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Lan Tung 董籃
Lan Tung 董籃 – co-creator, music director, composer, producer, AD of Orchid Ensemble
Originally from Taiwan, Lan’s music often experiments with contradictions by taking culturally specific materials outside their context. Her works embody the rhythmic intricacy from Indian influence, the sense of breath from Chinese tradition, and years of experiences interpreting contemporary compositions. Incorporating improvisation and graphic notations, Lan’s compositions are released on numerous CDs, winning multiple nominations. Lan is the artistic director of Sound of Dragon SocietyOrchid Ensemble, and Proliferasian. Originally from Taiwan, she has studied graphic score with Barry Guy, improvisation with Mary Oliver, Hindustani music with Kala Ramnath, and Uyghur music with Abdukerim Osman, in addition to her studies of Chinese music since a young age. Lan has appeared as a soloist with Orchestre Metropolitain (Montreal), Symphony Nova Scotia, Upstream Ensemble (Halifax), Atlas Ensemble (Amsterdam & Helsinki), Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra and Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taipei).
Julia Taffe – co-creator, choreographer
Choreographer Julia Taffe combines art, environment and adventure, making dances for buildings, mountains, neighbourhoods, theatres and trees, finding new movement perspectives in the realm of suspension. Julia is the artistic director of Aeriosa, a Vancouver-based vertical dance company. She has choreographed over 25 works on locations including Stawamus Chief Mountain in Squamish BC, Taipei City Hall, Cirque du Soleil Headquarters, Vancouver Library Square, Banff Centre, Scotiabank Dance Centre and Toronto’s 58-storey L Tower. Prior to founding Aeriosa, Julia performed across Canada with Ruth Cansfield and around the world with Bandaloop. Julia attained ACMG Rock Guide certification in 1997. She has worked as a co-producer, choreographer, cast member, stunt performer, mountain safety rigger and creative movement consultant on various film and television productions in Canada and abroad.
Chengxin Wei 魏成欣 – co-creator, choreographer
A native of Dalian, China, Chengxin Wei graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1997, where he studied classical Chinese dance for eleven years and received his BFA degree. He subsequently worked for three years as principal dancer of the Guangdong Provincial Dance Theatre. Upon immigrating to Vancouver, BC in 2000, Chengxin danced with the graduate program at Arts Umbrella for a year, and appeared with numerous dance companies. He was also a member of Ballet British Columbia for six seasons. In 2004, Chengxin co-founded Moving Dragon, a contemporary dance company that focuses on cross-cultural fusion between Eastern and Western dance styles. Moving Dragon has performed in venues across Canada. Chengxin is the recipient of the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award, and the David Leighton Arts Fellowship Award. He holds MFA in Dance from the University of Washington, Seattle and worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Ohio University for two years. He has taught Advanced Modern at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. He is excited to teach at Arts Umbrella Dance Program for the third year.
Sammy Chien – co-creator, media artist, Artistic Director of Chimerik 似不像
Sammy Chien is a QPOC interdisciplinary media artist, director, performer, researcher and mentor who works with film, sound art, new media and performance. His work has been exhibited across Canada, Western Europe, and Asia including Centre Pompidou (Paris) and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing). He’s worked with pioneers of digital performance: Troika Ranch and Wong Kar Wai’s Cinematographer Christopher Doyle, and currently leads research/mentorship projects engaging various marginalized community groups. 
Chimerik 似不像
Chimerik is an interdisciplinary collective that seeks to explore the permeable boundaries between various art forms and disciplines in order to constitute new entities. They have collaborated visually, sonically and conceptually in numerous multi-disciplinary and research projects which have exhibited internationally such as World Design Expo 2011, Digital Arts Festival of Taipei 2012, Lacking Sound Festival 2013, New Form Festival 2014, ISEA2015, Digital Carnival 2016 & TPAM 2017, PUSH Festival 2018/2019, Chimerik似不像 has worked with influential corporations such as NIKE, Microsoft and Google in live visuals/projection design and interactive video installations while engages various marginalized community groups for social change.  For this particular project, the team includes Sammy Chien, Jonathan Kim, Andie Lloyd, Shang-Han Chien, Jill Shao & Ivan So. 
Thoenn Glover – dancer
Thoenn grew up in remote Northern BC and is a dedicated adventurer and outdoor enthusiast, always seeking ways to pursue dance in unconventional settings.  She received her formal dance training at Arts Umbrella and has since made a career as a Vancouver-based choreographer, dancer, and teacher. As a free-lance performer she has worked for local dance companies such as Dancers Dancing, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Mascall Dance and MartaMarta Productions and is thrilled to be in her third season with Aeriosa Dance Society. Thoenn has presented her choreographic work in Montreal, Whitehorse, Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, and Vancouver. Alongside her dance pursuits Thoenn is currently studying Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University. Her goal is to cultivate creativity and enthusiasm in every adventure that life brings.

