Biography

Dai Jian is an artist settled in Lyon, France from 2016 after 12 years dancing in New-York City with Trisha Brown Dance Company and Shen Wei dance Arts and choreographing his own works as a free-lance artist. He is also passionate about contact improvisation – a technic he developped working frequently with Kristie Simpson and Michael Schumacher.

Dai Jian is a Chinese artist with roots in contemporary dance, classical dance, and Martial Arts. He has created improvisations, performance installations, and visual art. Dai Jian has begun creating his own work alongside a professional dance performance career since 18 year old. He was awarded at the National Dance Competition in China and won the New Stars in Performing Arts from Guangzhou City (choreography & dancing) with his first solo creation, invited later in 2012 as the compulsory Male solo piece for the Boston International Ballet Competition.

From 2000, Dai Jian started modern dance and graduated from Madam Yang MeiQi program at BeiJing Dance Academy. Based in New York since 2005, he danced with Shen Wei Dance Arts and Trisha Brown Dance Company. He was Shen Wei’s assistant for the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Since then, Dai Jian presented his own creations: Blue Room (in collaboration with Elena Demyanenko) and Silent Dialogue, respectively commissioned and premiered by New York Live Arts in 2014 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2015.He also choreographed for Guang Dong Modern Dance Company a piece premiered at PLA Theater in Beijing and worked with Jin Xing Dance Theater.

As a visual artist, Dai Jian enjoys mixing the performing arts with the visual arts. He has collaborated with many artists from a wide variety of fields.

Dai Jian is also a professor and a graduate of a Master of Fine Arts (MFA). He taught at the renowned Bennington College, VT, USA. He is now an external professor at the Beijing Normal University.