Midan: Amman Dance Lab
a figurative meeting ground for dance in Amman
My Diary: Secret Journey Amman
In the chilly winter in February, 2020, Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks International crashed into utopia at King’s Academy and downtown Amman. My Diary: Secret Journey Amman is a composition created and designed by Yoshiko Chuma and Ryuji Yamaguchi. This performance is based on twenty chapters that cross over within the frame of one hour. Musicians, dancers, and film editors interact, but not directly—a parallel to incidents of sound, text and action, and a metaphor for endless continuous circles of life that fluctuate between utopia and war. While observing, the audience will perceive the results of war: tipping utopia.
Presented by: Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, King’s Academy
Concept Design, Installation, and Direction: Yoshiko Chuma and Ryuji Yamaguchi
Film editors: Agnė Auželytė, Majd Manaa, Ursula Marlee H. Marcussen
Music Soundtrack: Jason Kao Hwang
Dance Artists: Adam Wawi, Alaeddin Rahmeh, Anas AlQatawe, Duanduan Lin, Emran Al-Amareen, Hala AlDur, Hanae Yoshida, Haneen Shraim, Mahmoud Shraim, Mera Diab, Noor AlJamal, Raneem Nahhas, Ryuji Yamaguchi, Salleh Belagon, Teera AlTal, Valeria Dimitrova, Yanlin Li, Yiran Zhao, Zaid AlJamal, Ziqi Yu
Stage Managers: Khalid Siraj, Taha Noui Mehidi, Yiran Zhao
Assistant to Stage Managers: Zaid AlZoubi
Pianist: Hani Alkarrain
Assistant to Director: Emran AlAmareen
PR & Communication Director: Ruba Hattar
Secret Journey: Amman
1000 Gifts of Dance
In 1000 Gifts of Dance, a movement artist approaches a passerby in Amman to participate in a short collaboration. The movement artist performs in a public space, while the volunteer acts as the video artist. Through the series of social and artistic interactions that pursue, and through the repetition of such events within a limited neighborhood, the project disrupts spatial and social relations in the city and poses the following questions: Who gets to create art? Who gets to decide on the value of art?
Commissioned as part of IN/OUT Festival by Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts. Oct 11-31, 2019, 400 such interactions took place in Jabal Al-Lweibdeh, Amman. Directed by Ryuji Yamaguchi, and co-directed by Alaeddin Rahmeh and Asem Al-Khojah
Alone Together
DANCE VIDEO PROJECT
In the time of the global pandemic COVID-19, Dance Video Project: Alone Together provided a unique opportunity for artists near and far to connect online and collaborate—crossing boundaries of geography, age, language, and institutions. 42 collaborative dance videos were created by 42 artists, in March through May, 2020.
Concept, Direction: Ryuji Yamaguchi
Assistant Director: Alaeddin Rahmeh
Collaborating Artists: Akka Hamdan, Alaeddin Rahmeh, Alison Trattner, Alya Shehata, Amer Dahman, Aysha El-Shamayleh, Becca Alaly, Claire Pritchard, Duanduan Lin, Emran Al-Amareen, Faisal Almamun, Felician Lepinja, Haily Cho, Hala AlDur, Husam Abed, Kenza Zakarya, Kenzy Aldaher, Lana Abukhader, Lour Madanat, Marah Qattan, Marah Rimawi, Mira Thiab, Mihail Bonev, Mohammad Alassaf, Mohammad Qattan, Mohammed Chen, Natalie Salsa, Nicole Carter, Rashmi Yeolekar, Ryuji Yamaguchi, Saif Aljamal, Shihun Lee, Stefanos Vlachakis, Tamara Haddad, Teera AlTal, Valeria Dimitrova, Wendy Jehlan, Yanlin Li, Yiran Zhao, Zahra AlSulaiman, Zeena AlOmari, Ziqi Yu
Midan Video Projects
Midan: Amman Dance Lab produced a series of artistic videos documenting its activities.
Video Artists: Yoshiko Chuma, Agnė Auželytė,
Ursula Marlee Marcussen, Majd Manaa
Last Party in Baqa'a
Performed outdoors in the poorest area of Baqa'a Palestinian Refugee Camp, this performance used puppetry, movement, and live music to address themes of home demolition, military occupation, memory, and catastrophe.
Concept and Direction: Husam Abed
Choreography: Ryuji Yamaguchi
Performers: Seba Nasser, Abdulhadi Alrakep, Raghad Rasras, Batool, Waseem K Albado, Solo, Abdullah Mubarak, Qais Abo Rabea, Akka Hamdan, Eshtar Hamdan, Emran Al-amareen, Rashmi Yeolekar, Sky AlJuma, Alaeddin Rahmeh
Music: Omar Hamdan (Nay)
Husam Abed (Bandeer, Oud)
Photography: Husam Manasrah Linda Al-Khoury
Video Documentation: Nedal Jamous
Media: Giuseppe K. Picheca
Assistant Production: Amer Swelim Abu-Kashef
Produced by Dafa Puppet Theater
In association with Midan - Amman Dance Lab