Q: How did you begin your performing arts training?

I grew up in Texas.  My mom’s side of the family is very artistic. My mom was the one who introduced me to dance. She was a piano teacher, so I had a lot of music in my life. I loved doing living room performances for my parents. They got tired of that so they put me in dance classes.

Q: What has dance taught you that you have applied to your everyday life and how you engage in the world?

It is very interesting. One of the biggest things dance has taught me is the collaborative nature and the trust and respect you have for people. I danced professionally then went to medical school, and they both prepared me for one another. I think they went hand in hand. For me, it is about human connection between fellow dancers. This relationship and building trust between people has been really important to me.

Q: Can you talk a bit about how you became involved in dance professionally as well as studying in medical school? How does the medical field connect with dance for you?

For me dance and medicine are very tied and each influences the other. In school I was interested in science and my fascination with the human body came from dance. In college, I realized there is a niche field of dance medicine and I felt that this was a way to combine both of my passions and bring them all together. Medical school provided me the foundations for general medicine. The specialty I’m interested in is physical medicine and rehabilitation. There is no fellowship for dance medicine, so most people who want to study dance medicine go the sports medicine route. For me, physical medicine and rehabilitation made the most sense. Physical medicine and rehabilitation, or physiatry, focuses more on the whole person than some other fields of western medicine.

Q: Has dance helped you overcome any hardships in your life?

I feel like I have been very fortunate. Dance, for me, has always been a place of refuge, beauty and inspiration. After my mom passed away, dance itself was a place of comfort. The people and the family that dance created for me were also very important. In moments of hardships, it just became so clear how much the dance family was there for me. Paul Taylor himself recognized the importance of family and how that family can be there for you through all of life's ups and downs.

Q: What have been some challenges in your pre professional and professional career?

Again I feel very lucky. I feel dance has been this very important part of my life and has also been, at times a source of conflict within my family. I think both my parents recognized how much I loved dance, but as parents they come from a place of worry and wanting security for their children and dance has uncertainty. In some ways this strengthened my passion, because I had to justify why it [dance] was so important to me. They had a different perspective as immigrant parents. When they were in Taiwan, education created opportunities for them, earned them full scholarships to school, and allowed them to enter the US. And so, to them, they saw education as the path to security and to open doors. The arts as a career, especially for my dad, ensued anxiety and fear. My parents didn't know anyone who had taken this path and they were like, “Why do you have to be the person to forge that path! You have other abilities and options. Why can't you pursue something with less uncertainty?”

Q: How can dance be a platform for social justice issues?

Dance and art hold a special place that gives people a space for communication that sometimes words can't. Having that space to look at things from an outside perspective that make people more comfortable to address and take in something that may be difficult in other mediums. I also think dance is powerful because the experience can often be a reflection of the viewer and a way for people to confront their own feelings. Paul Taylor was never someone who talked about his work. People would ask, but he never talked about the work. I think that is powerful because it allows the audience to have their own interpretation. In that space, you are given the permission and opportunity to self-reflect. I love hearing audience members talk about what they are seeing and thinking afterwards. That discussion can lead to so many different places that you may not expect or have on your own.

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?

Basically all of our performances have been cancelled. We had one coming up that was cancelled. We had a big NYC premiere in the works and were excited to launch this new initiative and concept for the Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Joyce Theater that was cancelled. The school had to be cancelled. Every aspect of the company has been put on hold. Dance is not done in a vacuum. We have tried to find different ways to share the art. That is one thing that has been a positive aspect of this pandemic. We are learning new ways to be able to continue to share Paul Taylor's work whether that is through a greater social media presence or alternate ways on a digital platform. I am now using instagram way more than I ever have, teaching live and using that platform to connect and provide art and beauty during this time.

Q: What were your initial reactions and emotions to the shutdown?

