Jason Vu is a performance artist who studies how and why bodies move. He is interested in how performance creates and changes our perception of identity, space-time, and relationships. His work is autoethnograhpic, examining and excavating his lived experience as a 2nd generation queer Vietnamese-American, a child of refugees. Jason ‘writes’ and choreographs with varied mediums: dance, singing-songwriting, poetry, live installation, video projection, and sound scoring.

 

While Jason has closely studied many movement forms (contemporary and modern dance, House, Jazz, Ballet, Yoga, and Tae-Kwon-Do), he is most concerned with creating a choreographic voice with Vietnamese and queer aesthetics, one that articulates a way of listening and responding that is characteristic to his family. His research is largely informed by Feldenkrais, a somatic practice that forefronts one’s potential to change and the importance of doing less, listening more. Holding a Bachelors in Arts in Human Biology from Brown University, Jason harnesses anatomically specific language as a poetic form to transform the way he and his students perceive and move in the world. Jason continued his research at the School of Dance at University of the Arts, where he received his Master in Fine Arts in 2024. He currently teaches at the University of San Francisco.

 

Jason has had an expansive, shape-shifting career in commercial, concert, and experimental dance. He has toured internationally with singer Melanie Martinez (choreographed by Brian Friedman) and with Dana Foglia Dance (choreographer for Beyoncé). He has also collaborated with notable concert choreographers such as Netta Yerushalmy, Doug Varone, and Jenn Nugent. He received the position of Artist in Residence during his third year teaching at University of the Arts (Philadelphia) in 2023-24. His work has been produced by University of the Arts, Philadelphia’s Asian Arts Initiative, Brown University’s Arts Institute, and Brockus Shift/West Residency in Los Angeles and his dance films have screened at festivals in the UK, Canada, LA, New Orleans, and on global streaming platform Nowness Asia.