Andrea Nann – Dreamwalker Dance Company
Andrea Nann is a contemporary dance artist based in Tkaronto. She is grateful for the privilege to live, dream, work and raise a family on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Andrea choreographs, performs, produces and presents dance to reach across distance, to experience herself and others in celebration of possibility, diversity, connection and belonging. She believes dance can shift attitudes and ways of being, tuning us into what makes each of us distinct, to what we share, and ultimately how we can live together in wonderment and peace. As artistic director of Dreamwalker Dance Company Andrea channels her community-building passion into participatory, collaborative multi-arts experiences. Dance has taken Andrea around the globe and she remains forever grateful.
Fangas Nayaw
Born in Taitung, Taiwan. Fangas is an artist, director, choreographer, and performer. His versatile practices probe into the dynamics of audience participation and the possibilities of new technology in the performing arts, while constantly reflecting on his indigenous identity and cultural tradition as Amis. These are seen in Don’t worry, be happy (2009), Farewell, Lin-Ban (2013), Tsou (“Name of Tribe”, 2015), Maataw (“Floating Island”, 2016), si, kaen (“Eating”, 2017), XXIX Summer Universiade Opening Program I (2017) and Alikakay (“The Giant”, 2019). His VR film work, A Song within Us, was selected in the SXSW VR competition 2020; the performance work, masingkiay: Co-creating a Collective, was invited to Cosmopolis #2 in Pompidou Centre, Paris in 2019. His directorial and choreographic work, Mailulay, won the 14th Taishin Arts Award in 2016 (as one of the five annual prize winners). He is performance coordinator of 2020 to 2022 Nuit Blanche Taipei, 2021 & 2022 Taiwan Cultural Expo. in the theme pavilion. Invited artists of 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, La XXX Punk, four-channel video, 2022 Taiwan Biennial, Demi-Ami, mixed-media performance. 2022 ACC Grant Winner. 2023 Munich DANCE Festival invited artist. As a director, choreographer, performer, and lecturer, Fangas Nayaw has participated in the artworks and activities of various representative venues, including NTCH, NTT, Weiwuying Center for the Arts, and Taipei Art Festival.
Heidi Strauss – adelheid
Heidi Strauss makes work as a way to examine human behaviour from different perspectives. In her work, relationships form a basis to consider our current social and environmental moment. She is interested in the ‘realness’ of where and who we are, here and now – how we are affected by the world around us. She is interested in challenging how we see/experience performance by shifting the physical perspective of the audience, creating immersive, installation, ambulatory, site-sensitive and digital works for theatre and non-theatre environments. Heidi is the artistic director of Toronto-based adelheid, and a multi-Dora Award winning choreographer. She has been a resident artist at the Factory Theatre, The Theatre Centre, Harbourfront Centre, and currently at The Citadel. Her film collaborations have been screened at dança em foco (Rio de Janiero), nu2’s IDN festival (Barcelona) d:mic (Toronto) and site-specifically through Art Spin. She has been commissioned by/choreographed for Toronto Dance Theatre, Mocean Dance, The Frankfurt Opera, The Canadian Opera Company, Volcano Theatre, and the Stratford Festival. She runs re:research, a non-product based creation intensive for emerging dance artists, and is a KM Hunter Award recipient. https://adelheid.ca
Michael Caldwell
Michael Caldwell is a Tkaronto-based artist whose experience spans various disciplines and realms of expression. Michael has contributed to the growth of numerous festivals and organizations across Canada, currently acting as Creative Director: Programming at Generator in Tkaronto, where he led the reimagination of the overall governance structure of the organization to move towards a co-leadership framework. He was also Executive Producer and a founding team member of Fall for Dance North, and was Associate Artistic Director for Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia. Michael has performed and collaborated with over 50 of Canada’s esteemed performance creators and companies. His choreography and performance work has been commissioned/presented throughout Canada at major festivals, in traditional venues and in site-responsive and community-engaged contexts.
Pin-Wen Su
Pin-Wen Su, feminism artist, dance (?), free will, single man who is 38, flexi-Vegan, and skoliosexual, who is often mistaken as a male by the name. Pin-Wen started to train in the sense of touching. He believes that dance is a conceptual art and should not be only about beauty and aesthetics. Since 2018 he started the “Pin-Wen Su’s Feminism, a three-year project” and in the Taipei Fringe Festival he performed a series of independent art pieces Girl’s Notes. However, he always believes that the audience just loves to see “her” naked body. That’s all.
Wu-kang CHEN
Born and raised in Taiwan, he began studying dance at the age of twelve and graduated from the Taiwan University of Arts. In 2001, Wu-Kang danced with Ballet Tech and Peridance and became the soloist, he started his long-term collaboration with choreographer Eliot Feld. He was also the guest dancer in Diamond Project of New York City Ballet in 2006.
In 2004, he co-founded HORSE Dance Theatre as an artistic director, significant works include Velocity (2007), Bones (2008), 2 Men (2012) which toured in Asia, US and Europe.
He started to collaborate with Artists in different fields in 2011, Exhibition X Performance Successor (2011), and curatorial project of Dance X Sounds seasonal improvisation platform Primal Chaos since 2016. In 2016, He began an intercultural/dance dialogue with Thai choreographer Pichet Klunchun. Behalf premiered in 2018 and toured around Asia and Europe in 2019 while working on the three-year project Rama House. He was the stage direction of The show must go on by Jérôme Bel in Taipei Art Festival in 2019, and co-created as well as performer of Dances for Wu-Kang Chen(2020), recipient of 2021 Taishin Performing Arts Award. Recent online streaming works Thank You So Much for Your Time (2019), Thank You For Staying Home (2020), 14 (2021 Da:ns Festival, Esplanade, Singapore).
Wen Huang
Independent producer based in Taiwan. Her interests in dance, physical theatre, and interdisciplinary art lead her to productions and tours with dance companies such as HORSE, Legend Lin as well as independent choreographers/artists. She also works with various organisations/institutions for international projects and events such as ARTWAVE – Taiwan International Arts Network(Performing Arts, 2017-19), Tainan Arts Festival(producer, 2019), Pulima Festival(2018), Future Circus Lab(2017), Fly Global(2014-17), QA Ring(2014), Art Taipei, Taishin Arts Award, film festivals and dance documentary.
An International Relation graduate from National Cheng-chi University, Taiwan, and MA in Arts and Cultural Management form UIC, Barcelona, Wen was granted in 2014 by the NCAF for her research project on Site-specific and Urban Festivals. She continues to develop her interests in exploring the world, connecting people, and being inspired by the journey she’s been through.