Hana Umeda is a Polish-Japanese choreographer, performer, interdisciplinary artist and a rebellious jiutamai dancer. As Sada Hanasaki she is a part of Hanasaki-ryu family of traditional Japanese Jiutamai dance, under the master Hanasaki Tokijyo. In her artistic practice she brings the physicality, philosophy and affective strategies of Jiutamai into a contemporary art context. In her works, she explores the embodied experience and possibilities of transormation, often addressing diverse types of violence.
Her works have been recognised internationally. Her latest work, “Rapeflower”, has been presented among others in: Spring Utrecht Festival, Santarcangelo Festival, Zurcher Theater Spektakel, Festival, Bazaar Festival Prague, Divine Comedy Festival Kraków, Uferstudios, Dock 11 (Berlin), Kontrar Stockholm, Grotowski Institure Wrocław, Pawilon Poznań; and soon in Sophiensaele Berlin (in April 2026)
Her other works have been presented (among others) in: International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Docks Against Gravity Festival Warsaw, Dance on Camera New York, MOMA Warsaw.
Her artistic practice is body-based, sliding
between the intersections of choreography, performance, theatre and visual arts. She tends to work within a documentary and autobiographical dance format to comment on socio-political issues by introducing her own experiences. She bases her creative process on theoretical and embodied research. In 2025 I graduated with distinction from the SODA MA programme at the HZT Berlin. Before that I was enrolled in the PHD programme at the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw.
Between 2021 and 2023 she was a member of the collective “Centrum w Ruchu” [Centre in Movement]. In 2018, a fellow of the “Młoda Polska” programme of the National Centre for Culture, thanks to which she made her debut with the performance “SadaYakko” in Komuna Warszawa, in which she commented on the orientalising gaze. In 2022 she won the first edition of the New Situations Scene Artistic Residency at the Współczesny Theatre in Szczecin, during which she created “Faithless”, an onstage ritual of apostasy. In 2023 her VR performance „Close” was nominated in the IDFA DocLab competition for Immersive NonFiction, IDFA DocLab: Phenomenal Friction, Amsterdam. With this work she began her research into the intergenerational traces of sexual violence, which she continued in “Rapeflower” (Komuna Warszawa, 2024).
education:
2025, Graduated with distinction SODA MA: Solo/Dance/Authorship Master of Arts program in Inter-University Centre for Dance (HZT), Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin;
2020, Natori-master title in Hanasaki School of Jiutamai under the name of Sada Hanasaki;
works:
2024, Rapeflower, Komuna/Warszawa, Warsaw, PL, also shown at: Spring Utrecht Festival, Santarcangelo Festival, Zurcher Theater Spektakel Festival, Bazaar Festival Prague, Divine Comedy Festival (Krakow), Uferstudios, Dock 11 (Berlin), Kontrar Stockholm, Grotowski Institure (Wroclaw), Pawilon (Poznań); invited to Sophiensaele in April 2026 as well as Fierce Festival in Birmingham in October 2026
2023, Close, Virtual Reality Experience, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), NL, also shown at: Polish Institute in Berlin, Millenium Docs Against Gravity Warsaw, Art VR Festival Prague, XRosspace Showcase London
2022, Faithless, The Contemporary Theatre in Szczecin, PL
2022, Endless Box, Pandymińska & Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL, also shown at: Pandymińska, Warsaw, Kunstbanken Museum, Hamar, Norway, Plock Museum (Plock, Poland), Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Dance on Camera Festival 2025 #mydancefilm, Symphony Space, New York; invited to Kunstfest Weimar Festival in August 2026
2019, SadaYakko, Komuna/Warszawa, Warsaw, PL
collaborations:
2026, Bound with the Living, by Hagar Ophir and Juna Suleiman, 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, IT (dramaturgy and performance)
2025, 19482025~im~possible~pavilion, dir. Hagar Ophir, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, PL (dramaturgy)
2024, Bound with the Living, by Hagar Ophir and Juna Suleiman, Diffrakt, Berlin, DE (performance)
2021, Salvage, chor. Katarzyna Wolińska, Nowy Teatr, Warsaw, PL (performance, choreography collaboration)
2021, We call wonder, dir. Christiane Huber, Schwere Reiter NEU, SPIELART Festival, DE – (performance)
2020, Kiku no tsuyu, 11th Hanasaki Tokijyo Gathering — Continuation and Rebirth, Celurean Tower Noh Gakudo, Tokyo, JP (performance)
2019, Jiutamai, The Classical dance of Japan, Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, Warsaw, PL (performance)
2019, Forefather’s Eve/Soreisai, dir. Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska, Theatre Institute, Warsaw, PL, Theatre X-Cai and Saitokuji, Tokyo, Tokushoji, Kyoto, JP (performance, choreography collaboration)
2018, Małpeczki (Maria Kozłowska, Marysia Toboła), Project Room Award Gala, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL (performance, choreography collaboration)
2017, A Seance with Pamela, chor. Marta Ziółek, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art & Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL (performance)
2017, Jiutamai. The Classical dance and Music of Japan, Manggha (Kraków), Impart (Wrocław), Theatre Institute (Warsaw) PL (performance)
2013, Obsession, dir. Katarzyna Kazimierczuk, Remus Theatre, Warsaw, PL (performance, choreography collaboration)
2010, The Story of a Woman Who Danced, dir. Ela Jabłońska, Wytwórnia Theatre, Warsaw, PL (performance, choreography collaboration)
residencies & awards:
2026, New Techniques Residency in Sophiensaele, Berlin
2026, Crossings Residency in Uferstudios, Berlin
2026, Occupy Space Residency in Barazani, Berlin
2026, All The Rivers Residency II in Ausland, Berlin
2024, Residency in HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, Dresden
2024, Residency “Thinking Through the Museum” – Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN, Warsaw
2022, Residency program „Scena Nowe Sytuacje”, The Contemporary Theatre in Szczecin
2018, „Young Poland” Scholarship from the National Center of Culture, Polish Ministry of Culture
2023, nominated in IDFA DocLab competition for Immersive NonFiction, IDFA DocLab: Phenomenal Friction, Amsterdam for „Close”
2022, nominated in Theatre Plebiscite Amber Ring in Szczecin, Poland for „Wiarołomna”