This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 14, 2015.

The d’MOTION International Dance Festival returns, and the dance wave is growing in momentum. The annual dedicated dance festival — a collaborative effort of the Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) and Singapore’s T.H.E Dance Company — sees 31 international artists from over eight countries, including Spain, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Singapore take part this year.

Along with 20 workshops open to public, there will be three performance programmes — gala performances by invited artists in International Platform, the Asian Festivals Exchange featuring collaborative works between a new wave of Asian artists, and a triple bill premiere featuring T.H.E artistic director Kuik Swee Boon’s reworked Pellucid and two commissioned new works by Spain’s Iratxe Ansa and Indonesia’s Jecko Siompo. 

There are also two new extensions to the festival, a Dance in Motion Photography exhibition, as well as the d’MOTION Dance Video Screening, both of which feature submissions by budding and professional photographers and videographers alike, showcased at DPAC free of charge.

Here are selected highlights of performances for d’Motion 2015:

d’MOTION Festival 2015 & Yokohama Dance Collection 

Malaysian choreographer Amy Len of Kwang Tung Dance Company jointly creates a new work together with award-winning Japanese dancer Naoto Katori, which he will perform together with DPAC artistic director Wong Syh Shyong. 

Dos Cuerpos by Iratxe Ansa

Award-winning Spanish dancer and choreographer Iratxe Ansa, who has performed with the Nederlands Dans Theatre, Compania Nacional de Danza Madrid and Lyon Opera Ballet, creates an entirely new duet, exploring the reactions and formations when two female dancers perform together. 

Tschuss! Bunny by Liu Yen-Cheng 

Taiwan’s dance theatre duo from In Theatre presents their unique brand of contemporary in a piece that confronts separation and rebirth in a gritty take on life’s cycle. The duo was also invited to perform the piece at the Festival Off d’Avignon, France, and the BETA PUBLIE in Spain. 

The Highest Animal by Jecko Siompo 

Arguably the wild card of the festival with a remixed approach, Jakarta-based choreographer Jecko Siompo infuses native traditional Papuan dance with contemporary dance elements, hip-hop, and street dance styles drawn from American influence. His work has been described as a “force to be reckoned with”. 

For more information and full schedule, visit www.dpac.com.my.