My World

It was an amazing journey..

I was born on a ranch in the west.

Born under the signs of the Crab and Dragon, I live a fiery existence of passionate pursuits. Tainted with Asian blood, I am also haunted by the need to be practical. My passion established its home in dance at the raw age of 9, and the two dichotomies fought many battles through the years.

I started my training at the Minnesota Dance Theatre, which became Northwest Ballet for a year, and then transformed into what is now the best ballet school in the state, Ballet Arts Minnesota. A number of my friends have graduated to dance with San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Ballet Arizona. Those who loved dance but didn't find ballet to be their paradise found a generous home in modern dance at the University of Minnesota Dance Department. There I trained with some of the best dance choreographers/teachers in the U.S. as guest teachers. Teachers like Barbara Mahler, June Finch, and Sara Pearson and choreographers like Danny Ezralow, Dan Wagoner, Mel Wong, Peter Sparling, Donna Uchizono, and Shapiro & Smith have all taught within a time span of two years.

My high school friends were wonderfully understanding in spending all my time in the studio instead of with them. My two closest friends, Wheat and Mary, have helped keep my sanity and youth during those ugly days of learning not to be afraid of the judgement of other people.

I attempted to escape during a visitation to engineering at the Massachusetts I my minor in Biology, and But all the time, I fed mmy soul being Troupe and rose through the ranks of both the art of dance and the administrative chain. There I tried my hand in choreography in composing a number of dances for the more technical dancers of DT with whom I am forever grateful. Without them, I could never see my creations come to fruition, most notably, Africa and Away. I also had the opportunity to dance for a couple of truly talented choreographers, whom oddly enough, had never had any formal dance training, Van Van and Jimmy Lin.

The summer of '98 I tested my passion for dance in the heart of New York City mumbling something about finding modern dance and performing. Digging through the recesses of my resources of skill and knowledge, I spent my days looking for a way to pay for the rent, the dance classes, and my meals. I calculated my livable income to be $900/month, $700 for rent and the rest toward dance classes and food. I discovered that my MIT degree did little help me find evening or night work and freelance work came easily only to those with years of consulting

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