Alex Tam 谭達文 – dancer
On the unceded traditional Coast Salish territory, Alex Tam is a Vancouver-based dance and new media artist. Tam started as an actor for commercial, film and theatre. At the age of fifteen, he discovered that dance could challenge him with immense possibilities for athletic expression. Tam began formal training in Cecchetti Classical Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, Acrobatics and Musical Theatre. Later, he received a pre-professional dance education at Arts Umbrella under the direction of Artimis Gordon. In 2015, Tam graduated from Modus Operandi’s four-year contemporary dance training program, co-founded and directed by David Raymond and Tiffany Tregarthen. Alex has apprenticed for Shay Kuebler, Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, MACHiNENOiSY and Farley Johansson. Over the years, he has had the great privilege to perform works by: Wen Wei Dance, Aeriosa, Hong Kong Exile, Shay Kuebler Radical System Art, Crystal Pite, Company 605, Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Mascall Dance, Deanna Peters, Science Friction, Joe Laughlin, Kinesis Dance, Serge Bennathan, Karissa Barry and Donald Sales. He has toured and performed both independently and collectively at international dance festivals in Canada, United States of America, South America and Taiwan. Through Early Career Development Mentorship, he continues to integrate new technologies into his multidisciplinary art practice with composer and new media artist, Remy Siu. Tam credits his family for their incredible support.

Cara Siu – dancer
Growing up in North Vancouver, Cara Siu studied ballet since a young age. She received her modern dance training at the School of Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, and then continued trainings in Montreal, Seattle and London. Cara’s passion to share expression, physicality, and imagination with the audiences have fueled many diverse dance experiences: from rolling down East Van alleys to can-canning in the Yukon and soaring in the skies with Aeriosa Dance. Her deep love of dance theatre led to an apprenticeship with Lee Eisler of Jumpstart Performance. As a collaborator/performer/dance dramaturge, she has contributed to productions with Donna Redlick Dance Theatre, Link Dance Foundation, Raven Spirit Dance, Kokoro Dance and Firebelly Productions. Since 2006, Cara has worked as a collaborating performer for sirenscrossing in London; first evolving from site specific movement poetry to community building projects and now, as a digital performer; as such, she has performed in London, Sweden, northern Canada, and Korea.
Jonathan Bernard – percussion
Jonathan combines his western percussion background with a fascination for Asian traditions to create a unique sound palette incorporating a myriad of instruments, techniques and styles. Active in genres from orchestral music to New Music, and world music, he has premiered over seventy chamber works with ensembles such as Vancouver New Music, The Fringe Group, Four Gallon Drum, Ensemble Symposium. The principal percussionist with the Vancouver Island Symphony, Jonathan has performed with numerous orchestras including Vancouver, Victoria, National Ballet and CBC Radio Orchestra. Jonathan studied at the University of Ottawa and UBC. His interest in World Music has led him to perform Chinese, Javanese, Balinese and Korean music and study traditional and contemporary Chinese percussion in Beijing, Arabic percussion in Cairo, and Carnatic rhythm in South India. Jonathan has toured throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.
Dailin Hsieh 謝岱霖 – zheng/Chinese zither
Graduated from the National Tainan University of the Arts and with a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology from Taiwan’s National Normal University, Dailin has toured in China, Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, United States, Canada, Germany, Swiss, Luxembourg and Belgium. Her achievements include a nomination by Taiwan’s 22nd Golden Records Awards and winning such titles as the Star of Traditional Taiwanese Music & Culture Ambassador of Tainan and the National Concert Hall’s Traditional Music Star, as well as winning the Second Prize and Best Performance in Taipei Chinese Orchestra’s 2007 Zheng Competition. Dailin has premiered numerous groundbreaking works. Some are released on her solo CD Zheng Image (2014) with critical acclaim. Dailin is the founder of Augmented Sixth Ensemble, a soloist with the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, and she performs regularly with the Taipei Municipal Chinese Orchestra and Wei Yi New Chinese Music.

