Artistic Director and Choreographer for Zata Omm

William Yong was born in Hong Kong. William first studied dancing with teacher Katherine Chan. He then enrolled in a contemporary dance programme at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. After he graduated from the HKAPA, William received a scholarship from the HK Jockey Club Dance Fund to further his studies at the London Contemporary Dance School in England. During his final year of the MA programme, William was invited to be a member of the LCDS-4D performance group where he worked with several distinguished British choreographers including Richard Alston, Laurie Booth, Nigel Charnock, and Henri Oguike. He was also sent alone for his secondment to study with the Nederlands Dans Theatre 1 in the Netherlands. At the end of his MA programme, he was awarded a Master of Arts degree with distinction by the LCDS validated by the University of Kent at Canterbury.

After graduation, William was part of Wayne McGregor's Random Dance Company's Labrax production that toured England, Germany, and Belgium. He then worked for Matthew Bourne's 'Adventures in Motion Pictures' (AMP). William was a member of the original and film cast of the multiple awards winning production (Lawrence Olivier Award and triple 1999 Tony Award) of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake that toured England, Scotland, London's West End, Los Angeles, and Broadway. He last participated in AMP's production of Cinderella in Los Angeles.

In Canada, he has performed with CORPUS, Chimera Project and Blue Collar Dance Company. He also has worked with Matjash Mrozewski, Michelle Silagy, Rebecca Mendoza, Kathleen Rea and many others. William was also a member of Christopher House's Toronto Dance Theatre for five seasons. He performed in House's repertoire, including Echo's Object, Sly Verb, Persephone's Lunch, Severe Clear, Nest, Vena Cava, Four Towers, Encarnado and Early departure. In 2005, he left TDT to be an independent artist and founded the new dance organization Zata Omm Dance Projects.

Before founding Zata Omm, William choreographed numerous creations back in Hong Kong and London that include Siset & Himon, A Pile of Time, Do not go gentle, A Rose and The Beijing Turmoil (A dance film). In Canada, his creations such as The Offering, Sugar & Snails, Visitation, Thrice Withershins and Alone On Paper were presented at various venues and festivals. His commissioned works include LOVEsPARK for Dusk Dances, The Crowded Room for Toronto Dance Theatre, Three Ply and Wait for no man on Ballet Jörgen, Rivulet, Weaving Kismet and Instill for the School of TDT.

Zata Omm's commissions choreographed by William include The Four Heavenly Kings for Dance Ontario, Sirens in the City for the city of Toronto and Tenterhooks for Dusk Dances. Zata Omm latest full-length work Frames choreographed by William Yong was premiered on 19-21 March 2009 on the DanceWorks Mainstage at the Enwave Theatre in Toronto as part of Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps 08/09.

William has performed in eleven dance films including his previous stage work Sugar & Snails was funded by Bravo and made into a short film directed by Kathi Prosser, which was premiered at the Lincoln Center's Dance On Camera Festival. It was also shown at the Dance Camera West International Dance Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Moving Picture Festival in Toronto. William choreographed his second dance film To Fly or Fall, directed by Kathi Prosser, which was just shown in festivals in Toronto, Amsterdam, Bilbao and Naples. The stage version of this duet was premiered at the Premiere Dance Theatre.

William was profiled in an episode of the Bravo channel TV show Freedom as a choreographer, interviewed and hosted by Robert Desrosiers. He was named Emerging Artist of the Month by Emerging Arts Professional. William is a double Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee. His 2009 nomination was for 'Outstanding New Choreography' for Zata Omm's Frames.

As a teacher, William has had given master technique classes and workshops for Adventures in Motion Pictures and Matthew Bourne's New Adventures in London (U.K.), The Hong Kong Academy of Peforming Arts, Pui Dance Studios and Rock Record Company in Taipei, Toronto Dance Theatre, the School of Toronto Dance theatre, Canadian Children's Dance Theatre, 509 Dance Collective, McMaster University, York University and L'École de danse de Québec in Canada.