FestivalTokyo

Nao Yoshigai
Dancer, Choreographer, Filmmaker

Nao Yoshigai makes films about time that concentrate on the acts of watching and listening using physical sensations and phenomena that only living beings can experience. Her latest film, “Grand Bouquet,” is on display at NTT InterCommunication Center until March 11th, 2019. Her 2015 film “hottamaru days” won the New Face Award in the Entertainment Division at the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival. In addition to her film work, she also directs music videos and choreographs dance.
http://naoyoshigai.com/

Saori Hala
Dancer, Artist

Saori Hala started her practice as a Berlin-based artist in 2012. Her work deals wit the theme of affordance and explores realistic approaches to the body in site-specific spaces. Her recent output includes “Da Dad Dada,” a documentary about her separation in life and death from her father, who was also a dancer. It has been shown in both Japan and Germany. She has also appeared in numerous live music performances, music videos, and TV shows, harnessing her physique that combines a static bearing with an animalist dynamism. In 2017, she was an overseas research fellow for the Pola Art Foundation. She holds degrees in design from the Tokyo University of the Arts and dance from Berlin University of the Arts.
halasaori.com

Yujiro Sagami
Director

Born in Fukui in 1982, Yujiro Sagami makes theatre that reinquries into the physical experience of seeing while embedding himself in various communities and collaborating with locals. In 2009, he created “DRAMATHOLOGY,” a collaborative play developed with residents of Itami aged 70 and over. It was subsequently presented at Festival/Tokyo 2010. His dance piece “about angels” was shown at TPAM in Yokohama in 2012. His recent output includes “Superimpose” (2016) and “Navigations” (2014 and ongoing) with the dancer Kentaro Sato.
http://sagami-endo.com/

Magda Szpecht

Born in Jelenia Góra, Poland, in 1990, Magda Szpecht studied journalism and social communication with a specialization in creative writing at the University of Wroclaw. She then studied directing at Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Kraków. Her work “DOLPHIN_WHO_LOVED_ME” (with Szymon Adamczak) won a prize at 100°Berlin Festival at Berlin HAU, and has been presented at many festivals. A prolific director, her work includes an adaptation of Michel Houellebecq’s “The Possibility of an Island” at TR Warszawa in November 2015. With the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, she is staying Japan for around one month in autumn 2018 to conduct joint research with F/T and TR Warszawa.

Masashi Nukata

Born in 1992 in Tokyo, Masashi Nukuta is a composer, director, and playwright. While a student at Tokyo University of the Arts, he formed an eight-piece band called Tokyo Shiokouji. Fusing minimalism with hip hop and techno, its unique sound has received praise from the likes of American composer Steve Reich. The band recently played at Fuji Rock Festival in 2018. He likewise began working in the theatre while a student, forming the company Nuthmique. In this way, Nukuta seamlessly switches from music to theatre in his practice. His awards include the 16th AAF Playwriting Prize and Best Director at the Komba Agora Director Concours 2018.

Mohammad Al Attar

Born in Damascus, Mohammad Al Attar majored in English literature at university and then studied theatre at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts, Damascus. After graduating, he completed a master’s degree in applied theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London. His recent work has dealt with the Syrian Revolution and the resulting conflict since 2011. His plays such as “Withdrawal,” “Online,” “Look at the street...this is what hope looks like,” “Could You Please Look into the Camera?,” and “While I was waiting” have been staged at various international festivals and venues. Most of his plays have been produced in collaboration with the Syrian director Omar Abusaada. These performances take place on the border between fiction and documentation, condensing the travails of war and showing what it means to endure them. His most recent piece, “The Factory,” had its international premiere in summer 2018 at the Ruhrtriennale festival in Germany. In addition to his work for the stage, Al Attar has written for numerous magazines and newspapers, with a special focus on the Syrian uprising.

In cooperation with Goethe-Institut Tokyo

Dariusz Kosiński

Dariusz Kosiński is professor at the Performance Studies Department of Jagiellonian University in Kraków. From 2010 until the end of 2013, he was the research director of the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław. He was a member of the editorial board forthe collected texts of Jerzy Grotowski, published in Polish in 2012. From 2014 he has been the research director of the Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw. His writing include a history of Polish theatre, which was also published in German and Chinese. His latest publications include a book on the performances after the cathastrophe of the presidential plane accident in Smolensk, two monographs about Grotowski’s early performances, and a collection of essays on performance studies.

In cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute