For my MFA project, I aimed to explore the differences between Chinese and Western dance cultures and investigate strategies for integrating them. This thesis reflects on the process of creating my original dance work, "Water, Disappearing in Water," and how it informed my understanding of choreography and creation. Through a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experimentation, I have gained new insights and techniques for choreography. My work, which draws on Tai Chi, calligraphy, somatics, and modern dance, exemplifies the potential of cross-cultural collaborations to inspire new forms of artistic expression. Under the umbrella of integrating Eastern and Western cultures, my goal was to extract elements of Chinese traditional culture to make modern dance more open and inclusive, while also exploring new possibilities for incorporating traditional culture. The first chapter investigates the construction of the narrative text of dance works by examining the pre-choreography and creation stages. It also examines the transition from narrative text to feasible dance work structure, which poses a significant challenge in the practice process. The second chapter delves into the possibility of integrating Eastern and Western cultures in dance from a theoretical and practical perspective. Using the first and second parts of the work as examples, I analyze the "force" of modern dance, the "shape" of Tai Chi movements, and the relationship between emotion and the lines of Chinese calligraphy. The third chapter centers on exploring the significance of imagery expression in somatic choreography. The fourth and final chapter of this thesis sets a new goal of combining dance and multimedia technology to challenge the limitations of traditional dance performance. Overall, this thesis showcases how my original dance work combines theory and practice to explore new possibilities in future dance works.

Like many other Southeast Asian American (“SEAA”) families who fled from war and genocide around the 1970s and through the 1990s, my family avoided discussing their trauma or addressing any resulting mental health issues. As I came to internalize patterns that stemmed from my parents’ untreated wounds, without any way of ever truly understanding those wounds, I inevitably developed symptoms of my own trauma, including depression and anxiety. Although the topic of intergenerational trauma (“IGT”) has been discussed in a growing body of research within the specific context of Asian American families that have resettled in western countries, the focus has been on the trauma itself: its development and manifestations in the first (parent) generation and its transmission and impact on the second (offspring) generation. Little has been researched or written about healing and recovery from IGT on an individual level. Due to this gap in the literature, and my background as a dancer and artist, I turned to autoethnography and arts-based research methods to explore pathways to understanding and healing from family trauma. Using a combination of movement-based inquiry and narrative inquiry, I examined both of the following questions: (1) What can performed autoethnography that draws on narrative research as well as inquiry led by movement improvisation and choreographic processes, produce in terms of deeper knowledge about one’s traumas and about new ways of expressing oneself or being in the world? (2) How can such a movement- and somatic-centered autoethnographic research methodology also serve as a recovery modality? Although my family strongly believed the arts, and dance in particular, to serve no purpose other than to get in the way of job security and financial stability, the following research contains implications regarding whether and how families similar to mine could benefit from these practices.

The piece WAKE UP BREATHING holds personal significance as an investigation of thought-provoking issues of breathing through film installation, video and live performance. This research specifically addressed how breath training exercises enhance dance performance and improve a dancer’s control of their body, as well as how these exercises can function as material for choreographic inquiry. During the creation of the concert, the choreographer employed breath building exercises and applied different breath techniques with a cast of nine dancers. The choreographer and dancers worked collaboratively to develop creative material, enhance performance and help members of the audience understand why breathing in dance is so meaningful.

Cultural background is very important for people, and people from different cultural backgrounds will have different understandings of art. This document explores how individuals relate to other cultures and incorporate the advantages of Chinese cultural values into contemporary dance experiences as researched for the applied project, III. This project uses the Bagua theory in the ancient Chinese book the I Ching to carry out the process of collaborative creation through different art forms in collaboration with artists from different mediums. This document details the artist’s process of self-exploration and creative expansion using personal cultural background and influences (both Eastern and Western). Through this research the artist has come to understand and develop unique personal perspectives and formulate a creative method that she will continue to use in the future; it centers the importance of cultural identity and how that shapes experiences of art and art-making.

Dysmorphia is a series of large-scale paintings that address the relationship between a body image disorder called Body Dysmorphia (BDD) and plastic surgery. The audience sees women of all colors, shapes and sizes in their most vulnerable state. However, the shapes of their bodies and the abnormal background are not what we are used to seeing. Presented in the IAP Studios, Dysmorphia aims to start a conversation around the rising global occurrences of cosmetic procedures, the patients who suffer from Body Dysmorphia, and how the two subjects relate. Plastic surgery is a highly controversial conversation that the world is currently having. However, BDD is not a common topic that comes up within those discussions. Many surgeons may not realize or choose to ignore the fact that a vast majority of their patients have a body image disorder. Sometimes the patients themselves may not even realize it. Whether we believe plastic surgery is a positive life-changing choice or that it takes advantage of those who have disorders such as BDD, the end result will be up to the audience to determine. By establishing a connection between the two contrasting ideals, society can then begin to identify where they might fit in the conversation. Dysmorphia aims to spark informative discussions about these kinds of social issues by exploring the female body and bringing to light plastic surgery's attempt to alter it.

Metaphor as a way of thinking permeates daily life. It affects how people understand and experience everything. It also plays an important role in artistic creation. The idea of creating highly personal but commonly understood metaphors was central to the research and creation of Ink. I created this work to find out how I—as a Chinese artist with unique personal experiences, educational experiences, and cultural perspectives—can explore metaphors that would resonate with predominantly Western audiences. This research specifically addressed the metaphorical meanings of the colors black and white and drew from my visual artistry to compose dances, stage setting, and costume design.

Purple World was a choreographic project that investigated improvisational, compositional, design, and technological experiments to research movement possibilities in interdisciplinary and interactive settings. In developing the work, the dancers exchanged different individual perspectives through "movement recall." This movement recall was inspired by the sensations associated with their physical memories from childhood, conditioned movement patterns, and the ways dancers can use their bodies to creatively problem-solve the philosophical questions in their lives. The work united dance, interactive work, structured improvisation, props, and installation. The intersection of discussion with collaborators, creative methods inspired by other artists, and the elements described above provided a structure for the artist to investigate his choreographic artistic identity by cultivating individual movement vocabulary in himself and his dancers.