Artistic Statement
My primary interest in composition is to create a platform where cross-discipline and cross-cultural creativity could blossom. My choreography is provocative with the intention of increasing socio-political awareness with movement style that reflects multiculturalism. Dance that speaks universal language with the human body, mind and soul when carrying meaningful subjectivity and delivered in mature artistic vision has great power to bridge emerging social, economical and religious divides.

Achieving excellence in the art of making dance involves effort in finding originality in movement vocabulary and building clarity in choreographic structure with content that is responsible to the sociopolitical conditions of the world. Enabling me to enter into each creative process with a fresh point of view, I have identified 8 types of inspiration to generate movement ideas and help structure the dance throughout the journey: conceptual, musical, visual, literature based, emotionally driven, kinesthetic inspired, site specific, and cultural. As movement invention and clever ideas are highly celebrated in the process of creating or evaluating a dance, I place great importance in mastering choreographic craftsmanship and development of the work. It is choreographic structure that may seem restricting, yet frees the unboundedness of creativity and imagination. While approaching the art of making dance from a formist’s perspective, I create dances to communicate the spectrum of human experiences and expressions; some are about abstract shapes and forms, and others about world events that shape us all. I enjoy connecting with the audience on an intellectual level, however, it is equally fulfilling when my work takes the audience on a journey to celebrate life and beauty in music and dance.

With every work I make, I challenge myself to answer questions of “why does the world need another dance?” “Does this dance has a message that is uniquely mine? ”Is the dance relevant to life and meaningful enough to ask a group of audience to collectively sit in a dark theater in silence for a period of time to witness?” “What would the audience take home from this experience?” I strive to create with artistic conscience that communicates and evokes universal human concerns of today. Being a non-main stream thinker, I embrace yet not being afraid to challenge sociopolitical boundaries. I think of my creative process a nurturing environment where cultural exchange and personal quests for self-identity, pursue for excellence, and a greater concern for the world can occur.

Technology, a powerful tool, plays a significant role in our communication today. It influences our seeing, understanding and perceiving the world around us. It is a natural evolution for me to pursue interdisciplinary collaboration and create in this exciting art form. It is a luxury to live and work in a Conservatory community at Shenandoah University where original arts in music, dance, theater and film are being born everyday. Working with composers and integrating video technology in my choreography has enable me to amplify choreographic concepts and make artistic abstraction accessible for a much broader group of audience. In the world where more and more creative voices are born each day, I find multimedia dance projects bring me closer to my own truths.

Dance is a beautiful way to celebrate the joy of living. It is a noble art form for it engages the mind, body and spirit of the artist(s), and it can speak to its audience intelligently and soulfully all at the same time. Dance is about the body, the rhythm, and the world that connect us all. Be courageous, be educated, be spontaneous, be disciplined, be curious and be open-minded. After the rigor of training the mind and body to harness creativity, simply BE when step into the spot light on stage.

Resume and curriculum vitae available upon request (tingyuchen@me.com).