Soon after taking her first steps to walk, it wasn’t long before NYU Shanghai Dance Professor Siye Tao began to dance. At age five, her parents enrolled her in ballet and Chinese folk dance classes, and it became clear she had talent. Now, almost three decades later, she’s teaching dance to the next generation of artists.
Tell us about your early dance training in Beijing. How did starting at such a young age shape your development?
My parents thought I was too shy to speak, so they enrolled me in dance classes in my hometown, Yangzhou. And then I went to Beijing, to begin my professional training at the age of 11. This experience was quite rigorous, challenging for me. But it helped me to become independent early on, and introduced me to some of the most prominent dance educators in China. Obviously, it laid a solid foundation for my following steps.
At what point for you was dance not only about performance but self-expression?
When I was young, I always had a little question in my mind, “Why do I have to smile all the time for my audience?” It felt like I was being watched by my audience for the purpose of entertainment. I knew I really loved dancing and I enjoyed the process. But when I perform, I’m being watched. So I asked myself, what is performance? What is dance? That little doubt disappeared when I was 18, because one day I realized that dance is not only for the audience but for myself. It is a state of being.
For me, dance is a way to connect and express. I find peace in dance, as if it was a private space, which is quite different from the one we live our daily lives in. I also find pleasure in dance. It is like a lake within which I can glide freely, submerging in it and surfacing at will.
What is your favorite part of teaching?
My favorite teaching moment is when students surprise themselves, and say, “Woah, how did I do that?” During improvisation, they sometimes create beautiful movements I’ve never seen. Dance has also led some of my students to career paths they never originally planned, which gives me a deep sense of fulfillment.
These students had actively enrolled in dance courses throughout their undergraduate studies. They were from diverse majors, including Philosophy, Interactive Media Arts, and Social Science majors, and a number of them never had any dance experience before coming to NYU Shanghai.
After graduation, some of my students have pursued careers in dance. Two students have become professional dancers and are actively performing in the US. Others have integrated dance into their own fields, such as embodied cognition, somatic therapy, and movement technology.
And of course, the end-of-semester dance show is my favorite. Students begin as dance learners, but by the end of the semester, they are all dancers. For more than half of the students, it is their first time being on stage in front of 300 people. It’s a huge leap from where they started and where they finished. I am very proud of them.
What do you want to be known for?
For my students, I hope to be someone who inspires them to connect with their hidden self, and discover the beauty of dance. The beauty here is not necessarily about dancing in perfect unison, but rather about asking, "what moves me?," and finding their own natural impulse. For myself, I am trying to become a dance maker, someone who is capable of passing on the message to others, through the language of dance. And, interestingly, I’m still discovering what dance is.
What do you mean you’re still discovering what dance is?
Let’s look at our students for example: When they are dancing, they really surprise me because they are dancing sometimes in a very unpredictable way. To me, I feel it's beautiful and very honest and true – and in their own body language, free from standardization. I am touched by their trust, in me and in their own bodies. My students constantly refresh me and push me to redefine dance.
What are you looking forward to at NYU Shanghai?
NYU Shanghai is a unique university. After joining it for eight years so far, my perspective of dance has been broadened. I am deeply passionate about the work I do. I plan to collaborate with artists and researchers to create new works, and offer more opportunities for students. I also wish my students will carry forward what they have learned in my classes, sharing them with many communities in the world.
