RAIN

Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY) opened its doors as a dancehouse in Yokohama in June 2020 to art and culture lovers and the local community. With the purpose of creating performing artworks centred around dance, DaBY plans and organises workshops and experimental tryout performances, features international artists and companies and conducts dance archival projects. It aims to facilitate exchanges not only between artists such as choreographers and dancers but also between multidisciplinary creators, critics, researchers, production staff and audience members.

Eri Karatsu (Executive Producer of Aichi Prefectural Art Theater) serves as the Artistic Director of DaBY. She is dedicated to improving the working environment for dance and performing arts, protecting the rights of artists, dancers and staff members, and building strategies to expand audience and market. In 2020, DaBY’s concept  of “open dance up to society” was recognised and awarded the Good Design Award. The company’s logo was selected for the Tokyo TDC Annual Awards 2021.

One of the largest theatres in Aichi Prefecture with three halls within the Aichi Arts Center, the Aichi Prefectural Art Theater is an arts and culture complex in Sakae District of Nagoya City. Since its opening in 1992, the theatre has staged various dance performances and is wellequipped to host full-scale operas and ballets. The theatre complex includes the Main Theater (2 480 seats), reminiscent of a European theatre; the Concert Hall (1 800 seats) with a pipe organ ideal for classical music; and the Mini Theater (up to 330 seats) that can be used as a flexible venue for creative expression. The Aichi Prefectural Art Theater has been active in promoting multidisciplinary dance, music and film collaboration, utilising the facilities and resources of the Aichi Arts Center.

Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY) Associate Choreographer. Born in Yokohama. He later studied at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in the UK. He has performed in works by Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Philippe Decouflé, Inbal Pinto / Avshalom Pollak, Ella Rothschild, Motoko Hirayama, Ryohei Kondo, Kenta Kojiri and Mari Natsuki. He was the first one to take home three awards at the Yokohama Dance Collection 2017 Competition, including the “French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographer”. His choreographic works has been performed in and out of Japan.

He has choreographed and taught contemporary dance to young ballet dancers participating in competitions within Japan and internationally, leading many to win prizes.

At DaBY, he created three works including When will we ever learn? in 2021, which premiered at Aichi Prefectural Art Theater and was restaged in Kanagawa Arts Theater. He created his first commissioned choreography in Europe in 2022.

Photo credit: ©️ Takayuki Abe

Originally from Gifu, Japan. He works with the question “what is existence?”. He explores the relationship between the external world of the environment and others, the internal world of memory and consciousness, and the body that lies between the two. He attempts to create an embodied time and space to approach the ambiguous and elusive “existence” that fluctuates between the three.

His ongoing solo exhibitions are The Depth of Light (A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, 2023) and Interface of Being (National Art Center, Tokyo, 2023). Past solo exhibitions include Rustle of Existence (Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts / Taipei, 2020); Where the Gaze Falls (Chihiro Art Museum Tokyo, 2018); Liminal Air Fluctuation – existence (Hermès store on Rue de Sèvres / Paris, 2015); MOMENT AND ETERNITY (Third Floor - Hermes / Singapore, 2012); PROOF OF EXISTENCE (The Hakone Open-Air Museum, 2012) and ECHOES – INFINITY (Shiseido Gallery, 2005). He has been part of various international exhibitions such as the Aichi Triennale (2016), Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2014-), Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2009) and Yokohama Triennale (2008). More recent works include freeplus × HEBE × Shinji Ohmaki (HKRI Taikoo Hui / Shanghai, 2019), Futuristic Space at the Yokohama Dance Collection (Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, 2019) and Louis Vuitton 2016-17 Fall / Winter Men’s Collection (Parc-AndréCitroën / Paris, 2016).

Photo credit: ©️ paul barbera: where they create

Composer and sound artist. Founder of “See by Your Ears” which explores the dormant possibilities in hearing. He has been creating edgy works of electronic music and exploring auditory experiences through his unique “spatial composition” with the use of 3D sound systems as new instruments.

In 2020, he premiered Sea, See, She - To you, who is yet to come based on the concept of  “invisible cinema”, a sound-only cinema experience set in complete darkness. He received the Excellence Award at the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival for this work. In 2021, he received the Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention for his 3D immersive audio album Chosho Hakkei in Rittor Base - HPL ver. Recent works include Alaya Crossing (the World Heritage Site of Yakushiji Temple, 2022); Inter-Scape 22 (Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, 2022); Haze (Towada Art Center, 2020); Acoustic Vessel Odyssey, a 576ch immersive audio soundscape with SONY Sonic Surf VR (South by Southwest, Austin, USA, 2018); Our Muse (Asia Culture Center, Korea, 2018) and Otocyon Megalotis (Sonar+D, Barcelona, 2017). Our Muse and Otocyon Megalotis are also currently being exhibited in ICC Annual 2023: Shapes of Things (NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, 2023).

