko Kitamura to create contemporary dance “Cross Transit”. Hak’s photographs have been used/ projected during the dance, and his monologue text have been narrated. The dance has been performed in several cities as in Tokyo, Matsumoto and Phnom Penh. It will bring to other cities in the future.

In 2014, Hak has joined a project Jorng Jam means ‘to remember’ in Khmer. Jorng Jam is a contemporary art and history project working with Cambodian people throughout the world to remember, reclaim and reinterpret Cambodian social history from before, during and after the Khmer Rouge era. In 2015 the project is traveling to Brisbane, Australia to engage with Cambodian-Australian people living in the Marsden/Logan. Hak is invited to be on art residency working on this project of Jorng Jam II in Australia which it is supported by Arts Queensland.

In 2013, Hak has published his first photography book “UNITY” which he had spent his time to document the reflection of ordinary citizens after the death of the King Father Norodom Sihanouk in October 2012.

In 2012, he was interviewed about urban trends in Phnom Penh for French television program “Faut Pas Rêver” was filmed in Cambodia and broadcast in France on the France 3 network and in Asia on TV5 Monde.

Originally from Nara Prefecture, he began dancing at the age of 18 and has performed in many diverse works of dance from commercial to concert dance. He currently works as a freelance artist and has been involved in a diverse field of performance arts, including collaborations between theater and music as well as dance and musical choreography.
Performance History:

The Pink Floyd Ballet by Roland Petit
Elizabeth by Toho (as Tod dancer)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by John Caird
Nomikomu Onna written by Ryuta Horai and directed by Yumi Suzuki
Musical, Alice in Wonderland (as choreographer)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (as choreographer and performer)

Other performances include works choreographed by Yukio Ueshima, Toru Shimazaki, Kazuko Takemoto, Uran Hirosaki, and Naoya Aoki. He is also a member of the OrganWorks directed by Shintaro Hirahara.

She began training in classical ballet at a young age and continued her studies in classical ballet, modern dance, and theater in the Dance Program at the Department of Theatrical Arts in Osaka University of Arts. She joined the Tokyo City Ballet after graduating from university. She later found her interest in contemporary dance and began touring both nationally and internationally after joining Noism directed by Jo Kanamori and BATIK directed by Ikuyo Kuroda. She has also performed in the works of many choreographers including Yukio Ueshima, Ryohei Kondo, Tsuyoshi Shirai, and Alessio Shilvestrin. In 2010, she traveled to Israel and trained in the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollack Company as a research fellow through the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program. She performed in their repertory of TOROS, Oyster, and Rushes. She has also performed in theater productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by John Caird, Romeo & Juliet directed by Jonathan Munby, and The Cat That Lived a Million Times directed by Inbal Pinto. She also produces her own work, teaches, and choreographs for idol groups.

Originally from Yamaguchi Prefecture, she began dancing ballet at the age of 9 and moved to Tokyo at the age of 18, where she was inspired by different genres of dance. She was introduced to contemporary dance at the age of 20 and began studying under Kaori Kagaya. She became intrigued with the depth of artistic expression in theater arts and danced for the Dance-SHAN Company from 2005 to 2010. Since then she has danced as a freelance dancer for Kazuyuki Futami and Hiroshi Koike among many other choreographers and artistic directors in both their national and international works. She is involved in a diverse range of projects to investigate the possibilities in performance and is also a recipient of the 2014 Solo Dancer Festival Choreography Award.

He received his degree from the Film and Theater Arts Department of Kyoto University of Art and Design.
He played baseball all the way throughout elementary school to high school. While he was at the university, he began documenting theater arts in photographs, which led him to develop an interest in the possibilities of the human body. He also began participating in workshops for Japanese drums and Iwami Kagura, a genre of Japanese theater arts. After graduating from university, he began working before going back into performing arts. He has danced in the works by Tomio Mori, Kanari Ohashi, and Isak Immanuel. In 2015, he participated in an exchange program facilitated by a non-profit organization, DANCE BOX, in Kobe.

Ratana (Leak) graduated from the Secondary School of Fine Arts with a Baccalaureate in 2000, specializing in the monkey role of the Lakhaon Kaol (Cambodian male masked dance) form and in 2012 was awarded a BA degree in choreographic arts at the Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh. In 2006, Leak developed a strong interest in contemporary dance and since then has been a featured dancer in works by Emmanuèle Phuon, Peter Chin, Arco Renz and others which have toured internationally. He remains faithful to his traditional skills but he is also eager to further develop as a contemporary dancer. Leak also enjoys performing as an actor and was recently a featured character in Loy 9 – a new Cambodian TV drama. Leak was a featured dancer in CRACK – a new work of Cambodian contemporary dance by German choreographer Arco Renz that was awarded the 2012 ZKB Patronage Prize in Zurich Switzerland in September 2012.

