Meet One of the Honorees of MashUp’s 2025 “Exemplary Women in L.A. Dance” Award: Azuki Umeda
MashUp invited the dance community to nominate women who have displayed inspirational and transformative leadership in the Los Angeles dance industry to receive special recognition, honor, and gratitude. Meet Azuki Meda, one of 2025’s honorees!
We asked Azuki to share a bit about her career journey, what dance means to her, what she envisions for dance in Los Angeles, and more. Thank you Azuki for being a warm, supportive, inspiring force in this dance community!
Azuki Umeda
Choreographer | Director | Dancer | Teacher
Founder of AU.THENTIC
Website: https://authenticitydance.com/
Social Media Handles: @azuki.u
Can you share a bit about your personal dance journey, particularly as a professional in Los Angeles?
My personal dance journey has been unique throughout my life. I moved to Southern California after high school and started college at Chapman University. I had undergone major knee surgery during my Senior year of high school, and I was eager to dance again. Unfortunately, I went on to need two additional knee surgeries during my college career, which hindered my performative career. As a result, I nurtured an intense passion for creating and finding other routes to dance that were not performance-heavy. I shifted my perspective to creating, teaching, and finding ways to connect with other colleagues without finding myself in a competitive/catching-up mindset. I was fortunate enough to present work at various festivals in LA, one of them being MashUp’s International Women’s Day Festival, as well as the IAF Creative Exhibit, and the Capezio ACE Awards, a dream goal of mine.
In response to COVID and the uncertainty of graduating college in 2020, I moved with my dear friend up to Washington for almost a year. While there, I started to realize that I wanted to get my Masters of Fine Arts. I returned to Southern California and got my MFA in Dance at California State University, Long Beach in 2023. Shortly after, my alma mater, Chapman University, offered me a teaching position.
Throughout all of this, I created a home, family, and sacred space for myself in my project-based company, AU.THENTICITY DANCE CO. There are so many people who have been a part of AU.THENTICITY – it has been a way for me to connect and create specifically with those who are a part of any minority communities who share similar identities to mine LGBT, AAPI, 1st generation, neurodivergent, as well as female-identifying artists. This company has been a place for me to laugh, cry, experience frustration, and overcome obstacles without judgment or insecurity. Now, I have to emphasize that this road has not been easy. While I have gained much, I have also lost quite a bit. I am nowhere near perfect, but I am here to learn from any mistakes I may have made throughout this journey. I am thankful for this home I created, as I am able to learn more about my identity and how I can be kinder to myself, others, and the environment around me.
Grad school at CSULB made much of this journey possible and truly changed my life and how I view dance – I cannot thank my mentors Rebecca Lemme, Shyamala Moorty, Liz Curtis, and Danzel Thompson-Stout for all the insight and love they have given to me. My education at CSULB led me to a choreographic residency at Jacob’s Pillow, AU.THENTICITY’s first evening-length show in LA, and many other commissions and residencies that I would not have imagined to be doing. I am beyond grateful for this career I am after, and I cannot wait for what is to come.
Tell us about what you currently do in the industry.
I currently teach at Chapman University – I teach Jazz in the spring and Composition in the Fall with Liz Maxwell, an incredible educator who has given me many opportunities for research and curiosity. I also teach pop-up classes in Los Angeles, Orange County, and travel around the country as a freelance choreographer and educator. This year, I have had the most beautiful opportunity to tour with Artists Simply Human, a convention that I grew up attending, spreading my knowledge and love of dance on the East Coast.
In 2023, I started an annual show entitled, “&when the heart opens,” this show showcases emerging choreographers, particularly in minority communities, who would like to present work. I do my best to honor their time financially and provide space for them to showcase their authentic self. I am so excited to be doing this for the 3rd year, and it has been such a wonderful gathering of various artists from different parts of Los Angeles and Orange County.
In addition, I created a training program for AU.THENTICITY. This program has been a beautiful way to educate dancers from across Southern California. There are dancers from Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, and Orange County who all come together to learn more about their careers, their interests, and what they are after as an individual artist. This has been an impactful way for the attendees and myself to further our education and research on things like injury prevention, various careers as a dance artist, and understanding mindset as a dancer.
In your opinion, why does dance matter?
This is the most simple, yet profound question to me. Dance has healed me, saved my life, and brought me closer to who I am within my identity. I am always at an empty dance studio, creating, improvising, dancing, and jamming. This is the easiest way for me to express and spread my kindness and love to myself and others.
