Asia’s Longest-running International Performing Arts Platform Marks Its 30th Edition—Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting 2025 Returns from November 28 to December 14, 2025

Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting (YPAM) is Japan’s longest-running platform where professionals engaged in contemporary performing arts from around the world gather to exchange ideas, gain inspiration, share knowledge, and build networks. Since its inception in 1995 in Tokyo as the Tokyo Performing Arts Market (TPAM) and following its shift toward an Asia focus in 2015, YPAM has contributed to numerous international co-productions across Asia, earning recognition as one of the region’s most influential performing arts platforms. Now marking its 30th edition, YPAM continues to welcome both industry professionals and general audiences to its wide-ranging meeting and performance programs.

The YPAM Direction series, running since 2011, has taken many forms, from experiments by emerging presenters to the presentation of Asian works in collaboration with guest directors, as well as international co-productions and commissions. This year, the series debuts a new forum format, combining informal presentations of experimental projects with professional discussions. For this first edition, YPAM brings together three colleagues who developed innovative artist lab programs in Taipei, Singapore, and Bangkok during the 2010s and 2020s, pairing them with artists whose projects stimulate professional discourse on the creation, methodologies, and evolving notion of “work” in Asia today. They include: https://ypam.jp/2025/program/index.en.html?type=direction

A new addition this year, the YPAM Showcase, in collaboration with arts and cultural organizations from Japan and abroad, offers a meeting point for audiences and professionals to experience seven outstanding works that illuminate the vibrancy and contemporaneity of performing arts from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, and Italy.

• Dec 5 (Fri) – 7 (Sun): Jérôme Bel — An “auto-bio-choreo-graphical” performance by the choreographer who has defied the conventions of dance.
• Dec 8 (Mon): North Korea Dance — The godmother of South Korean contemporary dance Eun-Me Ahn envisions the dances that breathe in a country so close, yet so distant.
• Dec 9 (Tue) – 10 (Wed): Bridging Bridge (as part of Yokohama Dance Collection 2025) — A cross-border collaboration between contact Gonzo (Osaka) × TS Crew (Hong Kong) exploring life, human conflicts, and connection.
• Dec 12 (Fri) – 13 (Sat): IN A LANDSCAPE — Three works by Alessandro Sciarroni exploring meticulous practices, traditional dances, and the concept of “turning.”
• Dec 8 (Mon) – 13 (Sat): Crystal Seeding — An installation tracing memories of modernization and war in Taiwan and Japan, seen through sugar and Taiwanese traditional puppetry by Chia-Wei Hsu, Ting-Tong Chang, and Hsien-Yu Cheng.
• Dec 12 (Fri) – 13 (Sat): There Is Another Capital beneath the Waves (in collaboration with YCAM) — Part 2 of the project tracing memories of modernization and Taiwan-Japan relations, performed alongside Crystal Seeding.

• Dec 13 (Sat): WAVES (as part of Yokohama Dance Collection 2025) — Latest production from Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan exploring waves as a dynamic energy from the body.

  Performance tickets are now available at the YPAM Ticketing site. For full program details, please visit:
  https://ypam.jp/2025/program/index.en.html?type=program

Alongside these, YPAM Exchange, the professional networking program, kicks off with a reception at the newly opened Art Center NEW. At its core, the Meeting Point, featuring symposia with guest speakers and open call meetings hosted by participants, will take place again at the Gender Equality Center Yokohama South (Forum Minamiota) from December 9 to 11. Other highlights include studio visits and presentations at Morishita Studio, operated by The Saison Foundation, Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY), pitching sessions from SOIL (JPASN), and a lecture by ON-PAM (Open Network for Performing Arts Management). Participation requires professional registration, open until December 14: https://ypam.jp/2025/participation/index.en.html

Returning with a record 53 programs, including 13 from overseas, the open call performing arts festival YPAM Fringe offers a lineup of innovative works that defy expectations and provide audiences with new perspectives. View the full Fringe program here: https://ypam.jp/2025/program/index.en.html?type=fringe

YPAM in Yokohama delivers an experience like no other, where live performances and professional exchange spanning continents and disciplines come together to breathe fresh artistic synergy into the city.