New Zealand choreographer Jack Gray (right) has been invited to represent New Zealand at the World Dance Alliance Young Choreographers Project held at the National Chung-Sen University in Taipei, Taiwan in July. Recommended by DANZ (Dance Aotearoa New Zealand), Gray was selected from among the best young choreographers of the Asia-Pacific area who were also supported by their country's National Dance organisations. He will join three other choreographers from Australia, Malaysia and the Phillipines to work on the project.
New Zealand choreographer Jack Gray (right) has been invited to represent New Zealand at the World Dance Alliance Young Choreographers Project held at the National Chung-Sen University in Taipei, Taiwan in July. Recommended by DANZ (Dance Aotearoa New Zealand), Gray was selected from among the best young choreographers of the Asia-Pacific area who were also supported by their country's National Dance organisations. He will join three other choreographers from Australia, Malaysia and the Phillipines to work on the project.

Jack Gray, 28, will choreograph a 10 minute contemporary dance on a group of Taiwanese dancers. This work will be performed alongside the other choreographer's works at the conclusion of the month long project. His new piece will blend Maori with Taiwanese mythologies into a contemporary fusion of cultures. "My aim is to use old myths and legends to uncover the traditional knowledge of the societies they belong to, and to see how this can succesfully be translated into the modern world".

In 2000, Gray was a founding member of Atamira Dance Collective, a key platform for innovative Maori contemporary dance theatre. He is excited at this rare opportunity to work overseas. "It is difficult to be a freelance choreographer in this country where mostly I have to fund my own work and travelling costs. But getting this residency helps affirm the belief in myself that I have something important and unique to offer."

Gray has received international recognition for his choreographic talent, with a DanceWEB Scholarship to the 2001 Impulstanz Festival in Austria and selection to the Atelier Du Monde programme at the 2002 Montpellier Festival in France. Previously he has choreographed internationally for Contact Dance Company of Malta, "Undercurrents", a contemporary poi dance, was created and premiered at the First European Union Dance Festival in 2002.

Dance Aotearoa New Zealand is the national arts, education and service agency for dance in New Zealand
www.danz.org.nz