As a neurodivergent person, who moved to this country without any understanding of the English language, I was bullied quite often growing up. There was a time when I begged my parents to dye my hair blonde so I could “fit in” with the other White folx in kindergarten. My mom put me into dance classes – it was her dream for her kid to dance, as she was not allowed to during her own childhood in Japan. At the time, I didn’t realize how much I was able to fully express myself without saying much verbally.
Dance in higher education helped me articulate what I am feeling and seeing while I dance and create. I am beyond thankful for Chapman University, Robin Kish and Julianne O’Brien, who took a chance on me when I was injured and let me find a choreographic voice during my undergraduate years. In graduate school, I learned and researched a phenomenon called synesthesia – in Ratatouille, the mouse eats a strawberry and cheese and sees colors. Similar to this depiction, I can see distinct shapes and pathways when I hear music, which lets me gain so much clarity in my choreographic voice.
For me, dance in its truest form is a way of expression, especially for those who have been oppressed. Jazz dance first started with slaves utilizing their bodies as percussion when their drums were taken away by slave owners. Dance brings joy and is a way to bring the community together. To this day, I am so damn grateful to be doing what I love for a living.
What excites you most about dance in LA right now?
As I am writing this in mid-January, there have been many artists affected by the fire. This is devastating, yet it has been truly inspiring to see all LA dance artists pull together to support one another. It has been beautiful watching so many classes exist as a safe haven for dance artists. We artists are resilient to any obstacles that we face. LA in the last 5 years has endured so much, and I know that we will bounce back and celebrate every win as it comes.
I am always excited to see the various events and shows that pop up and amplify choreographic voices in our community. MashUp’s Women’s Day Festival is one of them, VOICES Fest by Stomping Ground LA, and Reconstruct Dance Exhibition are others to name a few. Whenever I teach a pop-up class in LA, there is so much love and inspiration poured into those who walk into my classes; this love comes from the community and I am always honored to see so many beautiful artists come and take. I hope that we as artists can recognize the difficulty that comes with being a working dancer. I’d like to remind everyone that it is okay to struggle and it is okay to not know what you are doing. The spontaneity of this profession is different from a 9-5 job, and it comes with much more serendipitous moments.
What do you envision for the future of dance/dancers in LA?
Easy – dance artists need more recognition in the performing arts and entertainment field at large. We need to credit the dancers and choreographers accurately for any film or television work that they are a part of. I am still unsure why choreography and dance are not recognized fully by the Academy Awards. For instance, I find it ironic that La La Land is based in Los Angeles, yet Mandy Moore was not recognized for her work with an Oscar. Things like this make me feel motivated to use my voice and speak up when we are not being recognized properly.
In my personal vision, I would like to amplify the voices of minority communities much more. I hope casting directors will take into consideration the openness of diversity and in the future work with those who are less represented. I also envision more education and intention in what we do as artists. I strongly believe that quality dance education is important in this field, and I hope to spread that awareness and knowledge to my classes in Los Angeles.
How can people get involved and support that vision?
A good place to start would be with one of my favorite documentaries, Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance , which goes in-depth about jazz history. As a jazz professor at Chapman, this has helped me understand my influences and my intentions when I take classes, and why I love dance. Jazz dance started as a form of communication for those who were oppressed – a celebration of moving bodies finding joy in this country. I highly recommend everyone watch this film.
Speaking of film, sometimes we often get consumed by the media. There is a desire to always be camera-ready in LA classes. While I support those who facilitate or take these classes, I often find myself wondering if it is an authentic expression of art and humanity for us to take every class this way. Where are the opportunities for vulnerability and connection? I am not advocating for an end to the way many of us may take or facilitate class. But I ponder if we need to constantly be camera-ready; Is the video for social media always the most important part of class? Does this demonstrate what dance truly is for you?
Perhaps it’s a matter of finding and creating classes that are strictly for training, removing any pressure to be perfect… Or as a teacher, finding opportunities to not have cameras in your classes and instead center the act of being present with your students. I am a culprit myself of giving too much space to the camera and media, but I do miss the days when camera quality and algorithms were not something we had to worry so much about in order to book a job or share our craft.
Stay open, stay kind, and stay versatile. Support every community around you – POC, LGBT, neurodivergent, those with disability, and many others. We are strongest together; together is where our art furnishes.