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Thailand 12 Oct - 15 Oct 2023
Singapore 28 Nov - 2 Dec 2023

Online 20 Oct - 30 Oct 2023
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Albert Tiong

Dance Choreographer, Educator & Performer

Albert graduated from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts on full scholarship. He was a professional dancer with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (Taiwan) and guest artist with Hong Kong Dance Company, resident Choreographer and training master for Frontier Danceland. 

As a choreographer his works have been presented across many platforms including Singapore Arts Festival, NUS Arts Festival, M1 Fringe Festival, Esplanade da:ns Festival, M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival. He has also participated in dance exchanges programmes and performances in various countries including Colorado, Fukuoka, Macau, Shanghai, Busan, Beijing Dance Festival and Brisbane. He was invited multiple times to conduct academic exchanges with  Beijing Dance Academy and Macau Academy of Performing Arts (Dance Academy). 

Albert is now teaching at T.H.E Dance Company, NUS Dance Synergy and SCAPE.

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Alysson Rocha

Ballett Dortmund, Germany, First Ballet Master

 

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Alysson was a finalist at the YAGP in 2005 and received a scholarship to study at the San Francisco Ballet School. He later worked at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, performing classical repertoire from renowned choreographers such as Yelena Pankova, Sir Peter Wright, Enrique Martinez, and Dalal Achcar. From 2011-2013, he was coached by Pedro Kraszczuk and Cecilia Kerche, and concurrently served as the choreographer and artistic coordinator of "Dançar a Vida Youth Company" in Rio de Janeiro. 

 

In 2013, he joined Ballett Dortmund in Germany, creating roles alongside his director Xin Peng Wang and performing pieces from William Forsythe, Alexander Ekman, Jiri Bubenicek, and Demis Volpi.

 

Recognized for his creative work, Alysson won the "Dortmunder Löwe 2019" prize for his "Silent Orchestra" dance/music project. He was later appointed as the First Ballet Master with Ballett Dortmund, where he assists and preserves the pieces from Ballett Dortmund's director, Alexander Ekman, William Forsythe, and other renowned choreographers.


Alysson was invited as a Teacher and at the YAGP Final in 2022. He was also invited by Prof. Dr. Alkis Raftis to become a member of the International Dance Council of UNESCO. Alysson's extensive experience and dedication to the art of dance make him a valuable asset in his role as an international teacher and judge.

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Brent Parolin 

Ballett am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Germany, Ballet Master, Rehearsal Director, Choreographic Assistant

Brent Parolin is a Canadian born dancer, teacher, coach and choreographer. Brent started his training as a student of the prestigious National Ballet School in Toronto where he received awards such as the Lawrence Haskett and Peter Dwyer Scholarships.

 

After graduation Brent moved to Stuttgart, Germany, to continue his training at the John Cranko School before joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 2006, where he attained the position of Halb Soloist. In 2014 Brent moved back to Toronto to dance with the National Ballet of Canada and to teach at Canada’s National Ballet School. Brent has danced works by John Cranko, Maurice Bejart, Wayne McGregor, Christian Spuck, Demis Volpi, Kenneth MacMillan, George Balanchine, Crystal Pite and Marco Geocke among others.

 

Brent has been a teacher around the world, including Canada, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. After creating multiple pieces for the Noverre: Junge Choreographen and the National Ballet of Canada’s Choreographic Workshop, Brent has shown his passion for the entire process of dance, from training and creation to performance and production. Brent currently holds the position of Balletmeister which encompasses being a rehearsal director, choreographic assistant, coach and teacher at the Ballett am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Germany. 

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Claresta Alim
Founder and Artistic Director of Indonesia Dance Company
Head Department of Marlupi Dance Academy (Full-Time program) and Director of Performing Art

International judge and ballet teacher. Ms Claresta started her training at Marlupi Dance Academy (MDA), she joined Beijing Dance Academy in 2008, at the same time she received a scholarship from Joffrey Ballet School and was also accepted to American Ballet Theatre Summer Session in the USA. 

She began her professional career with Washington Ballet School and Art Ballet Theatre of Florida. During the time she has performed in many roles including Issaev's Harlequinade, Fairy Doll, Le Corsaire, Raymonda, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Little Mermaid in Ballet, Shostakovich (3 Movements), Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and Edgar Anindo's Fragmentos.

Ms Claresta has groomed many students to international recognition, including being the first Indonesian to be invited to Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) and winning GOLD MEDAL at the YAGP New York Finals.