Photo credit: ©️ Susumu Kunisaki

Executive Producer of Aichi Prefectural Art Theater and Artistic Director of Dance Base Yokohama.  Karatsu studied Dance and Dance Education at Ochanomizu University and pursued her master’s degree at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences there. After some experience on stage herself, she started working as the first ever dance curator in Japan at the Aichi Arts Center from 1993. In 2000, she received the first Asahi Performing Arts Award at the Aichi Prefectural Arts Promotion Service. She started her current work in 2021. She was a curator (in the performing arts division) for the Aichi Triennale from 2010 to 2016. She has produced and presented more than 200 works, spanning from large-scale international projects to experimental creations. Since founding DaBY, she has been actively involved in improving the work environment for dance and performing arts, protecting the rights of artists, dancers and staff members, and building strategies to expand audience and market. In 2022, she received the Reiwa 4 (73rd) Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize (Development of the Arts). Her written work includes her book, L'intelligence du corps.

Photo credit: ©️ Takayuki Abe

DaBY Resident Dancer. Originally from Gifu, Tsuchimoto started learning classical ballet at the age of four and later came across contemporary dance. She is a member of Getsumen Chakuriku with DaBY Resident Artist Mariko Kakizaki, Kaho Kogure and Yo Nakamura. She seeks to encounter the authentic body and the new body in her dance.

DaBY Resident Dancer. Born in 1993 and originally from Osaka, Toda has participated in the works and creations of Paul Julius, Aya Misaki, Amon Miyamoto, Jiri Pokorny, Nobuko Takahara,  Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa.

DaBY Resident Dancer. Originally from Tokyo, Hatanaka graduated from the Dance and  Dance Education programme at Ochanomizu University. She has performed in DaBY’s projects, working with artists such as Kenta Kojiri, Ryu Suzuki, Jiri Pokorny and Saori Hala. She has also participated in works by Onaya Rion. She began to make original works as a way to reconsider the reality of her movements and artworks.

DaBY Resident Dancer. Horikawa started classical ballet at the age of five and studied classical ballet and contemporary dance at Symphony Ballet Studio at the age of 12. She has won many top prizes within Japan and at international competitions, and danced for demonstration videos in the Brilliant Stars Ballet Competition for the contemporary division. She teaches at Symphony Ballet Studio and aims to combine classical ballet and contemporary dance.

Studied at Rudra Béjart School Lausanne and Rosella Hightower in Cannes, Poplawski performed in works by famous choreographers such as Maurice Béjart, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Claude Brumachon, Davide Bombana and Julien Ficelli. In 2011, Poplawski started working in Germany and Austria with choreographer Mei Hong Lin. He danced major roles and choreographed in Romeo and Juliet (as Romeo), The Nutcracker (as Nutcracker), The Little Mermaid (as Prince Eric), Swan Lake, and other original productions. After five years in TANZLIN.Z, Austria, he joined Nanine Linning Dance Company in Germany for a year before moving to Japan in 2018. He worked with Noism Company in Niigata for four years, where he experienced the Japanese culture and dance aesthetics. He appeared in various works from Kanamori Jo, as well as Mori Yuki and Yamada Un. He now works as a freelance choreographer and dancer in Japan.

Born in 2004 in Aichi, Yamada started learning hip hop in 2011 and jazz in 2017, fascinated by its range of expression. He fully takes advantage of his flexibility and physical ability to produce dynamic movements and has received awards as a team and as an individual in various competitions. In 2020, Yamada began studying contemporary dance and performed in Rojo no Hoseki choreographed by Kaho Kogure and Proxy directed and choreographed by Ryu Suzuki (produced by DaBY). Since 2022, Yamada has joined the Moonlight Mobile Theater. Currently works as a dancer, choreographer and dance instructor.

Dance professional. Cheung graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in contemporary dance. Recently, Cheung has participated in works include touring of Dance Me to the End of Night by Mao Wei (China tour); Remnants and The Last Stone by Kelvin Mak; Colossus by Stephanie Lake (Australia); I Will Jump Over the Fire and Lost Paradise by Jorge Jauregui Allue (Spain), Curl and The Magnificent Orange Tree by Leila McMillan (London), as well as The Closest Knot by Judith Sanchez Ruiz (Cuba).

His recent choreographic works include Destiny (2022), Instinct (2023) and Behind (2023), among which Behind has been invited to in various dance festivals.

Born in Qinghai, Zhang is currently studying for a Master of Fine Arts in Dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She participated Chinese Dance Association's “Youth Training  Plan-Creation Camp” in 2013. She was awarded the Outstanding Graduate of Sichuan Province in 2021 and received scholarships for four consecutive years.

In 2023, she performed in an improvisation performance in “Biometric Theatre”, the solo exhibition of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in Hong Kong. In the same year, she performed in Mao Wei's work Dance Me to the End of Night (China tour). She is featured in dance film I Love You Love Me which has been selected for the 20th Guangdong Dance Festival.

She performed in Yang Chang's work Under the Big Tree, presented in the Chinese Dance Association's “Deeper into Life, Rooted in the People” showcase, and the showcase in the 13th Chinese Dance Lotus Award. Her credits as choreographer include Hello.... (18th Guangdong Dance Festival); Return (selected as the representative of outstanding works of Qinghai Province) and Jade Zen (co-choreographer, Xinjiang Grand Theatre). She was also the Director of the opening ceremony of the Qinghai International Flight Festival.