Tom Tsai’s dance work spans stage, filmmaking, education, and activism, rooted in his Hip Hop, contemporary dance, and Taiwanese identities. Tom’s work processes the ways in which personal identity and politics are intertwined, a response to his upbringing in post-martial law Taiwan. In this environment, he was exposed to reductive political narratives, propaganda, and threats of war, as well as Hip Hop culture, breaking, and dance for social justice. Tom has performed his contemporary and B-boy solo works throughout the USA, and internationally in London, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Singapore. He has received support from the City of Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, Ghost Light Residency, and Dance Resource Center’s Homegrown Residency @ The Music Center. He is a 2-time winner at REVERBDance Festival (NYC), and a 2023 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow. He has been adjunct dance faculty at Pomona College, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Chapman University, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Tom is part of the abolitionist artist collective Dancing Through Prison Walls, choreographing and performing with those impacted by the US carceral system, to uplift their imaginations and resist the prison industrial complex.
