about Azuki Umeda:
Azuki Umeda, born in Tokyo, Japan, raised in San Jose, CA, is a 1st generation Japanese queer artist. She received her BFA in Dance and BA in Integrated Educational Studies at Chapman University and received the Nancy Dickson-Lewis award for Outstanding choreography. She recently graduated from California State University Long Beach to receive her Masters of Fine Arts in Dance. During her time, she received a Graduate Fellowship for her thesis work, “how i became kinder &kinder,” as well as the Distinguished Achievement in Creative Activity award for the work. Azuki has performed with artists such as Twenty-One Pilots and FINNEAS; she has worked with choreographers such as Keone & Mari Madrid, JoJo Gomez, Monika Felice Smith, and Tessandra Chavez. She has presented work at prestigious dance festivals, such as Capezio ACE Awards, World of Dance, and was recently named one of the Ann & Weston Hicks Choreographic Fellows at Jacob’s Pillow 2023 Program. She is featured in STEEZY’s “3 choreographers 1 song” series on YouTube. She currently teaches at her alma mater, Chapman University, emphasizing composition and jazz, Avanti Dance Company as a College Advisor, and teaches biweekly at OffStage by GRV. In addition, she travels across the country of US, as well as parts of Mexico to share her knowledge of dance through a style of Contemporary Fusion.
Azuki is a founder of her dance company, AU.THENTICITY. The company aims to create a collaborative environment for artistic exploration. With her company, she has created an in-studio company intensive, “AU.THENTIC EXPERIENCE.” Azuki is excited to work with various studios and hopes to share her knowledge across the United States.
[ID: A picture of Azuki with her left hand on her chest and her right hand on her head. Her eyes are closed and she is wearing a black sports bra, black pants, and black blazer.]
Photography by: Hannah Mayfield
Featured on: STEEZY
Artist Statement
[ID: A picture of Azuki hinging with her left hand on her heart and her right hand about to touch the ground. She is wearing a brown blazer outside in an urban background.]
Photography by Hannah Mayfield
I am a first-generation Japanese immigrant who has adapted to different Asian and American cultures and backgrounds throughout my life. This blending of cultures has molded my artistic voice as a Japanese American and allows me to articulate my work and body into a unique creative canvas. The synthetic sounds in Western music versus the natural, raw sounds of Japanese instruments are two contrasting ideas that fuse together to exemplify the curiosity and exploration within my identity as an artist and human.
I am a chromesthetic artist who embodies shapes and movement through the sounds I hear in music. I value the unpredictability of sounds as well as the fluctuation in a singer’s voice. I am inspired by the juxtaposition of what we hear and what we see. As music evokes feelings and emotions, I empathize with the effectiveness of the musicians’ choices and tone and how that can bring meaning to my movement based on how the artist produces their sound. As an artist who sees drastically different shapes between Western and Japanese music, blending the two has challenged my perception of identity, often allowing me to explore multiple realities and perspectives in my work.
The purpose of the work I create stems from my relationship with my family; as I do not practice my Japanese and they do not practice their English, our language barrier has gotten stronger and more challenging. With the movement that I generate and the soundscore I use, I create stories and ideas that might allow me to communicate with my family without barriers. I use my artistic voice to create dance works that provide me a way to communicate with my parents about how I truly feel and how I have felt throughout my life. Beyond my family, I use my experience as a queer Asian woman to find and create belonging for myself and others.