Lay Him Quietly (The Film) is a work in progress to be released in Fall 2026, as an extension of the stage work. An intimate cinematic rendering of the original live performance, the film carries forward its core emotional landscape — the quiet burdens of identity, love, and self — into the language of the camera.

RED FATE began as RED, a stage work by choreographer Hiroki Ichinose, which premiered at Orsolina28. Filmmaker Natasha Mynhier reimagined it as a dance film shot on location in Moncalvo, Italy.

Both artists — he Japanese American, she Singaporean American — draw on their multicultural roots to reflect on the women who shaped them and partnerships formed when cultures meet. Featuring acclaimed dancers Madoka Kariya and Victor Ketelslegers, alongside Ichinose, the film entwines the Japanese legend of Akai Ito (the Red String of Fate) with a narrative of entanglement, loss of self, and the resilience found in balance rather than control.

In bringing the stage work to cinema, the film crafts an emotional meditation on fate, female empowerment, and modern partnership.

Upcoming — August 2026

An upcoming project in collaboration with Ane Brun, premiering August 2026.

Coming Fall 2026

A new dance film with Bjorgvin Sigurdarson. Coming Fall 2026.

Lay Him Quietly has emerged from a deeply personal place. While it is not an autobiography, it is undeniably shaped by how I move through the world as a queer Asian male and by the experiences that have informed my understanding of self, identity, and connection. This work holds fragments of memories, emotional landscapes, and moments that belong not only to me, but also to those who shaped me, and the histories carried within them are present here.

It is an abstract weaving of relationships and intergenerational inheritances, of personal and collective experiences that live in the body. These include the quiet burdens we carry, such as societal expectations, internalized narratives, and the subtle ways we learn to guard ourselves, often at the expense of our ability to love fully and accept who we are. I recognize how these forces have shaped the ways I express love.

For me, Lay Him Quietly is rooted in emotional states such as doubt, anger, tenderness, and suffocation, whether imposed by others or created within ourselves. It asks how we sit with these feelings, how we express them, and how we continue to move through the world while carrying them. Like our emotions, life is often contradictory and unresolved. It asks us to soften, to release our defenses, and to meet ourselves with compassion. Perhaps, in doing so, we can begin to lay down what we have been holding, our fears, our histories, and our uncertainties, and allow ourselves the space to forgive, to feel, and to move forward.

Premiered May 6, 2026 at Ostgotateatern Stora Teatern as part of Riksteatern's REACT International Theater Festival

Red is a choreographic work that explores the concept of destiny through the lens of Eastern and Western cultural paradigms, taking inspiration from the Japanese folk legend Akai Ito ("The Red String of Fate"). In this story, an invisible red thread connects destined individuals across time and space; a metaphor that serves as the foundation for this work.

Rather than employing the thread as a simple narrative device, Red transforms it into a symbol of the invisible connections that link bodies, cultures, and temporalities. The choreography inhabits the space where gesture becomes story, and myth becomes a site of negotiation between collective memory and personal identity. The work navigates themes of fate, autonomy, intergenerational responsibility, and belonging in a globalized world.

Performed by Madoka Kariya (Nederlands Dans Theater), Hiroki Ichinose (GöteborgsOperans Danskompani), Victor Ketelslegers (GöteborgsOperans Danskompani) and featuring music by Moses Sumney. The work was co-produced by Orsolina28 Art Foundation and supported and costumed by CHANEL. The work was reimagined into a dance film by director Natasha Mynheir and excerpts have been presented at the New National Theater in Tokyo and Hyogo Performing Arts Center.

This work is a love letter to my 16-year-old self, an offering of permission to choose, and love.

After years of moving between places, spending a decade building a dance career across Europe and the U.S., I began to wonder what it meant to return home. Born and raised on Maui, I once felt called to leave and search beyond the island.

In coming home to create my first work here, I am reminded that community endures, and that home remains ready to receive you with open arms.

Upcoming New Work for Iceland Dance Company — FALL 2026