We recently connected with Joan Liu and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joan, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I grew up dancing, first at local dance studio, then at pre-professional schools. I was fortunate enough to train at some of the best schools in Taiwan, Canada, and the US with world-class teachers, which built a strong foundation for later studies. However, the nature of being at top schools is that I was surrounded by extremely talented peers. I spent the majority of my training years wondering why the school took me in the first place. Each new teacher, each casting, each school exam/evaluation was so stressful that I often found myself alone in the dressing room, not wanting to go into the studio to do the thing I love to do. Looking back, I wish I had more confidence in myself, more compassion for the younger self that would inevitably make mistakes and more courage to learn from the mistakes. I struggled my whole career with body image (which led to an eating disorder). When I first moved to Canada and the US, I was so self-conscious of the color of my skin and my last name that I couldn’t let the dancing speak for itself. Again, now looking back, I can see that the learning process would’ve been sped up exponentially if I weren’t so absorbed in wanting to change the things I couldn’t change. But if we are being honest, that is a journey that every dancer (of minority) has to go through.
For me, the skills that are most essential are observation and an open mind. Now that I’ve been teaching and sitting at the other side of the audition table more, it is often the dancers that observe and understand both the big picture and details while showing genuine compassion that succeed long term in their career. Stellar technique is great, but it is not useful when people don’t want to work with you. It is also wasted if a dancer isn’t coachable. Being able to observe, read the room, absorb the details really brings a dancer to the next level.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I was born in Taipei, Taiwan and started dancing when I was four. Initially, it was just Chinese folk dance and martial arts. As I tread the journey of pre-professional dance training, ballet, modern/contemporary, improvisation/choreography were added into the mix as required by the unique pre-professional schooling system in Taiwan. I started my performing career with Taipei Royal Ballet at the age of 15. However, my performing career was “cut short”, or I thought, due to health issues and injuries. I took the opportunity to pursue academics studying life science/pre-med at National Tsing Hua University and Yale University. Upon graduation, I moved to New York City to attend graduate school at New York University, first obtaining a masters in biology, then a masters in Dance Education in conjunction with American Ballet Theatre with a goal of helping dancers and athletes recover from injuries. It was then that I was encouraged to try performing again and possibly choreographing as well. I have since freelanced in NYC and founded Axons Dance Theatre in 2019 with the mission to encourage communication through the art of dance. My choreography draws inspiration from natural phenomenon, circus, comedy, immigration, everyday life, and takes a deep dive into mental disorders all with a sense of humor.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One time, during post-performance meet and greet, a little girl tugged on my shirt and said “I want to be you when I grow up”. I smiled at her and noticed her mother with tears in her eyes standing behind her. The mother told me that the little girl was on the autism spectrum and that was the first sentence the girl said in her life. Throughout my career, I have seen similar things happen multiple times: first smiles, first eye contact, first fully formed sentences…etc. Art’s ability to heal amazes me again and again. If by doing what we do, we can change just one person’s life for the better, be the facilitator or the vehicle of someone opening up to the world, it is worth doing. For me, be it performing, or teaching, or choreographing, witnessing how art improves the quality of life, doesn’t matter how subtle, is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’ve been choreographing for as long as I can remember. All throughout my training, teachers/mentors have suggested that (not to discourage me from performing, but that) my talent lies in choreography. However, I had always found joy in rehearsing and being a performer. Choreography had always felt like an unknown roller coaster ride with me not necessarily enjoying the thrills of the ups and downs. When a serious back injury left me unable to lift my head and put on my own socks, I knew my days as a performer were numbered. I was already choreographing here and there at that time but that was a wakeup call of, it’s time to pivot. While I still perform, the majority of my energy in the arts has been in choreographing since then. I was given the opportunity to choreograph a full-length ballet with American Liberty Ballet, which became the impetus of starting Axons Dance Theatre. Having performed for over 20 years, the stage feels like home; choreography feels like watching my children grow into their own. Each awe-inspiring in its own right.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joanjcliu.wixsite.com/home
- Instagram: @joanymacaroni
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoanLiuDanceAndWellness
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joan-liu-766b5451/
- Other: https://www.axonsdancetheatre.org/
Image Credits
Benjamin Petit, Raquel Beauchamp, Alice Chacon