Artists

AKIKO KITAMURA (Japan)
Choreographer / Dancer /
Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts, Shinshu University, Nagano

AKIKO KITAMURAStudied ballet and street dance, and graduated from the Graduate School and Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University. In 1994, Kitamura founded her own company, Leni-Basso. In 1995-1996, she went to Berlin on an overseas training scholarship awarded to upcoming choreographers and dancers by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. She was invited to Bates Dance Festival in 2001. That same year created Finks , one of her best known works which has since been performed more than 60 times worldwide. In 2003, Kitamura was invited to the American Dance Festival to create Enact Oneself for the International Choreographers Commission Program. In North Carolina, Enact Oneself was selected by critics as one of the best dance pieces of the year. Kitamura created Rondo for Group Motion Dance Company in Philadelphia (2005), and Ghostly Round for In Transit 2005 organized by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin). Ghostly Round has toured internationally, becoming another of her signature works. In 2007 Blind Trip was created for the SKIN project for ACE Dance and Music in Birmingham, UK. SKIN toured to 20 cities in the UK in 2007 / 2008, and in 2011, she created a new piece ICE Project for ACE Dance and Music. Kitamura acted in the film Pulse (Kairo) directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, which won the Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard in 2001. In 2009, Art Zoyd, a well-known French avant-garde rock group, made a video opera based on the film Kairo . Kitamura choreographed and performed in the video opera. In 2010 she choreographed and danced in another project The Black Particles by Art Zoyd at Enghien-les-Bains Arts Centre.

YUDI AHMAD TAJUDIN (Indonesia)
Director / Actor

YUDI AHMAD TAJUDINFounding member and artistic director of Teater Garasi – an inter-disciplinary artist collective based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His performing art works have been performed on international stages in Indonesia, Singapore, Germany and Japan. He has been involved in intercultural collaboration works with many noted theatre groups and artists, and interdisciplinary projects; dance, visual-art, music and contemporary opera. He was selected the Director of The Year 2006 by Tempo Magazine, and received a 6 months grant from Asian Cultural Council to conduct a research on New York's theatre scene on Fall-Winter 2011-2012. Representative works include Panji Sepuh: What are the Sins of the Flesh (2011, Jakarta), a collaboration work with poet Goenawan Mohamad and musician Tony Prabowo in a contemporary opera Tan Malaka (2010-11 Jakarta), and a dance-theater work entitled Je.ja.I.an (2008 Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Shizuoka, Osaka).

RIANTO (Indonesia)
Choreographer / Dancer

RIANTO Rianto mastered the traditional dance of Banyumas called "Lengger" while studying at SMKI (Sekolah Menengah Karawitan Indonesia). He studied the Javanese traditional dances of Gagah and Alus under Mr. Daryono and the court dance in Istana Mangkunegaran. He graduated from the Academy of Dance of STSI (ISI: Institut Seni Indonesia) Surakarta (Solo) in 2004. In 2005 Rianto became a member of TBS Dance Theatre Studio in Solo and participated in the works of Korean choreographer Sen Hea Ha in Ujiengbou, Seoul, Singapore, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Austria. Since 2007 he has been creating his own works such as Pintu Amaterasu , Healing , Hallucination , and Shadowing the Body and presenting them in various countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, and India. In February 2009, Rianto was invited by the Indonesian Embassy and Santi Budaya LCCD to choreograph and dance in a reception for the inauguration of US President-elect Barack Obama in Washington D.C. He is a member of Orange Blossom Dance Company and performed Monteverdi's Orfeo at the Schubert Theatre in Boston (2006) and The Coronation Of Poppea at the London Coliseum (2007) with English National Opera. He is currently Director of the Dewandaru Dance Company of Tokyo for Indonesian Friendship Culture between Indonesia and Japan.

KANA OTE (Japan)
Choreographer / Dancer / GAGA Instructor

KANA OTEKana Ote is originally from Hamamatsu Japan. In 1999, she graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance de Lyon. She joined the company of Bern Ballet in Switzerland in 2003. The following year she joined Carte Blanche's company in Norway. Ote has worked with artists such as Ina Christel Johannesson, Felix Dumeril, Jacopo Godani, Ohad Naharin, Stjin Celis. In 2005, she began working as a freelance dancer in Europe, participating in projects by Compagnia Zappala Danza, Compagnie Linga, Marcel Leemann Physical Dance Theater, and Ventura Dance Company. In 2010, Ote received a grant from Pola Art Foundation (Japan) to study Gaga with Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel, and soon after joined the Gaga Teacher Training Program. Ote was certified as a Gaga teacher in 2012 and also a practitioner of the Ilan Lev method. Currently she teaches Gaga and practices Ilan Lev in Tokyo and throughout Japan.