 

Her students have not only won numerous awards in international competitions but also received scholarships to the Royal Ballet School, The Australian Ballet School (full scholarship for the year programme), Princesse Grace Dance Academy, Houston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Universal Ballet, The Rock School, etc. 

Ms Claresta is also a well-known international ballet teacher, she has been invited to teach Master classes in the United States, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Many students from all over the world also came and took classes with Ms Claresta and benefited greatly from her coaching.

 


 

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Muhammad Fairul Azreen Bin Mohd Zahid

LASALLE College of the Arts, School of Dance & Theatre, Dance Lecturer

Fairul holds a master's degree (MFA) from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. He was a principal dancer/choreographer at ASK Dance Company, ChristinaNoel and the Creature NYC, The Nutcracker New York City Ballet, and LaneCo Arts NYC, as well as an artistic director of Asia Duo Dance Company. He has worked with several choreographers local and international.

 

Fairul was a lecturer at several universities in Malaysia, including the National Academy of Arts, Culture, and Heritage (ASWARA) and University Technology MARA (UiTM), and is currently a Lecturer (Dance) at LASALLE College of the Arts, School of Dance and Theatre. He was also invited as a guest lecturer/choreographer by several universities, including Minzu University, Capital Normal School (Beijing), University of Philippines, and Temple University Philadelphia.

 

He is a prolific and versatile choreographer/dancer working in the disciplines of contemporary ballet, Malay dance, Chinese classical dance, Indian classical dance, and jazz. He also has won local and international awards, including best choreographer, Best group performance, and best feature artist at the Cameronian Arts Award and Yokohama Dance Collection for the MASDANZA prize. Besides that, he was a  recipient of the Royal Arts Gala and Star Scholarship Award by Yayasan Sime Darby Malaysia.

 

Fairul is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Malaya (UM) Malaysia, focusing on Practice as Research in choreography.

 


 

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Dr Filomar Cortezano Tariao

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Senior Lecturer

Dr Filomar, is a Senior Lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and is also working in collaboration with the Ministry of  Education (MOE), teaching Dance Safety courses for continuing education.  

Dr Filomar has choreographed and directed many works. One of his works won the Best Production for Life Theatre Awards. His works have been presented across many international platforms, including the opening piece for the 8th ASEAN Paragames, which was hailed as a "beautiful performance" by The London Times. He wrote about it in Dance: Access and Inclusion. He has also created for the Esplanade Dans Festival, La-in, for NAFA’s 80th anniversary in Crossings 2018. 

Dr Filomar represented NAFA at the Blackboard Asia 2015 conference and World Dance Alliance in Korea. He has also been performing professionally for over 20 years.  He has taught for the Vermont International Dance Festival. He is a fully-certified Stott Pilates instructor and a full-scholar alumnus of Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.

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Jeffrey Tan

Regional Director of Singapore Dance Alliance
Founder / Artistic Director of the National Contemporary Ballet

Jeffrey is one of Singapore's most prolific and established dancers, choreographers, educators and Creative/Show Directors. Formerly a principal dancer and assistant ballet master with Singapore Ballet (former Singapore Dance Theatre).  After retiring as a dancer, he took the role of the Head of Dance at the Singapore Chinese Girls' School. In 2013, he was the Principal of the Singapore Ballet Academy. A recipient of the Singapore Young Artist Award (Excellence in Dance) 2000.

 

He is currently the Artistic Director/Founders of the National Contemporary Ballet. Recently, he was appointed by Singapore Dance Alliance as their Regional Director. 

 

As a dance educator; He believes in creating a conducive and nurturing environment for creativity and artistic development for all. 

 

He is also Dance Jury for the Taiwan Grand Prix IBC, Malaysia International Ballet Grand Prix (MIBGP), Bandung International Dance Competition (BIDC), National Dance Workshop and Competition (NADWORC) Indonesia, and Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) and Canaan Dance International Ballet Competition. 

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Melissa Quek

LASALLE College of the Arts, Head, School of Dance & Theatre

Melissa is Head of the School of Dance & Theatre at LASALLE College of the Arts and the Programme Leader for the Diploma in Dance.

She is also a choreographer, performer and educator whose choreographic interest lies in investigating the body-subject. Her works and creative process attempt to touch on questions of agency, materiality and perception to create a visceral experience for the audience.

