Nir de Volff, Choreography, Costume and Stage Design
De Volff was born in Israel, where he studied dance, took his first steps into the local professional companies and appeared as a guest for Pina Bausch’s Viktor. In 2000, he moved to Amsterdam and started to create his own work. In 2004, he moved to Berlin and created his first piece for Sophiensaele’s Tanztage Berlin. De Volff is the first selected choreographer for the mixed ability Forward Dance Company (2020-2021) in Leipzig. He creates international cultural exchange projects mixing social-political subjects with entertainment values and teaches his movement method, Breathing Bodies Movement, worldwide. He founded TOTAL BRUTAL in 2007 which works with a wide range of theatres nationally and internationally.
Leong Pou Seng, Creation and Performance
Leong is a graduate of the Taipei University of the Arts and is dedicated to performing arts. He has engaged in a number of interdisciplinary performances, designs, planning and video projects and has collaborated with different artists, including Nir de Volff, Xing Liang, Liu Ying Hong, Su Wei-chia, Lou Menghan, Sang Jijia and Leigh Warren. He participated in annual showcases and performances while studying at university, including dance productions The Floating Life by Zhang Xiaoxiong and FreeSteps – Sunlight, Trajectory, Figures by Su Wei-chia. Among his works in recent years are AGAIN, RED CLOCK, Try to Reachand Please Call Later.
Iek Un, Creation and Performance
After completing the full-time Dance Technique Programme at the School of Dance of Macao Conservatory, Iek continued her studies in Beijing and graduated in performance from the Ballet Department of the Beijing Dance Academy. She performed in a number of dance exchange programmes and showcases while studying at university, including Stride Forward, the Nation, an evening gala celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China; the Gala Performance of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing China Gala Performance; and the 5th China Xinjiang International Folk Dance Festival. She also performed at the Macau Auto Art Festival in 2020.
Su Zi Hao, Creation and Performance
Su was a dancer of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company and a guest dancer of the Hong Kong-based MW Dance Theatre and has been active in creative endeavours and performances in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao as an independent artist in recent years. He is adept at creating a series of works under the same theme and introducing dance to collaborations with artists from different fields in theatre, specific spaces and videos. Among his major works are the No Light Trilogy – No Light, No Light 2.0 and No Light: A Peep, and the Fullmoon series – The Last Fullmoon, The Xth Fullmoon and The Xth Time.
Simone Camargo, Creation and Performance
Brazilian-born dancer, choreographer and graphic artist, Camargo has been a performer in some of the most important dance companies in Brazil, including Balé Teatro Guaíra (2000-2007), Quasar Cia de Dança (2007-2010) and Balé da Cidade de São Paulo (2011, 2013-2016). She worked with Nir de Volff in the productions Kikar (2012) in São Paulo, Brazil, and Wir (2021) and Joy (2021) in the LOFFT – DAS THEATER in Leipzig, Germany. During her more than 20 years of professional experience, she has sought to cross distinct aesthetics, aiming to nourish herself with different expressive possibilities through dance. With the aim of stepping back from her practice and acquiring new references, she pursued a parallel academic path in France, a Master’s degree in Dance at the Paris 8 University (2012-2014) and a Master’s degree in Artistic Creation at the Université Grenoble Alpes (2018-2021).
Cordelia Lange, Creation and Performance
After graduating from Codarts Rotterdam, Lange worked as a freelance dancer in Germany and the Netherlands. She worked with choreographers such as Gabriella Maiorino and Felix Landerer, whom she toured with internationally. She then joined Stadttheater Bielefeld and Staatstheater Oldenburg under the artistic direction of Guy Weizman and Roni Haver at the time, where she worked with choreographers such as Omar Rajeh, Ann Van den Broek and Sharon Eyal. In 2013 she joined the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company in Tel Aviv, where she danced for four years. In addition, she studied fashion design at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Israel and is currently back to Europe, working as a freelance costume designer and dance artist with Nir de Volff, Ricardo Ambrozio, Helena Waldmann, Chris Jäger and Constanza Macras, among others.