YUKI NISHIYAMA (Japan)
Choreographer / Dancer

YUKI NISHIYAMA Yuki Nishiyama was born in Tsukuba City in Japan. She started modern dance when she was little and specialized in Contemporary dance at university. She studied under Mokoto Hirayama. After completing her undergraduate degree at University of Tsukuba, Nishiyama continued onto graduate school. In 2009 she received a fellowship to study dance at the Dance New Amsterdam in NY for one year, during which she worked with various choreographers as well as performing her original works. Nishiyama won second prize at the 9th Seoul International Dance Competition in 2012. While pursuing a career as a freelance artist, she is a part-time lecturer at University of Uekusa Gakuen.

LION KAWAI (Japan)
Choreographer / Dancer

LION KAWAILion Kawai started street dancing and jazz dance at the age of 15. Kawai started performing in various Japanese performances while attending Waseda University. In recent years, he has appeared in the works of dance companies based in Japan such as "Co.Yamada Un" (by Un Yamada), "KINGYO" (by Yukio Suzuki) and "Company Derashinera" (by Shyuji Onodera). Kawai has also choreographed puppet shows. His dance style does not emphasize on specific dance techniques but flexibly combines them with a focus on the mass of human body.

LULUK ARI PRASTEYO (Indonesia)
Choreographer / Dancer

LULUK ARI PRASTEYOLuluk Ari Prasteyo, 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.

SLAMET GUNDONO (Indonesia)
Musician / Wayang Kulit Artist / Actor

SLAMET GUNDONOBorn in 1966. Gundono is a multi-disciplinary artist who draws on the long traditions of Javanese and Indonesian culture so as to reinvent and innovate within the field of interactive shadow puppetry. Gundono collaborates with artists from other disciplines, and incorporates story telling, dance, film and multimedia in his work. He also runs workshops to encourage experimentation. Gundono has developed a form of puppetry that involves clay, vegetables, sleep talking, water and condoms. By using humor and satire in a non-confrontational way, he lends a voice to the socially marginalized and has attracted a wide following. Through his work, he investigates social issues such as gender, exploitation, religious orthodoxy and damage to the environment. Gundono uses local idioms and simple means, and demonstrates that traditional cultural forms can be powerful vehicles for contemporary expression.

YASUHIRO MORINAGA (Japan)
Sound Designer

YASUHIRO MORINAGA Morinaga is a Japanese sound designer, sound archivist and composer of Musique concrete. He is regarded as one of the unique and distinctive sound designers of his generation. Morinaga has worked on multiple international projects in film, contemporary dance, installation, and product design. Also he has been engaged in field sound recording. His interest is to record and archive sound of natural phenomenon, wildlife environment and outland regional music around the world and to research how these are affected and coexisted to the human habitats and lives. By the use of recorded sound, he creates soundscape based on the fictional and non-fictional events that follows particular narratives. He has presented at numerous festivals/events around the world. Morinaga's eclectic sound design works for film and audio-visual works have been presented at festivals such as Cannes Film Festival, Venice Biennale, Venice Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival etc. His collaborative works with installation and performance have also been presented at museums such as Pompidou Center, San Francisco Contemporary Museum, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Smithsonian Institute, National History Museum of Luxembourg etc. Morinaga also produced sound and music for SONY's monolithic design exhibition at Milano Salone 2010. He has been collaborating with Singaporean Artist, Ho Tzu Nyen for his visual works such as EARTH (2009), The Cloud of Unknowing (2011), and Endless Day. His sound and musical contributions to works by other artists includes Sion Sono (Film Director), Saburo Teshigawara (Choreographer) and Chris Cong Chan Fui (Film Director) amongst others.

ENDAH LARAS (Indonesia)
Singer / Dancer / Musician

ENDAH LARASBorn in Solo, Central Java on August 3rd, 1976. Endah had been immersed in the world of art at an early age, as her father is a shadow puppet master of Wayang Kulit . Her artistic talent was apparent from a young age, and winning a dance competition in 1988 inspired her to pursue her studies in dance and singing. Endah was also successful in winning singing competitions, and this led her to pursue a career as an artist. Endah became a professional singer in 1996 that led her to work with numerous composers such as Anjar Any, Manthous, Mus Mulyadi, and Cak Diqin. Recorded albums include "Keroncong Gemes," "Lelo Ledung," "Aja Kanda Sapa-Sapa," and "Gajah Lampung," among others. The charm and richness of her voice has allowed Endah to cultivate her art without borders, and has created opportunities for her to actively work with many different types of artists: various shadow puppet masters such as Ki Anom Suroto, Ki Manteb Soedharsono, Ki Enthus Susmono, Slamet Gundono (reed puppet master), Dedek Wahyudi (gamelan composer), Mugiyono Kasido (choreographer), I Wayang Sadra (composer, Wied Sendjayani (ballet choreographer), Jadug Ferianto (composer), and Garin Nugroho (film director) etc. In 2009, Endah appeared in a shadow puppet and live theater performance of "Dewa Ruci" with shadow puppet master Ki Enthus Susmono at the world's first festival of shadow puppet theatre in Denpasar, Bali, followed by performances in in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Korea. In 2009 and 2010, Endah Laras performed as a vocalist, dancer and musician in the musical Opera Jawa written and directed by Garin Nugroho, and performed for 1000 year anniversary of Tropen Museum in Amsterdam and in the Musee du quai Branly in Paris and in Indonesia (Surakarta, Yogyakarta and Jakarta). Endah Laras also performed in Garin Nugroho's newest film Soegija and also in the film Finding Srimulat directed by Charles Gozali.

