“The CanAsian Dance Festival fosters and promotes diverse expressions of Asian aesthetics through dance in Canada,” says dance hunk William Yong, artistic director of Zata Omm Dance Projects and a performer in CanAsian International Dance Festival’s Kick Start performance series. Yong is one of six artists paired with a mentor to develop a short new work. Yong's extraordinary, international dance background includes being trained at the London Contemporary Dance School and Nederlands Dans Theatre 1, and among numerous dance credits, Yong performed in Matthew Bourne’s envisioning of Swan Lake, with an all-male troupe of swans, for five years. He has multiple Dora-award nominations for his work with Toronto based dance company, Zata Omm, their most recent work being Eight Ways from Mara at Harbourfront Centre. Yong was paired with established dance choreographer and teacher Tedd Robinson to create Grist, a multi-media solo piece exploring personal experience from a distant place of belonging. “Grist is also inspired by choosing, editing and refining certain personal memories,” explains Yong. “A lot of difficult memories were uncovered when I researched the piece. I recalled episodes of sexual and racial discrimination from my experiences in the east and west.” Yong believes that the overlapping of discrimination between race and sexuality is a common experience many gay and people of colour can relate to.“This is a complex psychological journey about fascination and bewilderment, a recollection tracking its own roots and heritage.”
 
Kick Start: 6 choreographers pushing boundaries runs Thurs, Feb 9 — Sat, Feb 11 at Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester St. $18-$22. canasiandancefestival.com