Asialink Japan Dance Exchange, 2005-2006 Neon Rising Australian dance artists create an intricate tapestry of works with their Japanese counterparts Asialink, in partnership with the Dance Board of the Australia Council, has selected five outstanding Australian choreographers to develop new collaborative works in Japan over the next two years. The successful choreographers: Kate Denborough, Sue Healey, Jo Lloyd, Tess de Quincey and Leigh Warren and Dancers will collaborate with an exciting mix of Japanese choreographers, dancers, designers, architects, screen-based and new media practitioners.
	Photographer Tatsuo Nambu Niche/Japan a work by Sue Healey produced by Aichi Arts Centre, 2002.

This Program is supported by the Australia Council, Arts Victoria, NSW Ministry of the Arts, Critical Path and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Japan SA Award through Arts SA.

Neon Rising Projects
Building upon the success of the company's tour in Japan in 2004, Leigh Warren will return to Tokyo to choreograph, direct and design a production Wanderlust with Japanese choreographer Uno Man and screen media designer Tetsutoshi Tabata. Wanderlust will use dancers and multi-disciplinary artists from Australia and Japan. In 2005 Leigh Warren and two dancers from Leigh Warren & Dancers (LWD) will travel to Japan to work with the Japanese artists. In 2006, Wanderlust will be presented in three Japanese venues and three Australian venues.

Kate Denborough with dancer Gerard van Dyck will return to Osaka to further develop the work Ink with Japanese dancer Shigemi Kitamura and video artist Kyota Takahashi. Ink is a collaborative physical and visual performance feast. The work is inspired by the notion of indelible and unforgettable memories and uses the irreversible nature of tattooing as its reference point. Developed in partnership with presenter Dancebox in Osaka, it will feature everything from pens, Japanese calligraphy to onstage tattoo artists and will be presented in Japan and Australia in 2006.

Jo Lloyd and Melbourne designer Shio Otani will collaborate with multi-media art collective Nibroll. Lloyd, who worked with Nibroll through her Asialink residency in 2004, will work with Nibroll artistic director Mikuni Yanahara, video artist Keisuke Takahashi and composer Yuki Kato to create Public=un+Public, a new dance performance installation exploring public and private behaviour and the linkages between the two cultures. Public=un+Public will be presented at BankART 1929 in Yokohama in 2005, in New York in November 2005 and in Australia in 2006.

A new dance-video project Will Time Tell? will be created by Sue Healey and cinematographer Mark Pugh. This series has a focus on time and timing - an investigation into the puzzles and paradoxes of this slippery subject. The work will involve a collaboration between two Japanese and two Australian performers. A site specific installation work will also be created and performed in both countries.

Tess de Quincey, who introduced the Japanese based Body Weather dance philosophy and methodology to Australia in 1988, will return to Japan to reconnect with Japanese choreographer Min Tanaka. She will also work with Australian musician Jim Denley to collaborate with artists in the fields of dance, new media and music. In particular they will be developing a working dialogue with vocalist Ami Yoshida as well as with musician Otomo Yoshide who are both pivotal figures in Japanese contemporary music.

Enquiries:

Swee Lim
Performing Arts Program Manager
(03) 8344 3581
s.lim@asialink.unimelb.edu.au