Jemima Matsuda

Faculty – VOCATIONAL – Contemporary

Jemima Matsuda is a contemporary dancer and movement artist based in Pōneke. A 2021 graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance, she has since performed with companies across Australia, New Zealand, and internationally, including Co3 Contemporary Dance, Movement of the Human, Footnote NZ Dance, and World of WearableArts. Passionate about collaboration and creative exploration, Jemima also teaches contemporary technique, improvisation, and composition at the New Zealand School of Dance.

Since graduating Jemima has worked with companies around Australia and New Zealand including Threading Frames on two of their dance films ‘Walk With Me’ and ‘Close To Telling’, Co3 Contemporary Dance performing ‘GLORIA’ by Douglas Wright, Movement of the Human’s ‘Belle- A Performance of Air’ and ‘TŌRUA’ directed by Malia Johnston, Company Beck in the Dunedin Arts Festival in ‘Commentary of Dreaming’ and World of WearableArts. In 2024, she toured to Japan with Footnote NZ Dance where she performed a work by Kota Yamazaki. 

Jemima enjoys the connection of conceptual worlds with physicalities and sensations of the body that bring emotional depth and intricate movement. She loves to share and collaborate with other artists and creatives, bringing innovative visions to life. 

She has most recently been teaching at The New Zealand School of Dance for both their fulltime and associate programs. Her teaching practice involves contemporary technique, improvisation and composition tasks in a creative process.