Melissa enjoys multi-disciplinary collaborative works, Site based work such as site-specific outdoor performance Tracing the City (2016) and cause based performances and workshops such as Stride with Pride, a performance aimed at increasing respect for wheelchair users. She founded The Kueh Tutus (a collective dedicated to creating dance for young audiences) and has created several works that have been presented at The Artground, toured to regional libraries and appeared in the Esplanade’s Festivals Octoburst! and March On.

Melissa has managed and designed various MOE-NAC Dance related initiatives such as the Dance Talent Development Programme, and Strategic Partnership CCA (Ethnic Dance). She also mentors the choreographic work of young and emerging artists through institutions such as *SCAPE and occasionally writes dance reviews, articles and edu-packs to make contemporary dance more accessible.

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PETER GN
Dance Educator and Choreographer

An experienced choreographer, dance educator and presenter, Peter trained in Dance and Choreography at the Victorian College of the Arts (Australia), Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (UK) and the University of Roehampton (UK). 

 

His body of choreographic work for theatres, sports arenas and national events has moved between spectacle and interdisciplinary art. An advocate of synergistic collaborations between dance and disciplines such as film and music, Peter’s creative methodology is anchored in Release Technique and Improvisation. He has led performance projects, seminars and workshops for professional dancers, dance teachers and students in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States. He has spoken at the National Dance Education Organisation Conference (Minneapolis and Los Angeles), World Dance Alliance Global Dance Summit (Canada), World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific Conference (South Korea and Taiwan), and the Australian Youth Dance Festival (Melbourne). In 2022, he was panel moderator and speaker at the SWEAT Hong Kong International Dance Festival. 


In Singapore, Peter has presented dance in projects under the Ministry of Education and various Institutes of Higher Learning. He was conference panel speaker at the IBGPS (2019 & 2021), and jury member for dance competitions including YAF (2020 & 2021). Peter holds a PhD in Dance and MA degrees in Choreography and Dance Studies. He founded The Presence Project, a project-based contemporary dance ensemble that performs interdisciplinary work, and advocates collaborative dance-making. 

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Resmi Malko

Central School of Ballet UK, Ballet Tutor

Resmi Malko received his ballet training at the Academy of Ballet in Tirana, Albania. Upon completion of his training in 1985, he joined the National Opera Ballet Theatre in Tirana and was promoted to Principal Dancer within 5 years. He continued his career there for the next 15 years, performing in countries including Italy, France, Turkey, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, USA and Canada.

 

Resmi then immigrated to North America and performed with the USA Ballet and the Canadian company, Ballet Jorgen. In 2003 Resmi graduated with Distinction from the Teacher Training Program for professional dancers at Canada's National Ballet School and joined the artistic teaching staff later that year. After 10 years with the NBS, Resmi joined the Central School of Ballet in London.

 

Students Resmi has coached have competed in international ballet competitions such as, the Prix de Lausanne and Genée International Competition where a student for the first time in the competition's history won all three major gold medals. Choreographically, Resmi has staged classical repertoire for the Central School of Ballet’s End of Year performances and for the touring company, Ballet Central. Additionally, Resmi often returns to coach at the National Opera Ballet Theatre, Tirana.​

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Slava Tutukin

Tanya Pearson Academy, Australia, Managing Director

After the graduation from the Vaganova Ballet Academy, Russia in 2008, Slava Tutukin worked as a soloist and principal artist at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Aalto-Theater Essen, Theater Magdeburg, Theater Dortmund in Germany, as well as other international companies. 

After his dancing career, Slava was appointed as the Deputy Artistic Director and Manager of the Dortmund Ballet and the NRW State Youth Company, Germany. Since his tenure, he has elevated the Company to new heights by creating a platform with a world-class performance repertoire from internationally acclaimed choreographers. He has also organised various International Galas, with performances of Principal Artists from leading companies all around the world.

Besides that, Slava represented the dance profession as an expert for the European Union - Executive Agency for Education, Audio-visual and Culture (EACEA), wherein he evaluated dance-related projects and provided his expertise regarding EU budget allocation. Slava also worked as a Board Member of the Youth Ballet WA Inc., Perth, Western Australia; a Committee Member of the State NRW, Germany, German National Foundation for the Artists Support; and he is a Deputy Chairman and a Representative of the profession “Dance” at the GDBA (German Trade Union for Artists).

In 2022, Slava was appointed as Managing Director of the Tanya Pearson Academy in Sydney Australia.

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