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Ziying Cui (Tsui), PhD

Teaching Artists and Scholar


Adjunct Professor, Dance, Temple University

Writer, thINKingDANCE Journal
 

Confluence Concert Ziying Cui

We Should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at once. 
- Friedrich Nietzsche

about

ABOUT

Ziying Cui is a dancer, choreographer, and scholar who recently completed her PhD in Dance at Temple University. Since graduation, she has worked as an Adjunct Professor at Temple University and a writer for the thINKingDANCE journal based in Philadelphia. Cui’s dissertation research focuses on the hybridity of Chinese dance and ballet in postsocialist China. She is also interested in the development of ballet in China/Chinese diaspora as well as transnational Chinese dance practices. She has presented her research at several dance conferences, including the Association for Asian Performance and Dance Studies Association.

As a dancer and choreographer, Cui earned her MFA in Contemporary Dance at Case Western Reserve University, where she learned Graham technique with a former principal of Martha Graham Dance Company and engaged her Chinese dance background with modern dance in her choreography. Before studying in the US, she earned her BA at Beijing Dance Academy (BDA) and gained teaching certification for the Graded Exam of Chinese Dance and Ballet. With more than ten years of experience in dance education, she taught Chinese dance and ballet in Beijing and Hebei in China and many dance studios in Cleveland and Philadelphia in the US. Simultaneously, she has served as a judge for dance competitions, choreographed new dances for dance studios, and coached private lessons for students in dance competitions and art exams for college admissions.

AAP Presentation 2018
Ziying and her dancers before Thesis Concert

EDUCATION

2016 - 2023 Ph.D, Temple University

2013-2016 MFA, Case Western Reserve University

2008-2012 BA, Beijing Dance Academy

Photo credit: Brian Mengini
contact

CONTACT

Email info

ziying.cui@temple.edu
 

Ziying and her ballet students
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