WHILE GOING TO A CONDITION / creation 2002

Created and performed by Hiroaki Umeda

Like “Accumulated Layout”, “While going to a Condition” is a spatial and sensorial experience in which the performer emanates an incredible magnetic force.

SLOWNESS AND BRILLIANCE “I created a piece of work from an empty space, where an image comes to life and develops. Slowly but surely the dance and the image and sound take shape simultaneously,” states Hiroaki Umeda.

A visual artist more than a choreographer, performer more than dancer, Hiroaki Umeda has developed an artistic approach that is based just as much on visual arts as on scenic arts. His choreographic works, which are mainly all solos, can be perceived as complete installations, audible and visual, where the artist performs highly-personal movements.

In “While going to a Condition”, time, punctuated by moments of silence, dilates, provoking a loss of bearings. Here, the artist wishes to invite the spectator to experience the duration of the work in a very particular way: slowness and brilliance join in to regulate the gradual transformation that takes place on the stage, just like moving from one state of being to another. The video, used as a source of light, creates a sort of magnetism that the public feel and experiment live and direct.

More than just a performance, Hiroaki Umeda invites the spectator to partake in a genuine experience. Leaving narration far behind, the artist seeks to transmit sensations to the public rather than messages. Devoid of what can be considered as meaning, the performance is “felt” more than understood.

Credits

Conception et interprétation Hiroaki Umeda

Réalisation vidéo Charles Picq

Durée 50 minutes

Updating : August 2012

Hiroaki Umeda is a choreographer and a multidisciplinary artist now recognized as one of the leading figures of the Japanese avant-garde art scene. Since the launch of his company S20, his subtle yet violent dance pieces have toured around the world to audience and critical acclaim. His work is acknowledged for the highly holistic artistic methodology with strong digital back ground, which considers not only physical elements as dance, but also optical, sonal, sensorial and, above all, spatiotemporal components as part and parcel of the choreography. Based on his profound interest in choreographing time and space, Umeda has spread his talent not only as a choreographer and dancer, but also as a composer, lighting designer, scenographer and visual artist.



Born in Tokyo, 1977, Umeda first studied photography at the Nihon University in Tokyo. At the age of 20, he gained interest in art more suitable for creating intense bodily experiences, which he is now known for, and started taking numerous dance classes such as ballet, hip-hop, modern dance and so on. After around a year, in 2000, Umeda stopped attending the lessons, founded his company, S20, and started creating his own multidisciplinary works by freely integrating all distinct dance practices and other art forms.



In 2007, his new solo piece "Accumulated Layout" premiered in the prestigious Théâtre National de Chaillot with much anticipation, which resulted in a sell-out performance and another great acclaim. Drawing further from his now signature style of mixing digital imagery, minimal soundscape and extremely potent corporeality, Umeda’s other solo works such as "Adapting for Distortion" (2009), "Haptic" (2009), "Holistic Strata" (2011) and "split flow" (2013) has transfixed the audience in major festivals and theatres worldwide.

In 2009, Umeda commenced his ten-year choreographic project "Superkinesis" and started working with dancers of distinct physical background such as contemporary dancers (1.centrifugal, 2009), hip-hop dancers (2. repulsion, 2010), classical ballet dancers (3. isolation, 2011) and Asian traditional dancers (4. temporal pattern, 2013).

GötenborgsOperans Danskompani, Sweden has commissioned Umeda’s latest choreography piece, "Interfacial Scale" (2013), created for 11 dancers and an abstract orchestral music composed by Yoshihiro Hanno. Fresh from the show’s success, his latest choreographic piece "Peripheral Stream" (2014) was premiered at Théâtre Châtelet in March 2014, commissioned by the L.A Dance Project lead by Benjamin Millepied.

Source : The company S20 's website

More information

hiroakiumeda.com