After graduating from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, William Yong studied at the London Contemporary Dance School in England. He was admitted to the Master of Arts with distinction in Dance, awarded by the University of Kent. He also studied in Europe with the Nederlands Dans Theatre 1. In England, he worked with many companies, including Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance Company and Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, performing in Europe, in Los Angeles and on Broadway in New York.
He also worked with several distinguished British choreographers including Richard Alston and Laurie Booth. In Canada, he has danced with CORPUS, Theatre Rusticle, Fila 13/Lina Cruz, Matjash Mrozewski, Michelle Silagy, Kathleen Rea, Chimera Project and many others. He was a member Toronto Dance Theatre for five seasons. Currently, William is the artistic director and choreographer of ‘Zata Omm Dance Projects’.
As a teacher, he has given technique classes and workshops for Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures from London (U.K.), The Hong Kong Academy for Peforming Arts, ROCK Record in Taipei, and in Canada for Ballet Jörgen, McMaster University, York University, 509 Dance Collective and L’École de danse de Québec . He has created work for many companies including Toronto Dance Theatre, Little Pear Garden Collective, Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, School of Toronto Dance theatre, Ryerson University.
William has performed in eleven dance films, including his previous stage works, “To Fly or Fall” and “Sugar & Snails,” that were funded by the Bravo TV network. He was also profiled in an episode of the Bravo show, Freedom. William is a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee. His latest nomination was for ‘Outstanding New Choreography’ for Zata Omm’s, “Frames”. In 2011, William will appear in Theatre Rusticle’s upcoming production, “Peter and The Wolf” and will choreograph for Aluna Theatre’s “Red Snow”. William is currently working on Zata Omm’s, “Eight Ways from Mara,” to be premiered in October 2011.
