Leona Lu
Leona Lu is a multidisciplinary creative currently pursuing a B.A. in Media, Culture, and Communication, Performance Studies, and Producing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her work explores global labor dynamics, media, and storytelling—particularly through the lens of underrepresented creative industries. She has worked internationally, interning at Chanel’s Digital & Campaign Strategy division in Shanghai and researching long-form narrative for Rotten Mango, a true crime podcast with five million subscribers. Leona currently works at Agentio, an AI-powered ad platform reshaping how creators and brands collaborate. Her work there contributes to strategic partnerships in influencer marketing. Her Performance Studies practices investigate how media, identity, and performance intersect in both physical and digital space.
Title of Capstone Project
Step by Step
Description of Capstone Project
Step by Step is a documentary manifestation of the quiet weight carried by local dancers in Shanghai—artists who move with discipline and grace, even when the world does not move for them. Through layered imagery and narrative, the piece traces what it means to pursue a life in dance within an economic system that continually undervalues the labor behind each step. It reflects on a collective mindset: the knowledge that if one doesn’t take the job, someone else will. At the same time, the work interrogates how virality, nationality, and global recognition shape who is seen, who is paid, and who is valued. Even as Shanghai studios bring in foreign choreographers to teach styles born in places like the Bronx, the choices often prioritize those with visibility and marketability—those who can attract more students—while others, equally skilled, remain in the shadows. Step by Step is a meditation on endurance, visibility, and the quiet, daily negotiations between passion and survival—and what it means to put a price tag on a craft, a body, a person.
What Inspired Your Project?
This project was born from personal encounters with dancers in Shanghai and shaped by my ongoing interest in performance, labor, and global communication. At one point, I seriously considered pursuing professional dance myself. While I ultimately chose the college route, the question of value—what dance costs, what it's worth, and who gets to decide—has never left me. Studying Performance Studies gave me the language to explore how movement and identity persist even when the systems that uphold them are deeply uneven. Step by Step is both a reflection and a critique of the beauty, burden, and imbalance of staying in motion.