MARZUKI MOHAMAD (Indonesia)
Musician

MARZUKI MOHAMADMarzuki Mohamad performs under two aliases, "Kill the DJ" and "Chebolang". He is the founder of performance groups such as Performance Fucktory, Parkinsound, Re: Public Art, United of Nothing, Whatever Shop, and now the leader of Jogja Hip Hop Foundation which he established in 2003. Jogja Hip Hop Foundation combined the traditional gamelan music to hip hop, and exposes traditional literature and mantras to the current generation. Marzuki released his album "Poetry Battle 1 & 2" from the Poetry Battle trilogy project, which produces hip hop lyrics from the original text of "Fiber Centhini". He has been invited to perform at the Esplanade Singapore (2009), and invited by the DI Asia Society in NY (2010), as well as a concert in New York in 2011. Lately Marzuki has been working with Soimah Pancawati in creating collaboration works.

HIROAKI YOKOYAMA (Japan)
Composer

HIROAKI YOKOYAMABorn in Texas, the United States.
Grew up in the Kingdom of the Netherlands during childhood.
Started to play the piano at the age of 5.
Has played with Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw at the age of 15.
Graduated from Tokyo College of Music, department of composition, movie and broadcast course, Japan.
Started the career while in school and Stood out with musical productions in a wide range of field as well as playing and various artists.
Composed and arranged songs, produced music for a lot of artists including MISIA, MEG, Gen Hoshino, etc.
Toured with Noriyuki Makihara, Tamurapan and miwa as a keyboard player.
Also at work as a member of Keiichi Sokabe Rendezvous Band and L.E.D.
Besides, works in the wide variety of areas in music, such as producing music for TV commercials, movies, animations and others which include music for the performance in England by Akiko Kitamura who is a dancer and choreographer leading the contemporary dance scene.

AKIHIKO KANEKO (Japan)
Video Director / Video Producer

AKIHIKO KANEKOBorn in Tokyo. Completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies in Printmaking Art at Tokyo University of Fine Arts. Kaneko started his collaboration work with Akiko Kitamura in 1998, with her contemporary dance company Leni-Basso, creating videos and directing. Since then, he has been a member of the team, working on tours in Japan and also overseas. Kaneko has been searching the various possibilities of capturing physical expression through video imagery. In 2003, Kaneko collaborated with a composer to create a video installation that was performed at the opera house in Cairo, Egypt, followed by presentations in BankArt (2004) and Yokohama Museum's grand gallery (2006). Kaneko is an associate professor at Tokyo Kasei University.

SAKI YAMADA (Japan)
Film / Dramaturg

SAKI YAMADASaki Yamada graduated from the Tokyo National University of Arts and Music.
She has been creating experimental moving images.
Now she organizes the theater company DEAD THEATER TOKYO
[Website]http://deadtheatertokyo.strikingly.com/

KEI ISHIKAWA (Japan)
Film Director

KEI ISHIKAWAKei Ishikawa, born in 1977 in Toyohashi, is a film director. He graduated from the Department of Physics, Tohoku University. He went on to study film direction at the Polish National Film School (PWSFviT), which has produced some of the world’s best film directors including Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski. His short films, both fiction and documentary, have been screened at more than 30 international film festivals including New Directors / New Films organized by Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), USA; Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, one of the world’s three major fantasy film festivals; and Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, one of the biggest film festival in North America. In 2007, he planned and executed the Polish short movie [era] at the Tokyo National Gallery Film Center. He was awarded an overseas training scholarship for upcoming artists and film directors by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. He is now working on his debut feature-length film for release in 2012.

