We were lucky to catch up with Jie-Hung Connie Shiau recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jie-Hung Connie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I have worked on is a my first solo project “108” that I choreographed on myself in 2018 with the support of the Greenhouse Artist Grant from Chicago Dancemaker Forum. With this opportunity, I work alongside with my best friend Rena Butler, who is an international acclaimed choreographer, as my sounding board and my mentor throughout the creation process. It was quite a special experience as I was just starting to cultivate my own movement aesthetic and choreographic voice, and as Rena just starting to explore being a choreographic mentor. The process marked a beginning for us both. We were growing together. The seed of the solo was the Kavanaugh allegation, in which Christine Blasey Ford alleged that he had sexually assaulted her at a house party when they were both teenagers. Eventually I dived more into how a woman’s body like mine was often viewed and judged in a social, political, cultural, and hierarchical lens. And how my body absorbed, fight against, and shed through those lenses. What my experiences growing up as a girl in Taiwan, and becoming a woman in the States are like?
At the moment, it felt like such a social and political commentary of how a woman’s body exits in this society. But now, in retrospect, I realized I was learning about my own strength, power, and trust within my own body.
It may sound strange. But after the process, I felt a shift in my body. And it was something weighted, rooted, and heavy that started to ground me.

Jie-Hung Connie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a dancer, choreographer, and artist. I am a freelancer and an Artistic Associate at Gibney Company, currently based in NYC. I dance and choreograph to make sense of the relationships I have with this world, and hope that through the act of sharing my work and experience, it resonates with someone out there and make them feel seen and heard.

Growing up in Tainan, Taiwan, I have always been an athletic kid, always wanted to race with my brother or my cousins. My mom enrolled me into a movement class when I was 8 or 9. Even though in retrospect I was struggling with my coordination jumping over the tambourines the teacher placed on the floor, I never stoped dancing ever since.
My fascination and obsession for physically developed as I got older and receiving more dance training. It gave me immense fulfillment when I noticed my own progress.
I went to a prestigious high school program at the Taipei National University of the Arts. It was a 7-year program which included high school and college. Getting into that school was the moment when I know I was going to become a professional dancer/artist. I was having training such as classical Chinese opera dance, martial art, Tai Chi, improvisation, modern, and ballet. During my second year in high school, my modern teacher who had a career in the States encouraged me to go abroad for college, because I had a vision of becoming an international performing artist. It was a pivotal moment of my life, because eventually I decided to travel across the Pacific Ocean to New York to SUNY Purchase College for dance when I was 18.
It felt like my dream was coming true when I was flying to the States, until I got here. My college four years was quite challenging. The culture shock lasted all four years in college, and possibly longer. I was trying to learn to speak like an American with my not-so-good English, I was trying to behave like an American. I was trying to assimilate so I can fit in. I was trying to hide my Taiwanese-ness so I could be cool and could hang. I was lucky that I had a couple of friends who were supported of me, however I often felt lonely because nobody spoke Mandarin. I needed to tell myself that coming here was the right decision, and I needed to keep going, and assimilating was my way to succeed professionally and socially. I was living a muted version of myself without me even recognizing that.
As I was becoming older, it was becoming clearer to me that in fact to become successful is to become and accept my full self. It took a while for me to get to this point. And it is something I still need to remind myself. For a long time I had a hard time talking about my college time. I didn’t like that version of myself and I didn’t know why. Not until I read Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans by David L. Eng, and Shinhee Han. This book shed light to my immigrant experience when I first came to the States, and eventually I was able to start healing that version of me. I made a piece about my college experience in May 2023, it truly felt like I broke through a blockage inside of me that was there for a long time.
I am grateful for the experiences I have been through. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the hardship. And every time I move and dance, I am reminded of the history my body carries, all the falls and triumphs. Every time I create, I feel more connected to my existence and my purpose in this world.
I am living in a dream that continues to evolve, just didn’t expect that’s how it’d start.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It is an incredibly powerful feeling when I see people that connect with my work, and that my experience resonates with someone. It goes to show that how important it is to share. To share is to represent, and representation matters.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I wish that society see arts as essential, because it is. It is human desire to long for beauty. And by beauty, I mean something that is multidimensional, and that it makes you feel and connect to something greater. And the best way to support artists is to go see shows like you would go see games and concerts.
Talk about arts like you would talk about sports and TV shows.
I think that art is about participating (in any way), that could mean sharing, receiving, and witnessing. And participating is an act of community building. And that’s beautiful!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jiehungconnieshiau.com/home
• Instagram: @jiehungshiau

Image Credits
Personal photo: Christopher Jones Additional photos: Eric Politzer (top 2), Nir Arieli (bottom left), Todd Rosenberg (bottom right)