WORKS

Dance Film: Confession
Choreographer by Chia-Ying Kao
Performer by Chia-Ying Kao
Music: Bryars by Balanescu Quartet, Uprane by John Frusciante, Etudes: No 9 by Philip Glass
Video Editing by Vid Kamfu

2024 Skidmore College Dance Department Presents (Fall Concert)

‘SPIRES
Choreography: Chia-Ying Kao
Music: 5’44”by Carl Landa (inspired by John Cage’s 4’33”), ‘Voila’ by Barbara Pravi and ‘Mr/Mme’ by Loic Nottet
Lighting Design: Travis Richardson
Costume Design: Megan Richardson
Set Design: Chia-Ying Kao
Dancers: Amanda Ruffino, Cassidy Tryon, Faith Anderson, Gigi Gray-Smith
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1038238790

This collective presentation draws inspiration from the very idea of Self in the creative process of dance making, of embracing and accepting our true self as artists.
Eclectic in its layering of music, dance, visual arts and inspired by each student’s personal stories, the performance will feature a variety of dance idioms, music, props, and audience participation.

SD18 Heart Shaker
Choreography: Heart Shaker by TWICE
Music: ‘Heart Shaker’ by Twice, written by David Amber, Sean Alexander and Galactika

Rebel
Choreography: Chia-Ying Kao
Music: “Rebel” by TVXQ! (동방신기), written by Cazzi Opeia, Adrian McKinnon, Jonatan Gusmark, Ludvig Evers and Kenzie

Be Yourself
Choreography: Chia-Ying Kao
Music: ‘Be Yourself’ written by Carl Landa, Korean lyrics by Daniel Huh; English lyrics by Aminah Hopewell
Lighting Design: Travis Richardson
Costume Design: Megan Richardson
Background Video: Chia-Ying Kao
Dancers: Amelia Brownell, Aminah Hopewell, Anjali Khanna, Bella Hynes, Caleb Ballantine, Callie Richard, Chime Yangtso, Davin Arzu, Deidri-Ann McKenzie, Francie Wharton, Madeleine Larzul, Meredith Mobyed, Nayah Reagans, Willow Forbes

2024 Skidmore College Dance Department Presents (Spring Concert)

Unbound
Choreography: Chia-Ying Kao
Music: Carl Landa and The Chinese Music Ensemble
Lighting Design: Travis Richardson
Costume Design: Megan Richardson
Dancers: Annabelle Aber, Jared Cheng, Maddie Conroy, Ava D'Eon, Avery Mathis, Matia Reimnitz, Amanda Ruffino
vimeo.com/950501729

‘Unbound’ is a piece that brings to the forefront the liberating power of movement. The piece begins with the image of Chinese foot-binding,
a symbol of oppression, and proceeds to explore movement as both a necessity for freedom and self-expression, as well as a symbol of people coming together and standing up for their rights.

2023 Artsconnection In Residence at the Governors Island

This is Cactus Land
Choreographer: Chia-Ying Kao
Performer: Chia-Ying Kao
Musicians: Giacomo Merega and Josh Sinton

2023 Skidmore College Dance Department Presents (Fall Concert)

Emerging Ground
Choreography: Chia-Ying Kao
Music: Carl Landa, Patenipat by Charlotte Adigéry, Delibes: “The Flower Duet” from Lakmé
Painter: Phil Deal
Videographer: Ryan Gomez
Lighting Design: Travis Richardson
Costume Design: Megan Richardson
Dancers: Maddie Conroy, Kayleigh Duggan, Augustine Goebel, Sophia Hancock, Sasha Kushner, Ainsley Nolan, Allie Pape, Matia Reimnitz, Emma Rothman, Olivia Segel, Gracie Stevens

'Emerging Ground' is a multimedia, interdisciplinary piece inspired by Miro’s 1925 painting The Garden, which brings the audience into a chaotic environment populated by creatures that interact with their surroundings and with one another, defining themselves both individually and as a collective entity. Emerging Ground is a dance made up of gestures that develop into behaviors, bizarre juxtapositions, scattered sounds and a non-linear relationship between the movements and music on stage, all in a seemingly unlikely cohesive mix. Emerging Ground describes the process of rebirth resulting from the synergy of different individual trajectories of life and art, the coming together and the catharsis we can experience in an environment like a college dance department.