Renan Manhães, Creation and Performance
Manhães is a South-American artist, mostly focused on dance, performance and historical materialism. They (his favourite pronoun) focus on healing the open wounds caused/imposed by the colonialist vision, rewrite spaces and connect with their ancestry. They believe in randomness as a form of full freedom in the body and work as facilitators to help find the fun of letting go rationality through dance, somatic practices and the tarot.
Stella Ho, Producer
With a Master of Fine Arts in cross-disciplinary arts from the Taiwan University of Arts, Ho is the founder and artistic director of Stella & Artists. Her choreographic works have been staged in a range of events, including the Macao Arts Festival, International Youth Dance Festival and Macao City Fringe Festival. She has been invited to Portugal, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Guangzhou and Hong Kong for exchanges, lectures and performances. Her recent productions include Vaster Far than the Ocean, To Each His Own City, The Epilogue, Passing Down, Raising Up and The World in Microcosm.
Calvin Lam,Technical Director and Lighting Design
Lam is a theatre practitioner, working primarily as a technical director and lighting designer. His lighting designs include The Ladies and Someday, Maybe by The Dancer Studio Macao, To Each Her Own City and To Each His Own City by Stella & Artists, Wander Girls on Tour by the Ieng Chi Dance Association, Borrowing Our Bodies by the Four Dimension Spatial, Spring Awakening and Project Ragged 2.0 by the School of Theatre of the Macao Conservatory, and Pissed Julie by the Macao Arts Festival and Nine Years Theatre.
Mathieu Poterie, Composition and Music Design
Poterie is a prolific French composer and music producer with classic piano education. He works with a diverse range of artists, such as Yael Naim, David Donatien, Emel Mathlouthi, as well as for dance ballets, performances, plays and pictures. Additionally, he has extensive experience as a pianist in the field of classical and contemporary dance. He has performed for several years with the Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet Preljocaj of Aix-en-Provence, and many conservatoires and dance schools across France and Germany. He collaborated twice with Nir de Volff, in WE at LOFFT – DAS THEATER in Leipzig and in Come as you are # part 2 in Berlin, in 2020 and 2021.
Kaby Chan, Costume and Stage Design
Chan graduated in stage design from the Department of Theatrical Design & Technology of the Taipei University of the Arts and is currently a theatre practitioner involved in backstage work such as stage, costume, props, puppet, exhibition space and key visual design. She has worked in the set production and costume design for Pillowman by the Hiu Kok Drama Association, costume design for The Dress Looks Nice on You and Pool (No Water) by the Dream Theater Association, as well as co-visual design for The Vanished Figures, costume design for A Short Time Escape, stage and costume design for Migration, and space and costume design for Song of Migrants at the Macao Arts Festival.
Fong Chan Ip, Stage Manager
Fong graduated from the Department of Psychology of the Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan and is currently a full-time theatre practitioner. He has participated in a range of productions including The Coloane Game and Sunset at the Shipyards by the Dream Theater Association, Ready to Wear by the Artistry of Wind Box Community Development Association, Vaster Far than the Ocean by the Stella & Artists, Oleanna and A Number by the Dirks Theatre Arts Association, and Same Time Next Year and Pillowman of the Long Run Theatre project by the Hiu Kok Drama Association.
Lai Cheng Man, Deputy Stage Manager
Lai graduated in tourism event management from the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, and is currently engaged in stage management, programme management and event coordination at MIIS Production.
Stella & Artists
Founded in 2012 with the purpose of promoting the development of the art of dance in Macao, Stella & Artists actively engages in local dance education while also promoting cultural and artistic exchange and cooperation between the city and other regions. Every year, Stella & Artists produces a variety of creative dance works by integrating life and culture in Macao and cooperating with outstanding artists and art troupes from other regions. Since its establishment, the dance troupe has conducted numerous cultural exchange activities and organised dancers in the troupe and Macao to visit Lisbon, Portugal; Brisbane, Australia; Yokohama and Saitama, Japan; Seoul and Daejeon, South Korea; as well as Beijing, Guizhou, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong for performances and exchanges.