Taipei, Feb. 5 (CNA) Japanese choreographer Hiroaki Umeda, known for his works that combine dance, sound, images and lighting, will showcase a new piece in Taipei in March that features dancers from different Asian countries, the promoters said Tuesday.
Taiwan's National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) and Singapore's Esplanade -- Theatres has commissioned Umeda to create the modern dance piece titled "Temporal Pattern," which will be performed along with his solo dance "Haptic" from March 15-17 at the Taiwan International Festival of Arts.
"Temporal Pattern," the fourth piece in Umeda's choreographic project "Superkinesis," which emphasizes body movements, will explore body languages across different cultures through three dancers from Taiwan, India and Cambodia.
"I wanted to focus on the diversity of Asian dance culture," the choreographer said at a press conference.
The challenge of the piece is to find movements consistent with different styles of dance, said Umeda, who began to choreograph the dance in November last year.
Born in 1977, Umeda founded his own dance company, S20, in 2000. His works have been performed in France, Canada, Belgium, the United Kingdom and various other countries.
Umeda's dances reflect contemporary Japanese culture and the innovative thoughts of a new generation of choreographers, according to the NTCH, which is organizing the festival.
The festival, to be held at the NTCH from Feb. 15 to March 31, will feature 18 theater, dance and musical pieces in 49 performances by artists from countries including Germany, Japan, Greece, France, Georgia and Chile.
This year, German composer Christian Jost and Taiwanese composer Chung Yiu-Kwong are collaborating with Taiwanese theater director Li Huan-hsiung to produce the flagship production of the festival -- a musical theater piece based on a poem and short stories by Chinese writer Eileen Chang.
(By Christie Chen)
ENDITEM/J/tc
