Yokohama Solo X Duo ＜Compétition＞＋ Prizewinners!

【The French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographers】　 Rhosam Jr. Prudenciado,  "Which Way?"
	"It’s like a dream—I’m very excited. First, I’d like to go home and celebrate my prize with my family. Then, I’d like to test myself as a choreographer, in many countries. First of all, I will study hard in France for six months and build up experience."
【The Yokohama Prize for a Brilliant Future】　 【MASDANZA Prize】 TABATA Maki, "The Dramatic"
	"I didn’t expect this award at all! I am so happy, and very grateful to my fellow dancers. I’d also like to express my sincere thanks to the staff members who supported me. I will do my best to achieve the brilliant future this prize foretells!"
【Jury Prize】 OSANAI Yumi,  "concord"
	"Since this was the first work I’d choreographed, I certainly did not expect to win an award. I couldn’t be happier! Using this prize as my springboard, I’ll do my best in creating my next work. "
【Jury Prize】 FURUIE Yuuri, "Almost Collapsing—3,000 yen worth of self-affirmation"
	"I’m so delighted­—it’s utterly astonishing. I hope to work even harder and to gain more insight. "

Held to uncover, support, and train promising young choreographers from around the world, the Yokohama Solo x Duo + received 192 entries from fourteen countries this year, a new record. The fifteen finalists, selected by screening the videos they submitted, are competing for prizes that include study in France as they daringly explore the expressive potential of the human body. All eyes are on these young choreographers, who will spread their wings in brilliant futures.

【The Yokohama Solo x Duo + 】Jurors
Rebecca Lee: Manager, Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers
ITO Junji: Culture professor at Toyama University, Art critic
KAWASAKI Toru: Director
MURAKAMI Kasumiko: Writer
HAMANO Fumio: Senior Staff Witer,” DANCE MAGAZINE”
Hélène Kelmachter: Cultural Attache, Embassy of France
Philippe Laleu: Director, Institut Franco-Japonais à Yokohama
FUJISAKI Nobuhiro: Director, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No. 1


February 5, 2009 (Thursday) 7:00 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)
【Group Division】
Choreographers: Claire Parsons, Petter Jacobsson/Thomas Caley, EZUMI Shiori, FURUIE Yuuri

February 6, 2009 (Friday)　7:00 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm) (SOLD OUT)
【Group Division】
Choreographer: TABATA Maki
【Solo x Duo Division】
Choreographers: Philip Bergmann, IDA Asami/KURODA Natsuko, SUZUKI Yukio

February 7, 2009 (Saturday)　3:00 pm (doors open at 2:30 pm) (SOLD OUT)
【Solo x Duo Division】
Choreographers: Lee Jung-Jin, Roser López Espinosa, KURAKAKE Keisuke, TAMAGAWA Sayaka

February 8, 2009 (Sunday)　3:00 pm (doors open at 2:30 pm)
【Solo x Duo Division】and Awards Ceremony
Choreographers: Marika Hedemyr, Rhosam Jr. Prudenciado, OSANAI Yumi

Place: 3rd Floor Hall, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Number 1

Admission: Regular, ¥3,000 in advance, ¥3,500 on the day; Student ¥2,000 in advance, ¥2,500 on the day.
Pass for all four days, ¥8,000 (in advance only)

All seats are unreserved.
The order of the performances on each day has yet to be determined.

[February 5, 2009 ( Thursday) ]
【Group Division】
Claire Parsons
Work: "MOUSE A ROKOKO TALE"
＜Claire Parsons Co＞ is a dance and performance group based in Stockholm, Sweden, creating dance, performance and visual works for large and small experiences. She likes to say hello to the audience in a mix of performance and dance, combining visual drama and wry humor in experimental ventures where the past inspires the present. Claire has toured in many of the European countries and worked around the world. In 2008, she is collaborating with Russian avant-garde dancers, performing for the Stockholm Cultural Festival, dancing a solo for the Dance Museum and creating two new works. 2008 she is performing in Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Russia. Claire likes to make pieces for a young audience as well as adults. She recently gave a master class for Cirque Du Soleil and a lecture-performance for The House of Dance.

