About the Choreographer
Alyssandra Katherine Wu is a freelance choreographer, dancer, and instructor whose works reference social issues that are current, relevant, and deeply personal. She is especially concerned with subjects such as deracination, gender ascription, and accessibility and her dance pieces often investigate her individual perspective and personal relationship to these topics. Alyssandra’s work draws from her cultural knowledge of her Chinese heritage and uses multimedia sources such as video and visual arts media.
In her work as founder and director of Alyssandra Katherine Dance (AKD), Alyssandra strives to combine the academic and theatrical aspects of dance in a unique way, making her work accessible to a wide range of audiences, yet still contemplative in nature. Using both biographical and ethnographical means, Alyssandra finds parallels between human connection and movement. She then employs everyday pedestrian gestures as a framework for her repertoire and builds on these gestures to make them more theatrical. Through this process, Alyssandra develops works that are physically challenging, and yet accessible through familiarity. Her movement technique includes contact improvisation, floor work, physical training, release, and t'ai chi influences.
Alyssandra currently holds an M.A. in Dance from London Contemporary Dance School and a B.A. in World Arts & Culture/Dance from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has danced for several well-known choreographers, including Victoria Marks, Cheng-Chieh Yu, Michel Kouakou, Ros Warby, Jorge Crecis, and Darren Ellis. Since her relocation to the Bay Area, Alyssandra has served on the Dancers' Group CA$H Grant and Pushfest 2017 Panels. She is the previous Managing Director of Robert Moses' Kin. Her work has premiered at both U.S. and U.K. based dance platforms.
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