News from Footnote New Zealand Dance
Dive in and be swept into ​Undercurrent​, Footnote New Zealand Dance’s National Tour – at the Opera House in Wellington for one night only this Thursday 12 November.

Undercurrent​ is​​ two absorbing new dance works that are rich in detail and grand in scale – created by Japanese artist Kota Yamazaki and New Zealand choreographer Rose Philpott.

Kota Yamazaki shares a reflective mosaic of visual delight in his work ​Fog, Nerves, Future, Ocean, Hello(echoes)​. Mysterious, surprising and beautiful, this is the result of working across continents in a changed world.

Inspired by the landscape of Wellington and the unpredictability of human behaviour, this work is buoyed by hypnotic sound design by Jesse Austin-Stewart and intricate, sculptural set design by his Tokyo-based collaborators.

Dry Spell​, choreographed by Rose Philpott, is a telling of one night. A whirlpool of frenzied hedonism set to an original composition by prolific sound designer Eden Mulholland.

Saturated in colour and energy, ​Dry Spell sinks to intriguing depths in a strange collection of equally murky and razor-sharp encounters.

Anchored by the intensity and skill of the Footnote New Zealand Dance company members, ​Undercurrent ​will flood the Opera House with crisp and captivating dance.

Dry Spell choreographer​ Rose Philpott is a graduate of the Unitec Dance programme (BPSA Contemporary Dance) and has been working as a freelance dancer, choreographer and teacher for the past 8 years. Rose is an long term collaborator of Foster Group performing in ​Orchids​ (2017 & 2019), and in development works ​DoubleGoer​ (2019) and ​Gender Panic​ (2019). She made ​Night Swim​ for Footnote New Zealand Dance’s season Search Engine​ (2018) and is co-Artistic Director of SOFT.co with Jessie McCall whose works include ​HEALR(2016 & 2018) and in development ​INFLATED REBEL​ (2020). Rose has performed for Sarah Foster-Sproull and Footnote New Zealand Dance, Okareka Dance Company, Malia Johnston, World Of Wearable Art, Claire O’Neil, Kerryn McMurdo, Lucy Marinkovich and Jessie McCall. She was the recipient of the Eileen May Norris Dance Scholarship (2016) and won the Paul Jenden Costume Designer of the Year award alongside Tori Manly-Tapu for Foster Group’s ​Orchids​ (2019). Rose is a lecturer at The University of Auckland, and teaches at The Auckland Performing Arts Centre. She is studying towards her Bachelor of Honours in Dance Studies at The University of Auckland.

Fog, Nerves, Future, Ocean, Hello (echoes)
霧、神経、未来、オーシャン、ハロー(木霊する)
Choreographer​ Kota Yamazaki was born in Niigata, Japan. His performance and choreographic career has taken him across the world to collaborate, choreograph and perform in many theatres and festivals. Yamazaki was introduced to the movement practice of Butoh at the age of 18 under the teaching of Akira Kasai. He completed training as a music conductor, and also graduated from Bunka Fashion College with a BA in Fashion Design. He was invited to work with Daniel Larrieu at Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in 1989 in Angers, France. In 1994, Yamazaki became a finalist in the platform of Bagnolet choreographic competition (the International de Bagnolet Councours) in France for his second choreographic work, Reflection​. He was also invited to join the TAP (Triangle Arts Program) artist exchange program in 1997. Through this programme, which was coordinated by Asian Cultural Council and the Saison Foundation, Yamazaki spent one month in the United States and Indonesia respectively. Yamazaki established his Tokyo-based company ​rosy co.​ in 1996. The company was invited to perform nationally and internationally by theatres and festivals such as Place Theatre (England), Yorkshire Dance Festival (England), Biennale de Nationale de Dane Val-de Marine (France), Buena Center for the Arts (CA, USA), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (MA, USA), Bates Dance Festival (MA, USA), Indonesian Dance Festival and Bunkamura Theater Cocoon (Japan). Following an invitation from Germain Acogny to create a work FAGAALA in collaboration with her Senegal-based company, since 2003 Yamazaki (with New York-based Fluid hug-hug) has been presenting work at national and international theaters and festivals such as Melbourne International Arts Festival (Australia), NUS for the Arts (Singapore), Globalize: Cologne (Germany), PICA/TBA Festival (OR, USA),Dance Theater Workshop (NY, USA), New York Live Arts (NY, USA), Andy Warhol Museum (PA, USA), Miami Light Project (FL, USA), Wesleyan University (CT, USA), UC San Diego (CA, USA), ASU Gammage (AZ, USA), FIAF/Crossing Line (NY, USA) and Japan Society (NY, USA). Yamazaki is a recipient of prestigious American dance awards and fellowships including the The New York Dance and Performance Awards (the Bessie Award) in 2007, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant Award in 2013, NYFA Fellowship in 2016, Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 and he is a two-time The Herb Alpert Award nominee. Yamazaki is the Director for Body Arts Laboratory, the first artist-run organisation in Tokyo and through this role has organised the cross-disciplinary ​Whenever Wherever ​Festival in Tokyo since 2009.

Event details for ​Wellington show​:
Thursday 12th November, 2020
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Opera House, ​113/111 Manners Street, Te Aro, Wellington.