Ming Shen Ku
๐น๐ผTaiwan
About
Taiwanese dancer, choreographer, and Contact Improvisation pioneer. Since 1992, Ku has been deeply involved in CI and introduced it to Taiwan, later spreading it across Asia. Her CI performance debut was the duet New Journey with Steve Paxton. In 1993, she founded Ku & Dancers, a company dedicated to original works and improvisation, which has toured internationally. In 2011, Ku & Dancers co-founded the international improvisation festival i-dance Taiwan, now a significant platform for improvisational dance in Asia. After a 25-year academic career, Ku retired as Dean of the Dance School at Taipei National University of the Arts and became Honorary Professor. She has received major honours including the Wu San Lien Award (2009) and the National Award for Arts (2020). Artistic Director of ๅค่ๅ (Gu Dance Ensemble), which has run the annual Contact Improvisation in Hualien workshop for 19 consecutive years.