Li Tung 董籬 (Taiwan) – Shan Hai Jing characters/scenes illustration & set painting
Born in 1971 in Taipei, Li graduated from the School of Visual Arts at the National Taiwan University of Arts. An artist crossing many genres, he is a painter, writer, performing artist, installation artist, and designer. Since 2010, Li started to perform live painting with improvising musicians and dancers. He joined the acclaimed MAFIA Ensemble, the leading force in Taiwan’s experimental and improvisational arts scene, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary practices. Li has collaborate with numerous Taiwanese and Japanese artists at “Create Music” festival. In the past 20 years, his artworks has been exhibited at various galleries in Taiwan, including the Taipei Arts Gallery. He is a member of “May Artists Collective”, Taiwan’s most influential and longstanding artists collection. Li’s novels and short stories have won numerous awards. He has been published in Taiwan and China. He also directed a theatre production in 2013.   

Colin Zacharias – safety director
As the safety director with Aeriosa, Colin has worked with aerial dancers on mountain cliffs, tall buildings, trees and in the theatre in over 40 productions, including the 2000-2002 video production of Granite Ocean, that featured Julia Taffe dancing on vertical rock faces of the Stawamus Chief Mountain in Squamish, BC. Colin has collaborated with the Vertical Dance Forum (Europe), Gravity and Levity (England), Kate Lawrence Vertical Dance (Wales), Il Posto (Italy), Wired Aerial Theatre (England), Histeria Nova (Croatia), Compagnie Retouramont (France) and Bandaloop (USA). Colin also guides thoughtfully designed climbing and skiing adventures to destinations spanning the globe, from Nunavut to Antarctica. He is an internationally certified mountain guide and has worked in avalanche or guiding operations since 1980. His rigging and mountain safety experience also includes feature films such as iRobot and Touching the Void and TV programs including Burnett Productions EcoChallenge and Expedition Impossible series filmed in Morocco, Argentina New Zealand, Fiji and Borneo.
Jonathan Kim – lighting designer
Jonathan Kim, better known as Jono, is a Jessie nominated lighting designer based in Vancouver, BC. He holds a BFA in Theatre Production and Design from SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. His most recent works include Kim’s Convenience (Pacific Theatre); Flow(er) (Dong Mei Dance & Sammy Chien); Med’Cine (O.Dela Arts); Soul Samurai (Affair of Honor); Suddenly Slaughter (The Biting School); Ying Yun (Wen Wei Dance); and Anne of Green Gables: The Musical (Trinity Western University). Jonathan is also a member of the interdisciplinary collective Chimerik.
Chandra Krown – costume designer
Chandra Krown is a dancer, aerialist, choreographer, multi-disciplinary artist/performer and costume designer/fabricator. She learned to sew from her grandmother as a child and has never stopped sewing, experimenting, and creating ever since. Most of her costumes are developed for her Hawaii-based performance company. She also works with Aeriosa Dance in Vancouver, both as a vertical dancer and a costume designer/maker. She is currently developing new costumes for Crossing Mountains & Seas.
Khan Lee – set designer
Khan Lee was born in Seoul, Korea. He studied architecture at Hong-Ik University, before immigrating to Canada to study fine art at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Through sculptural and media practices, his work attempts to exhibit results of experimentation with form and process in order to express inherent relationships between material and immaterial content. He is a founding member of the Vancouver-based artist collective Intermission and is presently a member of the Instant Coffee artist collective. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Lee lives and works in Vancouver, BC.

Chengyan Boom – production manager
Chengyan is a Vancouver-based theatrical and live event designer, stage manager, and technician. He currently holds the position of Lead Technician at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, overseeing technical direction, rentals, and staffing for the 154-seat Faris Family Studio and managing technical aspects of the 6 other rehearsal studios in the building. A graduate from the UBC Theatre Production and Design program, he has developed positive and recurring working relationships with companies such as Theatre in the Raw, Gateway Theatre, Pacific Theatre, Notre Dame Regional Secondary, Aenigma Theatre, Tomoe Arts and Trinity Western University’s School of Arts, Media and Culture. Chengyan has worked on many events that reflect Vancouver’s diversity. He has been able to collaborate closely with both local and international artists from the Japanese, Korean, South Asian and Chinese communities, crossing over the genres of music, dance, and theatre.