Chingchi Yu, Artistic Director

Born and raised in Taiwan, Chingchi was in LanLing Theater, a leader in the modern theater movement in Taiwan, for seven years before relocating to California in 1986. She has had the honor of dancing in works by Anda Abramovici, Kimiko Guthrie, Eric Kupers, Aileen Kim, Colleen Mulvihill, Claudine Naganuma, Nancy Ng, and Xiao Ping Liu-Moore, and she was a founding member of Dandelion Dance Theater. Chingchi discovered choreography as a dance student at UC Berkeley, and upon graduating joined Unbound Spirit Dance Company as resident choreographer for many years. Her work has been presented in the Concept series, Dance Up Close/East Bay, Shawl Anderson Dance Salon, Dance Is Festival, Summer Fest, ODC Pilot, Choreographer's showcase/Foot Work, Dance-A-Rama, 8x8x8, Unbound Spirit Dance Company concerts and shared concerts curated by various Bay Area artists/companies such as Laura Renaud-Wilson, Claudine Naganuma, Dandelion Dance Theater, and Naka Dance Theater. In 2016, Chingchi, Ann DiFruscia and Carol Kueffer-Moore produced “Sisters and Druthers” Dance concert. During the pandemic, Chingchi started exploring films. Her first dance film, Grove, was screened in May 2021. In January 2023, Chingchi joined Dance Generators led by Liv Schaffer.

Chingchi’s work is theatrical and usually has an emotional component.  Her theater experience greatly influenced her choreography, which utilizes theatrical imagery, facial expressions, pedestrian movements, and intriguing character interactions to express a potently wide range of emotions and human experience.

Chingchi is a recipient of the City of Berkeley Individual Artist Grant and Shawl Anderson Artist In Residence Frank Shawl Residency.

Chingchi is very proud of herself that at age 62, she is still dancing vigorously, making dances, and now making dance films. “Dance is a catalyst for life. I connect my body, mind, and emotions through dance. It is THE tool I use to express myself, to explore, to understand the world, to share, and to connect with people. Dance is life!"