Joseph Gonzales is Head of the Dance Faculty at the National Academy of
Arts, Culture and Heritage, ASWARA, Ministry of Information, Communication
and Culture, Malaysia. He is one of Malaysia’s leading dance educators, a
prolific and versatile choreographer, dance advocate, author, professional curator and a perennial student. Joseph completed his PhD in 2011 and was elected to the Executive Board of the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific as Vice-President South-East Asia the same year.
Joseph Gonzales
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Qadim—an intercultural contemporary dance collaboration in Malaysia
This paper describes the process of working inter-culturally towards the presentation of a contemporary dance work in Malaysia entitled Qadim. Beginning with the inspiration and initial experiences at the Asia Pacific Artist Exchange Program (APPEX) initiated by The Centre for Intercultural Performance, UCLA, the paper recounts the journey, the obstacles and the challenges faced in cooperative dance-making that is at once personal and global. The dancer-choreographers committed to this project see their role as contemporary artists seeking to have their voices heard amidst growing local and international tensions borne from distrust and political and religious hegemony.