28th Macao Arts Festival
Hiroaki Umeda’s dance workshop now accepting applications

10/01/2017

The 28th Macao Arts Festival (MAF), organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), will be held from the end of April to May 2017. In order to offer more performance and exchange opportunities to local dancers, IC has expressly invited renowned artist Hiroaki Umeda to lead a dance workshop in mid-February 2017. Selected dancers will take part in the production of a performance and respective rehearsals in April and May; and they will have the opportunity to participate in the performance Double Bill by Hiroaki Umeda (title to be confirmed), integrated in the 28th MAF. Applications for the workshop are open from today. Admission is free. All interested parties are welcome to participate.

Hiroaki Umeda was born in 1977 and is a multi-disciplinary artist. In addition to choreographer, he is also a dancer, sound artist and image and lighting designer. Umeda studied photography at the university, he began to devote his career in choreography at the age of 20, and started attending numerous dance lessons such as ballet, street dance and modern dance. In 2000, he founded his company, S20, subsequently earning recognition for his talent and acclaim as an original and promising young artist when he presented the piece while going to a condition at the Rencontres Chorégraphiques in France. Since then, he has often performed in stages around the world as a solo dancer. From 2008 onwards, he began to take up roles as choreographer for dance companies and he was commissioned a “choreography ten-year plan”. His works radically break the typical boundaries of dance, representing a shattered and detached manner, reflecting the existential state, anxiety and hasty nature of contemporary citizens. In the 25th MAF, Hiroaki Umeda has brought two pieces of his works, namely Adapting for Distortion and Haptic, which were widely acclaimed.

The workshop is limited to 20 participants; should applicants exceed the limit, the choreographer will select participants by analyzing the submitted documents. The workshop will be entirely conducted in English. Cantonese interpretation will be provided by the organizer if required. The regulations and application forms are available at the Cultural Affairs Building, located at Tap Siac Square, and can also be downloaded from the MAF’s website (www.icm.gov.mo/fam) under “News”. Applicants must submit (1) the application form duly filled and signed and (2) a solo dance video with a maximum duration of 3 minutes (if available) at the front desk of the Cultural Affairs Building, during office hours, or send the same by email to cklou@icm.gov.mo. The application envelope or email subject must specifically indicate “Application for Hiroaki Umeda Double Dance workshop – (candidate name)”. The deadline of the application will be on Thursday, 2 February 2017, at 5:30pm.

Selected candidates for participating in the workshop will be personally notified by email or SMS; non-selected candidates will not be notified. For more information, please contact Mr. Lou through tel. no. 8399 6625, during office hours, or by email to cklou@icm.gov.mo.