We had just gotten back from tour when NYC was put on PAUSE. Even before then, I had been in many discussions with friends who are in medical practice. I was surprised that it didn't happen sooner, knowing how long hospitals had been discussing it or even confronting patients coming in concerned about symptoms. I was disappointed by the unpreparedness of the country, given that there was time to plan.

We had been on a three week tour beforehand and while we were on tour there was uncertainty of if the tour would finish, who would make the calls, and when the calls would be made. Even while traveling city-to-city, everytime we left a city, cases would start showing up. There was anxiety in terms of whether we were at risk. As a company, we are so close in terms of proximity in the way we work. If one person in the company became ill everyone in the company would too. I know the company was thinking a lot about what was the best decision to make on behalf of everyone, what this would look like financially and health wise. I think it was so hard to make decisions with so much uncertainty.

Q: How had the company supported the dancers during this time?

The company was really good about communication. I feel like many companies said there would be a two week break and they’d see what happens but our company said we are not coming back until April 20, and since then they have further extended. The company is great with communication in terms of checking in on people. The dancers are also very close, so we keep in touch with one another. Many of us are trying to discover new ways to be connected without an audience, even though we can not perform on a stage. We don't have required company classes, but we have Taylor style classes taught Monday and Friday on Instagram live and Wednesday is Taylor repertory. Now that our classes have shifted to Zoom, we have company class 3 days a week with additional sessions to work on repertory and teaching.

Q: What does a daily routine look like for you? What have you been working on during this time?

I have been teaching on Wednesday mornings. I have been trying to do some sort of movement everyday. In the past year, cross training has made a difference in my dancing, and have continued doing this at home with gyms closed. I have been doing that through Instagram Live and youtube or taking the Taylor offered classes. I have been trying to find ways to help with my medical background. Early on, I basically blasted everyone I knew saying I can help. I am not a licensed physician and that became a big barrier. Without a license, and not being a New York medical student, I have not been able to help medically. So, I have channeled my energy to debunking myths and to helping people sift through information when some things are misleading.

I don't have a very scheduled day per say. One thing I am working on is worm composting. The New York compositing is suspended for a year due to funding, so I’m working on my own composting instead.

Q: What is a message you would like to say to health workers and other essential workers on the front lines on the front lines if you could?

It's been a mixture of worrying for my friends and being grateful for all the work they are doing. I feel like medicine can be very hard but also very fulfilling. Especially at this time, there's so much more than the regular difficulties and challenges. There are always systemic issues and this is at a new scale in terms of challenges. Resident physicians deserve extra praise with their efforts at the very front of the front lines. EMS workers are some people who I feel are not deserving enough attention as well as other non-medical essential workers. There are so many that deserve attention.

Q: Can you talk a bit about the Asian and Asian American attacks happening in the US since the pandemic? How does it make you feel? How have you been affected by this?

I have been shocked, but sadly maybe I shouldn’t have been, when even people who I think are open-minded have approached me with comments. For example, someone expressed concern to me that they were at increased risk of contracting COVID since they lived close to Chinatown, and they were the disease carriers. One of my best friends' cousins is a reporter, who has written a piece about the experiences of Asian American healthcare workers at the hospital enduring everything from racial slurs, refusal of care, harassment, stalking, and threats, when they are the ones risking their health to save the lives of those who are infected. This outbreak reveals what has been present in our country for a very long time. I think there has been some improvement in some aspects, but there is so much more that needs to be fixed.

In terms of how dance can be a vehicle for change for these issues… I think it goes back to how dance can be a means for social justice. I think we can be using dance as a means of communication and a place of representation and diversity. I also think that having a community that is inclusive, that values diversity and that showcases that diversity is really important. With Paul Taylor, he tried to do this in a way where he doesn't believe in a company of everyone looking the same. There is diversity in the dancers he wants. He wants individuality as part of his family. Is that something that can become part of companies everywhere? I think there is change occurring but not fast enough. Also, this change is bringing attention to these types of discriminations.