Petter Jacobsson / Thomas Caley
Work: "UNTITLED PARTNER"
＜Scentrifug＞is a project based contemporary dance company producing stage performances, events, films, installations and workshops. ＜Scentrifug＞ has produced and presented over twenty works in Sweden and internationally from New York to St.Petersburg, Joyce Soho, Martha @mother, Royal Opera House-Stockholm, the gallery Färgfabriken - Stockholm, "Chess the Musical" - which received a 'Gold mask' for best Choreography in 2003. Moderna Dansteatern - Stockholm, Music Hall - St.Petersburg. Skanes Dansteater - Malmo, the Gallery space dcEX - Stockholm. Recent productions include "Nightlife" 2005, "Paradise?" 2006 premiered at Moderna Dansteatern and performed by , Malmö in winter 2008."PostParadise" 2007, "Untitled partner" 2007. "Niagara falls" 2008 and "Flux" 2008.

EZUMI Shiori
Work: "Emotion"
EZUMI began studying dance with FUJII Koh, FUJII Toshiko, and TAKANO Naomi in 1980. She trained with ＜Mika Kurosawa & Dancers＞ in 2005 under the Agency for Cultural Affairs fellowship program that supports promising young artists training in Japan. In 2003 and 2004 she won second prize in the creative dance division of the National Dance Competition with "Heavenly Wasteland" and "Fragile Heart," respectively. In 2006, her "Snow Garden" won third prize in that competition. In 2005, her "Blue Moon" won the Special Prize at the Saitama International Creative Dance Contest. Since 2003, EZUMI has been revealing new works every year to great critical acclaim.

【Jury Prize】
FURUIE Yuuri
Work: "Almost Collapsing—3,000 yen worth of self-affirmation"
A graduate of the Dance and Dance Education program at Ochanomizu University, FURUIE formed with several of her classmates in 2006 and was selected to perform in "We're Gonna Go Dancing!! Vol. 8." in 2007. She has performed "Almost Collapsing" in Oita, Kochi, and Awajishima and also presented that program at SPECIAL IN Osaka and Tokyo. She has been selected for the second stage of the 2008 Toyota Choreography Award.



[February 6, 2009 (Friday) ] (SOLD OUT)
【Group Division】
【The Yokohama Prize for a Brilliant Future】　
【MASDANZA Prize】
TABATA Maki
Work: "The Dramatic"
Having begun with classical ballet at the age of three, TABATA studied a variety of expressive genres in the drama department of Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music. She began to work in contemporary dance in 2000 and has participated as a dancer in performances by dance companies such as <Co.Yamada Un>, <Kim Itoh + the Glorious Future>, <Leni-Basso>, anna, and others. She is now focused as a choreographer on composing her own works.



【Solo×Duo Division】
Philip Bergmann
Work: "Minus Zero"
Philip Bergmann was born 1976 in Arnsberg, Germany. At the age of 16 he started to study dancing at the John-Cranko School in Stuttgart and the Highschool for the arts in Cologne. As dancers he worked mainly with <the Nuremberg Dance Company> and <the icelandic Dance Company>. He is based in Munich and works since three years as a freelance choreographer.



IDA Asami / KURODA Natsuko
Work: "life-when peeking from four bilion times the world…-"
IDA and KURODA are now studying at the University of Tsukuba and have received many prizes in national competitions. We are pursuing the possibilities of the body through extreme expression. In this work, we expressed our own mysterious, fantastic view of the world, one not constrained by the limits of the female body.



SUZUKI Yukio
Work: "Love vibration" (Commissioned by Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN) for "DANCE x MUSIC! vol. 3" in 2008)
SUZUKI began dancing at Asbestos Studio in 1997, taking part in works by MUROBUSHI Ko and others. He founded <KINGYO dance company> in 2000. Its documentary style of choreography and performance, with ranks of fervent dancers, has attracted great attention. Recently he has been active as a choreography on many fronts, including work for ballet troupes and participating in 'ITI 3rd Asian Dance Conference'. SUZUKI won the 2008 Toyota Choreography Award for 'Choreographer of the Next Generation.'


