Spotlight: Xiang Xu, MFA '16

Spotlight: Xiang Xu, MFA '16

Xiang Xu, MFA '16 was among four winners of the The Joffrey Ballet's 2019 Ninth Annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition.

The choreographers’ world premiere works will be showcased on the members of the Joffrey Studio Company and the Joffrey Academy Trainee Program. Winning Works returns to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Edlis Neeson Theater (220 E. Chicago Avenue) for three performances, Saturday, March 9 at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM and Sunday, March 10 at 2:00 PM. Tickets for Winning Works are $25 and now available for purchase at joffrey.org/winningworks.

The Winning Works Choreographic Competition was created to recognize talented and emerging ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American) choreographers and to provide them with a platform to showcase their original and innovative work. The winning choreographers are awarded a $5,000 stipend and are given the opportunity to seek guidance from The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, Ashley Wheater, and Head of Studio Company and Trainee Program Raymond Rodriguez.

Courtesy of The Joffrey Ballet

Xiang Xu is an international choreographer, dancer and instructor based in New York City. He holds an M.F.A. in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has served as adjunct faculty and guest artist at Syracuse University and Santa Monica College. In 2015 he established the Xiang Xu Dance Theater. Xiang grew up in China and earned his B.A. at Beijing Dance Academy. While studying there, he won numerous awards including the Gold Lion top prize in choreography at the Singapore World Music Dance and Instrument Competition. After coming to the U.S., Xiang choreographed dance works and performed at UCLA’s Royce Hall, York College Milton G. Bassin Preforming Arts Center, and the David Logan Center for the Arts Chicago. Xiang’s academic paper “Exploration of the Historical and Cultural Aspects of Yuanchangbu” was published by the Asian Journal of Humanity, Art and Literature, and his book “Exploration of the Foot-Binding in Chinese Classical Dance” has been published in both Chinese and English language editions. In 2016 he performed at the Queensboro Dance Festival in New York and led a dance residency for choreographers at the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago. In 2017, he was selected to dance in the Cunningham Repertory Workshop.