RE/PLAY DANCE EDIT
M A N I L A
Junnosuke Tada (JP)
Director
Born in 1976, Tada formed his company “Tokyo Deathlock” in 2001. His direction focuses on the concept that “manifestation equals phenomenon” and that this manifestation includes a performer’s body, the audience, and the space. With his unconventional approach to the framework of established theater, each of his projects generates intriguing discussions both within Japan and abroad. He has been the artistic director of the Kirari Fujimi Cultural Centre of Fujimi City since 2010. He is the first international winner of the Director Award in the Donga Theater Awards of Korea with the Korean-Japanese collaboration ‘KARUMEGI’ in 2013.
Kitamari (JP)
Initiator, Choreographer and Dancer
Born in 1983, Kitamari started dancing under the direction of dancer Masami Yurabe. She started working solo upon entering university in 2002 and formed her company “KIKIKIKIKIKI” in 2003. In 2008 she received the Audience Award of the Toyota Choreography Award and the grand prize in the Yokohama Solo X Duo Competition in 2010. She also won the New Artist Award at the Agency for Cultural Affairs National Arts Festival in 2016 for ‘Nachtmusik,’ a part of her series of dances for all of Mahler’s Symphonies. Kitamari continually crosses boundaries by directing, choreographing, and dancing in a range of performances, as well as producing projects that expand the possibilities for performing arts and are vital to the contemporary dance scene.
Eisa Jocson (PH)
Choreographer and Dancer
Eisa Jocson is a contemporary choreographer and dancer from the Philippines. Trained as a visual artist, with a background in ballet, she won her first pole-dancing competition in Manila in 2010. Her 3 solo works; Death of the Pole Dancer (2011), Macho Dancer (2013) and Host (2015) toured extensively in major festivals worldwide, including Impulstanz Vienna (2013), Noorderzon, Groningen (2013 & 2015), Tanz im August, Berlin (2013 & 2015), Zurich Theater Spektakel (2012 & 2013 & 2015 & 2017), Theatre der Welt (2014), Asia Triennial of Performing Arts, Melbourne (2017). The 3 solos have been presented as a trilogy in LIVEWORKS festival in Sydney (2016) and Counterpulse Festival & SF MOMA in San Francisco (2016).
Macho Dancer won the Zürcher Kantonalbank Acknowledgement Prize 2013. She then had her first solo exhibition; Philippine Macho Academy (2014) in Vargas Museum, University of the Philippines.
From pole to macho dancing to hostess work, Eisa investigates the labour and representations of the dancing body in the service industry, and exposes identity and gender formation, seduction politics, and Filipino social mobility.
In her new creation, HAPPYLAND series (2017), Princess is a duet with Filipino performance artist Russ Ligtas and Your Highness is a collaboration with 5 dancers from Ballet Philippines. This series is a continuation of her investigation into Filipino labour, the performance of happiness and the production of fantasy within the happiness empire.
Irish Paul Mendoza (PH)
Choreographer and Dancer
Irish Paul is a 26 year old Caviteño dancer. He graduated at De La Salle University-Dasmarinas with the degree of AB Communication Major in Advertising.
He started dancing in their ministry- Church of God Dasmariñas in 2004. In 2008, he decided to take dancing seriously and started his formal training at Ballet Philippines. He later on joined the commercial hiphop dance group - Limited Edition. In 2012, he became a trainee of A-team Philippines
With the burning passion to share all his acquired skills and knowledge to the dance community in Cavite, he decided to create his own dance group The Undrgrnd. Still hungry for learning, while still spearheading his own crew, he joined Autonomicas Crew in the year 2015.
He's is currently working as a full-time multimedia artist (Graphic Artist, Videographer, Photographer) while still dancing in different events and coaching dance crews in different universities.
Video Editing, Photography) while still coaching dance crews in different universities.
Carissa Adea (PH)
Choreographer and Dancer
Carissa is a former principal dancer of Ballet Philippines dancing with the company for 15 years. She is a grantee of Asian Cultural Council fellowship in New York City in 2014. She is now a freelancer dance artist and choreographer.
JOHN PAUL ORTENERO (PH)
Choreographer and Dancer
John Paul Ortenero is an artist from Baguio City. His passion and love for dance was initially ignited when he became a dance scholar in Dr. Marie Bernadette Valeriano's First Allegro School of Dance while also performing as a choir singer and community theater actor in Baguio. A Bachelor of Arts in Communication (AB Comm) graduate, he opted to transition from working as a hotel reservations agent for almost six years to dancing full time in 2014. JP is a full scholarship grantee of Ms. Sofia Elizade Steps Dance Studio from 2013 to present. He is the first Filipino male candidate to finish the new RAD Advanced 2 Vocational Male Syllabus and the Advanced Foundation and Advanced 1 Vocational Male Syllabus with Distinction.
He recently performed with the cast of Ms. Julie Alagde-Carretas's An Ongoing Revolution, a show which promotes awareness on Violence Against Women. JP teaches jazz to kids and also dabbles into stage management.
Sachi Masuda (JP)
Choreographer and Dancer
Born in 1990, Sachi Masuda began her early training at Sadamatsu-Hamada Ballet, and began her career in contemporary dance in 2012. She has had the opportunity to perform works by Kitamari/KIKIKIKIKIKI, Schatzkammer, and Yuko Takano to name a few. She has also gone on tour in the U.S. and Canada with a theatrical piece by visual artist Miwa Yanagi, in which she performed as a dancer/actor. In 2015, she formed the dance unit “...1[amariichi(a remainder of one)]” with fellow dancer Ayako Saitoh.
Narim Nam (CMB)
Choreographer and Dancer
Nam Narim comes from a long family line of esteemed Cambodian classical dancers. Narim began her classical training at the age of nine. She completed the Secondary School of Fine Arts in 2000 and received her BA in Choreographic Arts from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh in 2004. She continued her studies at the Korean National University of Arts where she graduated in 2009 with a Master’s degree in Choreography. She is currently a member of the Cambodian National Theatre troupe, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. Narim has performed in a number of new works of contemporary dance with Amrita Performing Arts and was a featured dancer in Stravinsky’s Persephone directed by Peter Sellars at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain. Narim 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. Recently, Narim has been selected to participate in the 2013 Young Choreographers Project in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Sophal Sor (CMB)
Choreographer and Dancer
Sophal Sor studied Lakhaon Khaol (Cambodian classical male masked dance) at the Royal University of Fine Arts, graduating in 2010. Also well-versed in shadow puppetry theater, Sophal has performed with Sovanna Phum Association in Cambodia and Southeast Asia since 2011. Sophal joined Amrita as a dancer in 2014 and has worked in workshops and performances with local and international choreographers.