Performing Arts Exchange Program 2026 in Singapore

UENO Ryuki (b. 1997, Yanagawa, Fukuoka) is a director, playwright and media artist based in Fukuoka, Japan. In 2017 he founded the theatre unit Mr. Daydreamer, for which he has written and directed nearly all productions. His practice pursues theatre as a spatial art, built on the interplay between the trained physicality of the actor and real-time computational video. He calls his method "hiroba-gata engeki" (plaza-style theatre): the stage-audience boundary is removed and spectators move freely through a flat, open space, foregrounding the fact that performers and audience share one time and one place. His works include the Socrates Trilogy after Plato (Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, 2022–24), the solo piece EGO EIMI staged outdoors and in installation settings, and Hamletmachine after Heiner Müller (YPAM Fringe 2025), the company's first touring production, created with two electric-wheelchair-using actors. He also works as a certified care worker at a disability support NPO, which grounds his ongoing inquiry into inclusive creation. His new work The Mood of the Era premieres in December 2026.

Choreographer and dancer born in Japan, SHIKICHI Osamu questions the human body—often taken for granted—and challenges the notion of bodily self-possession. Their work explores anonymous bodies, blurring and remixing how we identify, while addressing the politics and violence of the gaze. They are particularly interested in WET (weird erotic tension) movements, exploring ASMR-like visualisations shared across anonymised bodies.

Photo: Dan Bellman

NAKAZAWA Akira is a choreographer and performance maker, born on June 4, 1992. He works primarily as part of the duo AYAKA ONO AKIRA NAKAZAWA SPACENOTBLANK, together with choreographer and performance maker ONO Ayaka. As a performer, he has appeared in works by Fabien Prioville, FUJITA Takahiro, IKEDA Ryo, MINO Arata, NUKATA Masashi, FUKUI Hirotaka, MOTOHASHI Ryu, Basstrio, HOSOKAWA Yohei, Aichi Prefectural Art Theater and others. In 2023, he contributed to the September issue of the theatre magazine Tragedy and Comedy for its special feature, “12 Emerging Artists Who Will Shape the Future of Japanese Theatre.” He is a Saison Fellow I of The Saison Foundation from 2021 to 2026, a Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY) Resident Artist from 2023 to 2025, and has been a DaBY Wings Creator since 2024.

Photo: Satoshi Yamada

MORI Noriaki is a Tokyo-based composer, saxophonist, and producer. Drawing on his background in contemporary music, jazz, improvisation, and experimental music, he develops interdisciplinary works incorporating physical expression, objects, improvisation, and visual arts. In addition to presenting his compositions at festivals and other venues in Japan and abroad, he works as a producer and curator of the curatorial collective Cabinet of Curiosities, integrating performance production, open calls, artist development, and educational programs while exploring connections between new music and the performing arts. As a member of the artist collective Crossings, he also continues to collaborate with artists from diverse disciplines.

Photo: Shiho Aketagawa

WADA Hanako is a Japan-based stage actor. After graduating from Kyoto University of Art and Design, she has worked primarily in contemporary theatre, performing with companies including Seinendan, Bird Park, KUNIO, Momeras, Office Cottone, Shukou, MUNI, and T factory. In 2024, she received the Best Actor Award at the CoRich Stage Arts Festival for her performance in Before Going to Another Planet by Shukou. Since 2019, she has organized the “LGBTQ Study Group for Actors, Playwrights, Directors, and Producers” for professionals working in theatre and film. Through this initiative, she has promoted a better understanding of LGBTQ issues and encouraged discussions on creating safer and more inclusive working environments. Alongside her acting career, she founded Wada Project, where she creates and performs original theatre works. Her recent production, Naru, Naranai, Narenai, Aru (To Become, Not Become, Unable to Become, To Be), explores ways of representing social structures and underrepresented experiences without reducing them to personal testimony. Through her work, she seeks to transform individual experiences into questions that can be shared and explored collectively through theatre.