See what our Collaborative Residency choreographers have been up to...

June 29 - ChoreoWreck @ Light Box Theater in Liberty Station

July 13 - ChoreoLAB: Merging Influences workshop
August 22/23 - AADF2025 Residency Showcase (dates tentative)

AADF2025 Collaborative Residency: Dance, Spoken Word & Community is a 5-month cohort residency for early to mid-career AAPI  choreographers that runs April - August 2025. Their research and work culminates in a final showing at AADF2025 Collaborative Residency Showcase.

For the first two months, resident choreographers are paired with AAPI spoken word artists for interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration, creating joint work through community engagement and storytelling. Together, resident choreographers and spoken word artists explore the complexities of identity, migration, and resistance cross-culturally within the AAPI diaspora. Through the powerful mediums of poetry and movement, the artists reflect and amplify AAPI stories of shared struggles, celebrate cultural heritage, and foster collective resilience. Two performance opportunities are provided to share this collaborative work.

Voices Across the Water

This initial presentation of work consists of movement responses by the resident choreographers to the poetry of the spoken word artists. Time is also given for public interaction and sharing of stories.

Bridging Communities: Echoes of Identity & Resistance

This follow-up presentation is the evolution of the choreographer/poet collaboration. Coming together in an evening of work, the artists present a multi-disciplinary showcase that features spoken word, film, and dance.

During the final three months of their residency, the choreographers dive into independent research of their own questions of identity. They explore themes of inhabiting multiple cultural spaces, how to navigate conflicting expectations, what it means to live in that liminal place of being both Asian and American. The collaborative aspect during this period comes in the form of support between the choreographers for one another and from mentorship and guidance from the AADF co-organizers. 

Spring ChoreoWreck 2025: De/Reconstructing Dances - AADF Edition

As part of their choreographic research, the residents take part in a public "wrecking", where they offer up their work-in-progress to be reinterpreted by their fellow residents and invited dance artists. The "wreckers" are given permission to play and remake the resident choreographers' work (the "wreckees") live in front of an audience. Through this process, choreographers are able to gain valuable insight into their works that go deeper than simple verbal feedback. Learn more about "wrecking".

ChoreoLAB: Merging Influences

ChoreoLAB is a series of dance making workshops led by co-organizer Joyce Lien Kushner, where participants experiment and play with various tools used for movement generation, movement manipulation, and phrase making. Since the choreographers are delving into their multi-cultural identities, this particular ChoreoLAB looks at dance making through the lens of cultural heritage. Participants explore ways to merge cultural influences of their particular heritage with their practiced dance form, which may have no connection to their heritage or to their American identity. The choreographers play with cross-cultural ideas not only within the subject matter of their works, but also with the movements themselves. ChoreoLAB: Merging Influences is held in collaboration with Disco Riot and is open for anyone to attend.

AADF2025 Collaborative Residency Showcase

After months of research and exploration, the choreographers' work culminates in a final presentation held during AADF2025. The format of this showcase is left open to the choreographers - some may present finished works, some may present their research in the form of a lecture/demonstration, and some may choose an audience participation format. For all, this is a presentation of what they have excavated for themselves so far, and it will most likely be the starting point for deeper work in the future.