International Tanzmesse is one of the largest professional gatherings dedicated to contemporary dance and this year Wales Arts International and National Dance Company Wales have chosen 3 Wales based artists to accompany them to represent Dance from Wales.

Following the call out for applications last month, three Wales based dance practioners and producers have been selected allowing them the opportunity to network and to understand the international market place.

The three, who have shown a track record here in Wales and are all in the early stages of developing international work are Jo Fong, Matteo Marfoglia, and Dominika Rau. and Chris Ricketts (Cardiff Dance Festival).

Tanzmesse takes place every two years in Dusseldorf, Germany and this year’s gathering will take place between 29 August and 1 September 2018.

Following the success of the first Dance from Wales stand in 2016 promoting Wales to the European and international market, NDCWales will again lead a Wales stand at Tanzmesse 2018 with support from Wales Arts International. The three Welsh artists will be joined by National Dance Company Wales and Cardiff Dance Festival at the trade fair.

Over the course of four days the dance artists will have the opportunity to showcase themselves at the Trade Fair under the Dance from Wales umbrella, meeting producers, programmers, agencies and local government representatives to start the conversations of taking their work internationally.

In addition, the artists and producers will also have the chance to see some of the festival programme which has a selected a packed event programme of international dance and also they will be a part of debates and information sessions on specific topics.

More about the artists:

Matteo Marfoglia

Matteo is a Dance Artist & Choreographer based in Wales. Matteo choreographed his first work Just a Breath in the Netherlands, which won second prize at the Certamen Internacional de Coreografìa Burgos-New York. His work has toured in the UK and internationally at a number of festivals including Valletta18 ECOC, Altofest, Interplay/18 and network AnticorpiXL amongst others. In 2017, Matteo was recognised as a future leader in british dance by OneDanceUK and offered a place on their mentorship programme. He has recently been awarded a Creative Wales Award by the Arts Council of Wales, supporting his artistic research on how to bring contemporary dance to unconventional venues and how movement can be generated through a process of responding to communities, histories and the inhabitants of particular places. In 2018, Matteo was nominated as Best Male Artist at the Wales Theatre Awards. Matteo is Associate Artist for National Dance Company Wales.

 

Jo Fong

Jo’s eclectic career includes performances with DV8 Physical Theatre, Rosas and Rambert Dance Company. Recent collaborations include working with Wendy Houstoun, Sonia Hughes, Deborah Light, Xintiandi Festival, National Theatre Wales, Welsh National Opera, Hull Dance and Quarantine Theatre. Jo is an Associate Artist with Chapter, SE Dance and Chinese Arts Now (CAN). As an independent artist she has toured her choreographic work throughout the UK, internationally and presented at British Dance Edition and the British Council Edinburgh Showcase. Her work has been recognised and awarded by the Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards, Creative Wales Award and Wales Theatre Awards. Jo is Supported by Arts Council Wales, Arts Council England, Diverse Actions, Chinese Arts Now, Creative Scotland, Fieldwork, British Council, Sherman Cymru, Chapter, Dance House and Coreo Cymru.

 

Dominika Rau

Dominika Rau was born in Poland, and as a child was part of a youth musical group and historical re-enactment group, creating big public space performances. She moved to Wales in 2013 and graduated in Performance Art at Aberystwyth University. She is mainly interested in creating work on mime and physical theatre together with contemporary dance and performative installations. Dominika Rau is a part of the United Cultures Dance Clan – a refugee and asylum seekers dance group in Cardiff. She is a mime, physical theatre, and performance art workshop leader for multigenerational groups. A serious dance accident at the age of 14 changed her approach to dancing, She now focuses on a type of dance which uses minimal muscle strength and minimal flexibility. She teaches that everyone can be a dancer and performer, you need to just use your imagination and work hard. Dominika Rau worked with and learned from artists like: Lionel Menard (France), Alexander Neander (Germany), Wolfram von Bodecker (Germany), Paulina Almeida (Portugal), Victoria Volter (Poland), Aleksandra Dziurosz (Poland), TAAT Theatre as Architecture Architecture as Theatre (Netherlands), Odin Teatret (Denmark), Roberta Carreri (Italy), Larry Ng Shiu Hei (China), Reza Keshavarz (Iran), Eric Wilcox (US), Cathy Tyson (UK) and more.