[February 7, 2009 (Saturday)] (SOLD OUT)
【Solo×Duo Division】
Lee Jung-Jin
Work: "an operating manual"
16th national dance, 'best dancer'.
15th national dance, 'best dancer'.
7th dance and people young dance 'best dancer'



Roser López Espinosa
Work: "The lizard's skin"
Roser López Espinosa graduates at MTD Department of the Theaterschool in Amsterdam in 2005 and is granted a danceWEB-Europe scholarship (ImpulsTanz Festival, Vienna, 2005). As a dancer, she has worked with <Àngels Margarit-Cia Mudances>, Iago Pericot, and in Barcelona; Marta Reig Torres, and Pere Faura in Amsterdam and with in Lisboa. In 2006 Roser López Espinosa makes the solo "The lizard's skin", awarded First Prize of Solo Contest at 11MASDANZA (Spain, 2006) and presents it at major international festivals. In 2008 she premieres "Còncau, II" at BCSTX program by Mercat de les Flors (Barcelona, Spain) and is awarded Second Prize of New Tendencies at International Choreography Contest Burgos - New York.

KURAKAKE Keisuke
Work: "The animal of bird"
Born in 1987, KURAKAE is currently a student in the Faculty of Education and Culture at the University of Miyazaki. Interested since childhood in physical movement, he has worked to achieve greater expressiveness in the course of daily life. After participating in various sports, he began studying dance seriously at the age of 18. He is a member of a dance unit, <Nmatsu-Posu> , formed at his university and appeared in its "Poster of a Lizard with Golden Feathers #4."



TAMAGAWA Sayaka
Work: "maybe we were"
After completing her BA (Hons) at the Laban Centre, London, TAMAGAWA earned her MA in choreography there, in 2003. She organized <synapse> her own dance company, in 2001 it has performed at the Edinburgh Festival and in many other locations in Britain and Europe. She is currently planning to unveil four new works at a performance on March 3, 2009.



[February 8, 2009 (Sunday)]
【Solo×Duo Division】
Marika Hedemyr
Work: "JUST IN TIME"
Marika Hedemyr is a Swedish choreographer and dancer in contemporary dance, educated at Laban Centre London (1999). In the Spring 2000, she returned to Sweden and started <Crowd Company>. She finds inspiration in pedestrian movements, non verbal communication and  challenges the borders and places for dance performances. She is also a popular teacher and lecturer in dance. For her work, she has been awarded the CORD Award for Graduate Research 1999, Region of Västra Götaland Cultural Award 2001, Gothenburg City Cultural Award in 2002 and working grants from the Swedish Arts Grant Committee in 2004, 2007 and 2008.

【The French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographers】　
Rhosam Jr. Prudenciado
Work: "Which Way?"
Rhosam is a member, choreographer and a hiphop / jazz teacher of <Airdance Compeny> , a leading contemporary dance company in the Philippines. He is the past president of <Kawilihan Dance Troupe> - University of San Agustin Iloilo and a guest artist of <UP Dance Company>. He is the 2008 2nd prize winner "Which Way?" of Wifi Body Contemporary Dance Festival New Choreographer's Competition. Through his skills in dancing, he performed in various music video productions, West Side Story Theater Production, 5th Mindanao Modern Dance Competition, TARI 2007 Malaysia, and other major corporate and artistic shows under ＜Airdance Company＞.

【Jury Prize】
OSANAI Yumi
Work: "concord"
Born in 1983, OSANAI has studied classical ballet since childhood. She graduated from the Dance and Dance Education programs at Ochanomizu University in 2006. While still at the university, she began performing with <H. ART CHAOS> and other dance companies. With five of her classmates, she then organized <Project Oyama> , and in 2007 and 2008 toured the whole of Japan in 'We're Gonna Go Dancing!! Vol. 8.' Wanting to explore her own means of expression and improvisation, she has also begun solo performances.