Kia ora, Greetings My name is Jared Hemopo and I am a professional dancer and choreographer based in Wellington, New Zealand. I have been in the industry for over 6 years and endeavour to make my mark on the contemporary dance world. I have performed with many dance companies such as Footnote New Zealand Dance, Okareka, Black Grace and Atamira Dance Company. I am Kiwi born and grew up in Manurewa, South Auckland. I am of Maori and Pakeha decent and my iwi is Ngati Tuwharetoa which connects to the King Country region of New Zealand. I was brought up in a very artistic family with my father (Fabian Hemopo) being one of New Zealand's leading copper artists of his time. My two siblings consist of a traditional Maori weaver and animation artist. My introduction to dance was like many stories across the world, through watching Michael Jackson. Although I spent most my years growing up playing sports I stumbled across dance on my last year of high school where I joined my schools hip-hop dance group and competed in a secondary schools dance competition called "Bring It On". This small but vital introduction to dance inspired me to pursue my passion of dance and performance further. The following year I studied at the Excel School Of Performing Arts where I graduated with a certificate of dance and awarded the "Most Promising Dance Award, 2008. In 2010 I participated in the Urban Youth Dance Program facilitated by Black Grace Dance Company, and through the completion of the program got offered a scholarship to join the company for my professional debut in the season "Verses" by Neil Ieremia. In 2011 I left to study dance at Unitec where I trained for 3 years and graduated with a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts, 2013. |
Who am I?/ Choreographer
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