holding lightness explored articulations of cultural lineage and imagination and enacted a cry of triumph in a mother tongue that the three artists still work to translate. The collective’s previous choreographic collaborations have included a choreographic mentorship through FORM Dance Projects with Australian artists, choreographer Meryl Tankard, composer Elena Kats-Chernin and visual artist Régis Lansac (2020 - 2021) and holding lightness, a contemporary dance performance for the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Late Program in May, 2021.
holding lightness, a contemporary dance performance for the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Late Program in May, 2021. The performance, as a part of the MCA’s program, marked the beginning of our collective exploration and integrated exploration of our personal histories as Asian diasporic bodies and artists. Our performance sought to enact sites of reclamation across three vignettes that represented pasts, presents and futures for people like us.
William (Billy) Keohavong, Jeremy Santos and Reina Takeuchi are dance makers currently exploring parallels and intersections of their individual, collective and nuanced experiences as Asian Diaspora. Through movement, they explore cultural references associated with their respective nations, Japan, Laos and the Philippines while honouring their powerful ancestry and generational trauma.
Born in Australia, William (Billy) Keohavong graduated on scholarship from the New Zealand School of Dance in 2015, and Ev & Bow Full-Time Training Centre in 2012. Starting out as a Hip-Hop dancer, specialising in Dancehall and House, he moved into Contemporary. In 2016, Billy joined ‘The Human Expression Dance Company’ (Singapore) as a full-time artist, touring throughout Asia and Europe.
Reina Takeuchi is an artist-researcher, curator and dance maker of Japanese-Anglo Australian heritage whose practice spans visual arts, choreography, curatorial projects and writing. She has previously performed in QAGOMA’s SUGAR SPIN exhibition by American sculptor and performance artist Nick Cave, Brisbane’s Supercell Contemporary Dance Festival and Sydney Dance Company’s PPY19 REVEALED. Takeuchi was also an understudy with The Farm Dance Co. on The Ninth Wave as part of the Commonwealth Games. She currently works as Curatorial Program Producer at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.
Jeremy Santos is a first generation Filipino-Australian Movement artist, Writer and Spoken Word Poet whose passions for creating, performing and teaching allow him to advocate for diversity in the arts. Credits include, L’Oreal for Sydney Mardi Gras Parade (2021), Sam Smith for Sydney Mardi Gras After Party (2020), Questions & Answers (En Dance, Japan, Choreo. Jillian Meyers, 2017/18), The Color Run X Just Dance (Choreographer, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Sunshine Coast, 2013/18), Ubisoft at EB Games Expo/PAX Convention (Choreographer, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, 2010-19), Club Future Nostalgia X DUA LIPA (Visual Album, Universal Music Australia & Heaps Gay, 2020) and “Fight For Love” Courtney Act MV (Choreo. Lucy Doherty, 2019).