2022 Topaz Arts AAPI Dance Residencies （Part II）

This is Cactus Land (Work-in-Progress)
Choreographer: Chia-Ying Kao
Performer: Chia-Ying Kao
Music: György Ligeti: Continuum (1968) by Joyce Chen and After the Flood by Talk Talk
https://vimeo.com/780916164

The work explores the relationships within a landscape of sounds, objects and a body in the light or in darkness. Elements are isolated but also connected. The dance evokes memories
of intense struggles and the stage becomes a metaphor for a space dedicated to personal desire and vulnerability.

2022 Topaz Arts AAPI Dance Residencies（Part I）

Identities (Work-in-Progress)
Identities reflects on the concept of likeness and continuity (within itself and in its dialectic with the sounds), as well as on the issues of self-definition and individual physicality.
Choreographer: Chia-Ying Kao

Performer: Chia Ying Kao
Music: Knee Play I by Philip Glass
https://vimeo.com/723072204

2021 Kenektid Inc Presents (Trio: The Fire Winds)

Disintegration
Choreographer: Chia-Ying Kao
Performer: Chia-Ying Kao
vimeo.com/666494772

2021 NCC Theater&Dance Presents Virtual Dance Concert–YouTube streaming Saturday, May 22 at 8:00 PM

In Vitro
Choreographer: Chia-Ying Kao
Performers: Maxwell Ginsburg, Tamar Sabo
Music: Imaginary Landscape IV by John Cage, john cage - experiences no.2 (lyrics by e.e. cummings, vocals by robert wyatt)
Music Editor: Giacomo Merega Lighting Designer: Peter Fox
Costume Designer: Jessica Costagliola
Videotaping: Chuck Albano, Peter Fox
Video Editor: Dominick Castaldo
vimeo.com/563952841

Inspired by John Cage’s seminal work 4’33”, ’In Vitro’ is a multi-paced juxtaposition of movements, text, music, voice and, of course, silence.
The dance style deconstructs and rebuilds itself from pedestrian actions to modern dance movements, and into gestural signifiers. Subdivided into three movements,
this work cross-examines dancers’ state of silence/stillness, the re-setting of their personal emotional counterpoint and the redefinition of their notion of dance as a means of expression.

2019 Creators Collective Presents

Warm Heart, Cold Feet
Collaborators and Performers: Chia-Ying Kao, Cinthia Chen and Emily Wexler
November 18, 2019 Carousel Lawn and Lefferts House of Prospect Park
vimeo.com/378680066

In this collaborative process, the focus was on migration-related emotional suffering. We explored the meaning behind emotional blackmail, examples of this kind of manipulation, and the
damage that occurs from this emotional abuse. Through dance, music and video, the work is a means for sharing our stories, from which we hope to build bridges between differences,
reclaim our existence and bring awareness to our community.

2019 Chia-Ying Kao Dance presents at the Gallery, Kunstinitiutive Im Friese- KunstBUS, Germany

Out of A Landscape
Choreographer/Performer: Chia-Ying Kao
Composer/Performer: Giacomo Merega
https://vimeo.com/348727585

"Out of A Landscape" is inspired by the ongoing intensive agriculture practiced to produce food that damages the environment through use of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and insecticides.
The piece promotes the idea of ecological dance, an activity which aims to imitate nature in its ways of operating.

2019 Creators Collective Presents

2006/2015
Choreographer/Performer: Chia-Ying Kao and Sandra Kluge
Music: Chia-Ying Kao and Sandra Kluge
Saturday, May 18 BrooklynWorks at 159
vimeo.com/359765353

The piece explores the shared experience of individual journeys transplanting from one country to another through movement and sound. It explores living in NY as immigrants,
how we adapt to the new culture, what keeps us here, how we overcome the language barriers and engage with the community.

