Biography
Born on an island in the Asia-Pacific, nowadays referred to as Taiwan in Mandarin Chinese, TingAn Ying is a Han-Taiwanese artist based in Berlin, Germany.
TingAn’s practices are informed by extensive knowledge and experience in both dance and theory, setting the mirrors of critical insight and physical embodiment opposite each other, to create a continuous cycle of mutual reflection. Driven by a profound passion for dance, theatre, philosophy and politics, TingAn’s work emphasises on bending ideologies and normativities.
TingAn’s ongoing movement research, Body and Composition, centres on improvisation and instant composition. Investigating authorship and authenticity, Body and Composition emphasises the development of exercises to move away from the centralised/hegemonic gaze. This approach strives to foster an inclusive environment where diverse voices and bodies can express themselves.
TingAn actively facilitates events for marginalised communities, challenging institutional narratives to foster authentic self-actualisation and confronting internalised western hegemony. She also works as a dramaturg and producer in order to support independent artists' creation process in both creative and pragmatic ways.
As a dancer, TingAn has created with and performed works by Anouk van Dijk, Falk Richter, Emanuel Gat, Edan Gorlicki/INTER-ACTIONS amongst others. She has performed in prestigious institutions such as Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Münchner Kammerspiele, Frankfurt Lab, deSingel Antwerp, Dansatelier Rotterdam, Grand Théâtre de Genève, National Theater Taiwan, and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.
Early Career
Studied at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) from 2006 to 2011, majoring in contemporary dance and receiving extensive physical training in Tai-Chi, Hung Kuen, Beijing Opera, Dai Dance, Butoh, Pendet Balinese dance, and Taiwanese aboriginal dances (Amis & Paiwan). In 2010, she was elected both the most popular dancer and the best female dancer.
TingAn showed an early interest in academic research, enrolling in master's and PhD courses as an undergraduate. She studied Noh Theater, philosophy, textual analysis, and various Western critical theories. Between 2009 and 2011, she was the producer of Focus Dance Company, a graduate company from TNUA, curating and organizing company tours in Indonesia, China, and Taiwan.
In 2011, TingAn attended the American Dance Festival with a scholarship from the Chin-Lin Arts Foundation and spent time in New York, working with Mark Haim, Jesse Zaritt, and Ya'ra Moses. After returning to Taiwan, she worked for the Taiwan National Science Council from 2011 to 2013 as an assistant researcher on the project "Performing Corporeality within and between Tradition and Modernization" conducted by Prof. Yatin Lin, Prof. Sal Murgiyanto, and Prof. Chi-Fang Chao.
In 2012, TingAn was the assistant curator for the solo exhibition of the Japanese avant-garde artist group Chim↑Pom at Project Fulfill Art Space, alongside curator Huang Chien-Hung. She also worked as a freelance journalist for several journals and magazines.
Curriculum Vitae