RENA SANGAWA
Photo by Tilly Parsons
Rena Sangawa (she/her) is a Japanese dance artist based in Melbourne/Naarm and Sydney/Gadigal, holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), University of Melbourne.
Rena is originally from Tokushima, Japan and had lived in Sydney before commencing studies in Melbourne. She trained in classical ballet and contemporary dance in Sydney while completing Advanced 2 of the Royal Academy of Dance exam. Rena was a member of the Senior Youth Ensemble at Sydney Dance Company 2019-2021.
Through the VCA, Rena collaborated with Melissa Toogood supported by Merce Cunningham Trust, Gregory Lorenzutti, Chimene Steele-Prior and Luke George in her final year of studies.
Along with her tertiary studies, she performed for the UoM Master of Music ‘The Fairy Queen’, RISING Festival ‘MULTITUD’ (dir. Tamara Cubas), MUSE Festival for multiple student-led works, Science Gallery Melbourne ‘SWARM’, the Government House Victoria Ballroom in Governor’s Performance Series Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) Variety Show and many more. As well as performing, Rena is proud to have directed and choreographed ‘//command_shift^ break’ which premiered in Union Theatre for Mudfest.
As a Japanese immigrant, Rena finds passion in performing, choreographing and producing works that question realness in digitalised society through hypothetical human and cultural relationships. In 2024, she choreographed and performed a site-specific work ‘transmitting magenta’ for Guild Fringe at the Melbourne Fringe Festival commissioned by the University of Melbourne Student Union. She is also a recipient of the 2025 Leg Up program at Legs On The Wall physical theatre.
Post graduation, Rena is excited to extend her love for creating art in collaboration with dancers, musicians, interdisciplinary artists and more!
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The preferred pronunciation of my name in English is “Ree-na” :)
Ethos & artist statement
Rena’s current creative interests and practices include performing and choreographing for works that question realness in a digitalised society through hypothetical human and cultural relationships.
Growing up in Japan during the late Heisei Era and experiencing the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, she is artistically driven by Japanese sub-cultures not explored in mainstream media and the strength of Japanese people’s solidarity as an underlying ethos.
Through her lived experiences of observing nihilist and existentialist nature across Japan and Australia, she feels the urge to create art as an offer to escape from the reality.
For Rena, the notion of experiencing an art piece is valuable for its duration, using art as a validation to pause our stream of consciousness in an uninterrupted environment.
She develops creative ideas based on this belief, creating works that suggest viewers to craft an individual meaning of becoming a conscious mind.
Being an existentialist herself, Rena is curious to understand how different generations approach life events and explore how these perspectives influence her creative development process and future works.
Photo by Charlie Lee
dance artist, performer, producer, choreographer, dance teacher, director
dance artist, performer, producer, choreographer, dance teacher, director
DOWNLOAD CV
Learn about details of past works, education and my background from my CV below