MARTINUS MIROTO (Indonesia)
Choreographer / Dancer

MARTINUS MIROTOMartinus Miroto, (born: 23 Feb. 1959) has created more than 40 contemporary dance works and performed in Europe, Asia, USA, and Australia. He is a dancer, actor, choreographer, and dance instructor at the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI Jogjakarta). He founded the Miroto Dance Company in 1986, The Miroto Dance Foundation in 1998, and Banjarmili Dance studio in 2001. He began to study traditional dance when he was 5 years at his village, Turusan. His formal dance education was at SMKI (High School of Performing Arts, 1976-80), Jakarta Institute of Arts (1980-81), Indonesia Institute of Arts (1981-1986), Folkwang School, Germany (1987). He received Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of California Los Angeles (1995). Received International Choreographer Commissioning Program American Dance Festival 2005. “His performance astonishes audiences as he combines Western and Eastern discipline, with Javanese spiritual and Western energy.” (Norbert Ramme, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger)

RURI MITO (Japan)
Choreographer / Dancer

RURI MITORuri Mitoh was born in Tokyo in 1982. She started dancing when she was 5 years old at Modern Ballet Institute and studied dance at the Japan Women's College of Physical Education, Department of Movement Science Dance Studies Major MA (2000-2004).
Since 2004 she has been a member of the contemporary dance company Leni-Basso, and has performed in its Japan and world tours.
In 2007, she established her own company, Japonica-ponica.
In 2009, she performed her solo works at Korea / Japan Dance Festival in Seoul , Korea.
Japonica-ponica’s performance at Yokohama Dance Collection R (success in this contest has been the first step to a successful career for a number of choreographers) was awarded the Jury Prize in 2010.
Also in 2010, she appeared as a dancer with Leni-Basso in a TV commercial for Yamaha. In the same year, she was invited to participate as a choreographer in the International Young Choreographer Project which was held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
She is now active in not only Japan, but around the world.

MASAHARU IMAZU (Japan)
Choreographer / Dancer

MASAHARU IMAZU Born in Chiba 1974, a generous, charismatic dancer; “from his performer's qualities emerges something natural, a spontaneity of expression.
An interpret for dance with precise and original character, he bears with him a mythologic dimension.”- Louise Lecavalier (Ex - Lalala Human Steps)
After learning mime from Youichi Enoue, learned contemporary dance and improvisation with Shigeharu Honda and Kuniko Kisanuki. As a dancer, based in Tokyo, he participated in several dance group as Neo, M-laboratory, Condors, Leni-basso etc.(in Japan) and did dance in the project CJ8 2000, a dance partnership between Japan and Canada, in which he worked with the choreographer Louise Bedard, Toru Shimazaki's "Human Gate"(2002), Jo Kanamori's "no mad ic project"(2003), Kuniko Kisanuki's "Expect" (2003), produced by the new national theater,Tokyo and "Cobalt Rouge"(2005) of the choreographer, Tedd Robinson, was a project of Louise Lecavalier. This project was performed in the other city and countries, working with a variety of prominent choreographers.
Masaharu Imazu has been awarded annual scholarship from the Japanese government to work as a trainee artist 2005, Montreal in Canada. Also he made his own piece, come up to "most interesting choreographer and dancer."
2009-2010 joined to Compagnie Marie Chouinard.2011 joined the project in Switzerland with Hedeto Heshiki, parallel to project with Dana Gingras in Montreal and Vancouver and dance with Said Gharbi(blind dancer)in Brussels.

Cast / Creation Team Profiles

▼02_04.pngAKIKO KITAMURA
 Choreographer / Dancer /
 Associate Professor at the Faculty
 of Arts, Shinshu University, Nagano
▼02_04.pngYUDI AHMAD TAJUDIN
 Director / Actor
▼02_04.pngRIANTO
 Choreographer / Dancer
▼02_04.pngKANA OTE
 Choreographer / Dancer /
 GAGA Instructor
▼02_04.pngYUKI NISHIYAMA
 Choreographer / Dancer
▼02_04.pngLION KAWAI
 Choreographer / Dancer
▼02_04.pngLULUK ARI PRASTEYO
 Choreographer / Dancer
▼02_04.pngSLAMET GUNDONO
 Musician / Wayang Kulit Artist /
 Actor
▼02_04.pngYASUHIRO MORINAGA
 Sound Designer
▼02_04.pngENDAH LARAS
 Singer / Dancer / Musician
▼02_04.pngMARZUKI MOHAMAD
 Musician
▼02_04.pngHIROAKI YOKOYAMA
 Composer
▼02_04.pngAKIHIKO KANEKO
 Video Director / Video Producer
▼02_04.pngSAKI YAMADA
 Film / Dramaturg
▼02_04.pngKEI ISHIKAWA
 Film Director
▼02_04.pngMARTINUS MIROTO
 Choreographer / Dancer
▼02_04.pngRURI MITO
 Choreographer / Dancer
▼02_04.pngMASAHARU IMAZU
 Choreographer / Dancer