Yuki Nishiyama is a Japanese dancer.
After completing her degree at University of Tsukuba in Japan, she went to New York for studying dance sponsored by the Japanese Government under "Study Abroad Program for Artists" for a year between 2009-2010.
After her study in NY, she has appeared on a work with Motoko Hirayama, Akiko Kitamura and several other choreographers. She also has been a member of Co.Yamada Un since 2013, dance company in Japan.
Besides, she worked with several foreign artists such as Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak, Tony Prabowo, and Yudi Ahmad Tajudin.
In 2016, she presented her own work collaborated with Sayuri Iimori and they became finalist of Yokohama Dance Collection 2016 Competition.

Graduated from Waseda University with a degree in literature, he began dancing street and jazz in high school and made his professional debut while still in university. He currently works with national and international choreographers and artistic directors in dance, dance operas, musicals, theater productions, films, and music videos as a dancer and choreographer. He has worked with Un Yamada, Shuji Onodera, Yukio Suzuki, Fumiyo Ikeda, and Miyako Kato from Japan, Yuki A. Tajudin from Indonesia, and Ibal Pinto and Avshalom Polak from Israel. He danced in Akiko Kitamura’s previous works, Dance Opera DANDARI and To Belong in Indonesia.

She began dancing at the age of 15 and studied modern dance at the University of Oregon. She is a recipient of the 2012 and 2014 Lotta Carll Scholarship. She won the 2013 Summer Study Award for Salt Dance Fest at the University of Utah. After graduating from the university, she returned to Japan in 2015 and is currently working as a dancer.

Tatsuki is from Saitama Prefecture and is a director of a dance studio, “Big. T Dance Company.” He also teaches dance at Satoe Elementary School and choreographs, directs, and performs on stage, live shows, and music videos. He has been in a staged performance, “Bungo Stray Dogs”; Yuzu’s live concert “Ninin Sankyaku”; Kenshi Yonezu’s music video “LOSER”; and Ensemble Stars!’s “Starry Stage 1st.” Tatsuki has been invited to overseas dance festivals as well. His accomplishments are not confined to dance: He has placed second in Karate Japan Cup, has played in the National Dodge Ball Championship, was selected as a Nippon Scout Jamboree, and has won a gold award at a global cocktail competition.

Luluk Ari Prasetyo, born on october 20, 1982, is a javanese - indonesian dancer and coreographer- specializing in contemporary dance. He studied javanese court dance in Surakartan style and contemporary dance at Art Institute of Indonesia in Surakarta. Luluk Ary has involved in several works created by Eko Supriyanto, Sen Hea Ha, Fajar Satriyadi, Dedy n Elly Luthan, Garin Nugroho's "Opera Java", and many others. Luluk has been dancing on Papatara Humara dance theater Japan and colaborated with Atillah Soeryadjaya-producer and director of MAtAh ati. Luluk is a productive contemporary dancer and coreographer, and is still a member of solo dance studio.

She is a member of Kodo, the Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble, and mostly plays taiko and sings on stage.
In 2009 and 2010, she performed in and toured for Gnosis, directed by the contemporary dance genius, Akram Khan. Her diverse set of skills in drumming, singing, and acting next to Akram Khan earned her nominations for the Olivier Awards and the National Dance Award. Since then, she has remained mostly in Sado while her solo work has had her featured as a recording taiko player and singer in PLUTO, directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. She has been featured as a recording artist in Cross Transit since 2016, which has led her here.

He was born in Texas, U.S.A. and spent his childhood in the Netherlands.
During university, he toured with many artists as an assisting member and composed music for TV commercials, films, and animations.
He composes, arranges, and produces music for many artists including YUKI, MISIA, JUJU, Yuko Ando, and Kaera Kimura.
He has toured and played for Noriyuki Makihara, miwa, and Gen Hoshino on keyboard.
He currently is a member of Rendez-vous Band directed by Keiichi Sokabe.

He left the doctorate program at Tokyo University of the Arts and traveled to France to study under a film theorist and composer, Michel Chion. After returning to Japan, he became involved in a multitude of productions while recording field records of music from around the world surrounding the theme, "listening".
In 2013, he founded "concrete", a label focusing on producing and publishing media from the perspective of folk arts.

Native to Tokyo, he graduated with a MFA in Printmaking from the Graduate School of Fine Arts in Tokyo University of the Arts. Since 1998, he has been designing and directing videos for Leni-Basso directed by Akiko Kitamura and has been a part of all the national and international tours ever since. He is currently investigating the possibilities of putting together expression through movement and film on the stage. His film collaboration with a zither player was shown at Japan Pavilion in the 2010 Shanghai Expo. In 2007, 2009, and 2011, he produced works for the ACE Dance Company in Birmingham, U.K. In 2013, he presented a collaborative work with a composer, Saburo Ubukata at the Setagaya Art Museum. In addition to many other exhibitions, he also presented an installation at the Siggraph ASIA KOBE 2015 Art Gallery.