Statement
My name is Waeli Wang and I am a choreographer, filmmaker, and dance educator. I borrow from the concept of "akasha," meaning a supposed universal etheric field in which a record of past events is imprinted, to describe my practice of sourcing and collecting a wide range of movement and imagery, figurative and abstract, and from the personal poetic. Inspired by my Asian heritage and identity, I explore current socio-political contexts through my identity in the work I create, often blending dance and film to immerse audiences.
Bio
WAELI WANG (she/they) is a movement artist, filmmaker, and educator. She creates interdisciplinary contemporary works interweaving personal, familial, social, and artistic contexts to investigate the human condition for the concert stage, cinematic screen, and alternative spaces. Her research explores the overlap between critical dancemaking and identity to transform and challenge unjust social relations while filling in the gaps of our collective memory. She is driven to make work that fuses movement/imagery, figurative/abstract, and the poetic personal. Wang has toured internationally as a guest artist performing and teaching master classes in aerial dance forms and her collaborative interdisciplinary choreography and films have shown in internationally curated performances and screenings over the last decade. Cultivating community, experiential learning, and a dedication to equity are central to her art-making practice and teaching philosophy.
Wang holds an MFA degree in Dance from the University of California, Irvine & a BFA in Film Studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She currently resides on the unceded territories of the Acjachemen, Tongva, and Kizh, also known as Irvine, California.
