Hiroaki UMEDA

Born 1977 in Tokyo. Commenced his creative activities in 2000, when he launched the "S20" dance company. When the piece while going to a condition was staged at the Rencontres Choreographiques Internationals festival in France in 2002, the festival's director Anita Mathieu referred to Umeda by speaking of "the emergence of a promising young choreographer." In 2003, Umeda unveiled "Finore" in Montreal, and in 2004, "Duo" in Rio de Janeiro. Following a residency at French leading choreographer Philippe Decoufle's studio, in 2007 he presented "Accumulated Layout", a co-production with the Theatre National de Chaillot (France) that was subsequently invited to the Kunsten Festival des Arts (Belgium), London's Barbican, the Romaeuropa Festival, the Centre Pompidou (Paris), and other prime festivals and venues around the world. In 2008, Umeda presented "Haptic" and "Adapting for Distortion", two co-productions with the Festival d'Automne (Paris) and Romaeuropa Festival respectively. He began to work as a choreographer in 2009, and showed "1. centrifugal", his first piece for a group of dancers, in Japan and Finland. In 2010, he was awarded a Honorary Mention at the international media art festival Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria). At the "Aichi Triennale 2010" international art festival, he showed a dance performance and an interactive installation incorporating light and sound.