2018 Chia-Ying Kao Dance Presents at Noel Ruiz Theater, PC for Performing Arts, Oakdale, NY

The Nows
Choreographer: Chia-Ying Kao
Performers: AJ Guevara and Chia-Ying Kao
Composer: Giacomo Merega
Musicians: Voice: Rema Hasumi, Guitar: Todd Neufeld, Bass Guitar: Giacomo Merega
vimeo.com/294955114

'The Nows' is an expressionist pastiche of contemporary dance and music, a multi-layered, multi-paced cathartic juxtaposition of inner spaces and echoes of reality.

2017 Broward College Fall Dance Concert

Disappear Digest
Choreographer: Chia-Ying Kao
Performers: Broward College Dance Department Students
vimeo.com/252823191

Sunrise gives the hope we all wish for, while I am learning to let exhaustion take me away peacefully. The circles of routine are like tracks on the snow, but we must light up the sky with breaths of imagination.

2014 Triskelion Arts Presents

Where Your Voices Are 你們的聲音在那裡

這個作品透過釣魚台事件來探討國家衝突、權力鬥爭以及事件後普遍存在的心理創傷和生態影響.通過個人的想法和文化的擴散運動, 表達內在的對立與衝突感, 並深入探討由個人、群體到國家的各種現實問題.交替抽象的影像與聲音, 將會引導觀眾進入現實和覺醒的旅程.

"Where Your Voices Are" is an evening-length dance-theater work. The piece examines social conflict and how the majority imposes morality. Using the political tension surrounding a set of rock-islands in the East-China Sea claimed by China, Taiwan, and Japan, the piece dissects the mindset and actions of institutions through dance. Elaborating on the themes of cultural conflict, power struggle, widespread psychological trauma and disruption of daily life, the work explores the evolving dynamics of how national identity and politics are perceived in a globalized society. This awareness has the potential to spark a critical dialogue about the nature of political hegemony. Through the depiction of territorial disputes in East Asia, the work raises questions about cultural sustainability and social justice. There are alternating images of extreme realism and abstraction, all blended with experimental sounds. “Where Your Voices Are” will take the audience on a journey of despair and discovery, coupled with realization and awakening.

https://vimeo.com/133275541

2013 American Dance Festival (International Dance Choreographer's Residency)

Gateways
The known and the unknown, like a fragmented walk in a dense forest
the shine of the scenery, a transparent statement down to the clothes
Is that an answer?
Shakes and kisses all around like a mute
Something that doesn’t fit us
Who should i belong to ?
This question is only the beginning

https://vimeo.com/74467015

2013 Triskelion Arts Split Bill Program

Insides (Work in Progress)
“Insides”, which is inspired by the novel “The Knight in Rusty Armor”, physicalizes the intent and inner dialogue through which we define and examine ourselves. This work explores some of the common weaknesses within humanity- loneliness, anger and fear.
高嘉瑩三十分鐘的新創舞作『Insides』靈感來自於當代著名喜劇作家羅伯特·費希爾創作探索生命本質的小說『盔甲騎士』(The Knight in Rusty Armor)。因日復一日瑣碎而忙碌的生活, 人們身上的枷鎖尤如重擔,借由這本小說來重新認識自己、理解自己和一起尋找失去的自我。
https://vimeo.com/83274977

2013 Northport Library Presents

Mist Must

What is a syncretic dance, in the context of a globalized society? A dance that proposes a possible stylistic and aesthetic synthesis between different perspectives on the same topic. Or on the same image, like a painting. "Mist Must" is a work of contrapositions, and apparent opposites in a constant dialectic flow. A dynamic journey through harmony, dissonance, contradiction, poetry and unexpected beauty. With original music composed and performed by famed Italian bassist Giacomo Merega, this original work by Taiwanese choreographer Chia-Ying Kao 高嘉瑩 is a compelling statement filled with poetry and excitement.