“We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the pattern of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.” (Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows, 1933)
Before coming into the world dance at the ripe old age of 20, Hiroaki Umeda had been studying photography, which helped him cultivate an acute understanding of light and shadow. Recalling that he always found photography stressful, he explains how he became drawn to performance: “With photography I felt I had to be away from the environment and situation I was photographing. I couldn’t experience the situation. I think I wanted to experience and to be there more. I was also interested in changing time and space, but if I had to be away from a situation, I couldn’t feel or experience the change. So I was looking for a style of expression that could give experience and a changing space/time.”
He studied various dance styles before realising none of them really fitted the movements he wanted to do, and after less than a year he abandoned all formal training. Now one of Japan’s most acclaimed young performers/choreographers, and director of his own company S20, he continues to work in a highly independent and autonomous way – not only doing all the choreography and movement in his shows but also designing the sets, lighting, video projections and musical scores. “I cannot think only of dance,” he says, “in my thought, dance is to be made with the surrounding elements because the body is an element of the environment. For me, to make a dance piece is to make a space, including choreography, sound, light and so on.”
Hiroaki will be making his first trip to Australia in September to present his While going to a condition and Accumulated layout for four nights only at the Sydney Opera House, as part of their Spring Dance program.
