Rising Stars: Meet Haihua Chiang of Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Haihua Chiang.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, where I began dancing at a very young age through my mother’s dance studio. My early training included Chinese classical dance, ballet, modern dance, and martial arts, which deeply shaped the way I approach movement today. At 17, I moved to the United States alone to continue pursuing dance, eventually earning my BFA in Dance from California State University, Long Beach, and I am currently completing my MFA in Dance at the University of California, Irvine in June 2026.

Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to perform and collaborate with many incredible artists and companies, including Keith Johnson/Dancers, Acts of Matter, The Assembly Dance, GRAYSCALE, A. Ordaz Dance, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Leonard Bernstein’s MASS at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City, choreographed by Laurel Jenkins. I have also performed works by renowned choreographers, including Doug Varone and Robert Moses, and many more. My performance experiences have brought me to festivals and venues across the country, including Breaking Ground Festival in Arizona, Mixtape Dance Festival in Atlanta, Detroit Dance City Festival in Michigan, and performances in Los Angeles, Orange County, Salt Lake City, and New York City.

As an artist, choreographer, and educator, my work often explores identity, cultural in-between-ness, memory, and belonging through movement. Alongside performing, teaching has become a major part of my journey. I currently teach modern, ballet, and Chinese dance forms across higher education and pre-professional training programs, and I’m passionate about helping students discover both technical strength and their own artistic voices.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road, but those experiences have shaped both the artist and person I am today. One of the biggest challenges was moving to the United States alone at 17 years old to pursue dance. I had to adapt to a new language, culture, and dance environment while being away from my family for the first time. Coming from a strong background in Chinese classical dance, ballet, and modern dance in Taiwan, I was trying to understand where I fit within the American dance world and where I belonged as an artist.

After graduating from college, I went through a period of trying to “find my spot” in the dance community while navigating different identities at once — being Taiwanese, an immigrant, and an artist trained across multiple movement forms. That feeling of existing in-between worlds eventually became a major inspiration for my choreography and research.

Motherhood became another major turning point in my life and artistry. After pregnancy, returning to dance was much harder than I expected. It was not just about rebuilding strength physically, but reconnecting with and almost relearning my body in a completely different way. There were moments where I felt disconnected from the dancer I used to be, and balancing rehearsals, performances, teaching, graduate school, and motherhood often felt overwhelming. At the same time, that experience changed me deeply as an artist. It gave me a new sense of vulnerability, empathy, strength, and purpose. Motherhood pushed me to reflect more deeply on identity, belonging, and what I want to pass on culturally and artistically to my daughter, and that perspective continues to shape the work I create today.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a dance artist, choreographer, and educator specializing in modern and contemporary dance, while also drawing from my background in Chinese classical dance and cross-cultural movement practices. My work often explores themes of identity, in-between-ness, belonging, memory, and human connection through embodied research and storytelling. As both an artist and educator, I am interested in how movement can hold personal history, cultural experience, and emotional complexity at the same time.

What sets my work apart is the way I integrate different movement influences and perspectives together. Growing up in Taiwan and later training and working in the United States gave me a hybrid physical language shaped by Chinese classical dance, modern dance, ballet, improvisation, and somatic practices. In my recent choreographic research, I have been exploring Chinese calligraphy as a movement method — not simply visually imitating calligraphy, but translating its physical and energetic qualities into movement. I often work with ideas such as “lift, press, pause, and release” inspired by brushstroke principles, allowing movement to emerge through breath, weight, flow, suspension, and shifting energy.

I am especially proud of my MFA thesis concert, Both Sides, Now, created at the University of California, Irvine. The work explored identity and cultural in-between-ness through choreography, language, spatial design, and collaboration with a cast of Asian and Asian American women dancers. Creating that work felt deeply personal because it reflected many of the experiences, questions, and challenges I have navigated throughout my life and artistic journey.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I love most about Los Angeles is the diversity and openness of the artistic community. Even though I currently live in Rancho Cucamonga, much of my artistic and professional life has been rooted in Los Angeles and continues to connect across the greater LA and Orange County dance communities. I appreciate how many different cultures, artistic voices, and movement styles exist here, and how artists are constantly experimenting and creating new work. LA has given me opportunities to perform, teach, collaborate, and grow alongside many inspiring artists and choreographers throughout my career.

At the same time, one of the challenges of living and working in Los Angeles is the pace and distance. Many artists spend a lot of time commuting between rehearsals, teaching jobs, performances, and auditions across different cities. It can sometimes feel difficult to slow down or maintain balance, especially while juggling multiple roles as an artist, educator, and parent. But despite those challenges, I still feel grateful to be part of such a vibrant and evolving creative community.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haihuachiang

Image Credits
1. photo by Gregory R.R. Crosby,
2. Lingering (2025), photo by Ashley Cook
3. Wind Variation (2025), photo by Haihua Chiang
4. Both Sides, Now (2026) photo by Ashley Cook
5. photo by Michael Townsend
6.
7. photo by Cheng-yao Chaing
8. photo by Gregory R.R. Crosby,