Dance & Choreography
It all began at the age of 2 when my mother enrolled me into a dance class at the local recreational center. From then on I couldn’t stop dancing, whether it be on the school dance team, outside company, hip hop crew, and even in the aisles of a grocery store. After high school, I decided not to pursue dance, but funnily and a little surprisingly it wormed its way back into my life through various opportunities. I got to perform more and take a leap into choreography which is something that I’ve always wanted to try.
MONK
MONK is an award-winning film by Aly Rose exploring traditional Chinese Buddhist devotional life through the medium of dance for camera. It has been earning accolades from film festivals around the world, including the prestigious San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the Los Angeles Experimental Film Festival. In this film, I was one of the three dancers and I acted as dance instructors for the monks who joined the project. More about this film can be read here.
I Won’t Complain
This piece has a special place in my heart because of the growth shown in the dancers and in myself. It was a challenge as I choreographed this piece using dancers with little to no experience in dance, but it also made it all the more better because they were flexible and formative. I got to push their boundaries and mine as I challenged myself to incorporate more partnering into the dance. At the end, this became one of my favorite performances because you could feel the emotion and energy of everyone giving it all. We performed at the NYU Shanghai Fall 2019 end of semester dance show.
Watch, And Being Watched
With 5 other dancers, one being a professor, we danced in various well-know public locations around the Shanghai city. The purpose of the project was not to perform, but to see the reactions of the people around us as we improvise our movements and dance freely among them and sometimes with them. More about the film can be seen here.
World of Dance
Back in spring 2016, I joined an adult hip hop company named The Neighborhood which is based in Dallas, Texas. Becoming a part of this team was so rewarding because before when I was in more of a traditional dance studio, they focused more on technique and competition. In contrast, The Neighborhood was another family to me where we were support each other to improve and enjoy dance. Together in May 2016, we competed at World of Dance in Dallas and won 1st place and crowd favorite.
Clarity
This was the first contemporary piece that I choreographed. Originally we were supposed to perform at NYU Abu Dhabi’s Body Voices dance conference, but due to complications instead we did so at NYU Shanghai’s “Lighting the Way” Scholarship Gala and Fall 2017 end of semester dance show. I along with 5 other dancers, we come from various backgrounds and dance genres. Knowing this, I believed that with the free flowing movement of contemporary would be able to connect us all together.
Shanghai Pearl Tower
For NYU Shanghai’s Senior Send-off event, with the Xiao Long Shakers (XLS) Dance Club, we got an amazing opportunity to perform at the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower. I along with 2 other dancers choreographed this entertaining piece. Even though it was a challenge to schedule rehearsals during the final exams season, it was astounding to be able to perform at such a grand location.