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January 2025: Kay Huang
Who is Kay Huang in a sentence?
My first love has been dance, in all its various languages and form, from 5 years old onwards.
Tell us a bit about your work and practice.
I teach, I choreograph, and I perform. It is in this order that I sift through ideas of how to learn, to listen, and to understand dance. Obviously, it has not always been this way, but increasingly, my practice is an exchange between my students and myself on what dance is in our lives, and this filters into my choreography and my own pursuit of dance and performance.
How long have you been dancing?
Since I was 5, but I stopped for 8 years, at the age of 10 -18 as I immigrated from Hong Kong to Vancouver when I was 10. My parents did not know how to allow me to pursue dance. I started to dance again at the age of 17, then SFU in the Dance Program.
How does dance fit into your life currently – are there any upcoming projects you want to share with us?
I am working on a triptych of my Chinese name. My name consists of three Chinese character. I’ll be working on the second installation based on the second character of my name which means Peace. In Chinese writing, the word is a girl underneath a roof. The working title of my new work is called Girl Under. It is an archival work centering on my mother’s migration story, first escaping into China because of Japanese Occupation in Hong Kong, then escaping to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution. I will also be intersecting this dance work with my own journey immigrating from Hong Kong to Vancouver in the 1970’s.
How would you describe dance’s impact on your life?
I need to dance to come back to myself all the time. If I feel anxious or confused, I need to pull up all the practices and tools that I’ve learned over the years and bring my mental and emotional state into movement and dance. Dance brings me self-awareness and courage to the way I see the world. I also am in love with the dance community. Other dancers have inspired me, brought understanding and generosity to me.
What three core values drive your engagement with dance?
Do you have a particular practice that you carry out each day or have you implemented new practices over these last few years?
I focus a lot on my neck and spine, as that is a tender area in my body. I have also started using weights and bands for resistance training because my body is aging and changing, and I really need to focus on strength and openness in all my joints.
What would you say are the most significant benefits for you in being a Dance Centre member?
I could not have reentered the performance world after taking a break for 25 years without The Dance Centre. My last two works Yellow and Crossing would not have been made. The Dance Centre played a significant part of me being in the community, connecting with other dance artists, and understanding the incredibly diverse and brilliant dance culture that we possess in Vancouver. I also love that The Dance Centre includes outreach in their vision, to connect to my love of instructing.
Kay’s Member Profile
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Photos by Yan Tymoshenko