FACULTY

Azuki Umeda is a 1st generation Japanese queer artist. She received her BFA in Dance and BA in Integrated Educational Studies at Chapman University and received the Nancy Dickson-Lewis award for Outstanding Choreography. She graduated from California State University Long Beach to receive her MFA in Dance. Azuki has performed with artists such as Twenty-One Pilots and FINNEAS; she has worked with choreographers such as Keone & Mari Madrid, JoJo Gomez, Monika Felice Smith, and Tessandra Chavez. She has presented work at prestigious dance festivals, such as Capezio ACE Awards, World of Dance, and was named one of the Ann & Weston Hicks Choreographic Fellows at Jacob’s Pillow 2023 Program. She is featured in STEEZY’s “3 choreographers 1 song” series on YouTube. She currently teaches at her alma mater, Chapman University, emphasizing composition and jazz. She was recently awarded the Exemplary Women in LA Dance Award in 2025. She is the director/founder of AU.THENTICITY, a company that reinvigorates their artistic perspectives through our unique identity as an artist and as a human.