“
IN FRONT OF THE MINIMALIST WHITE LIGHT, THERE IS A BODY THAT BLOOMS LIKE A FLOWER.”
— Review by Ying-Chien Chiu, PAR Magazine NO.314
(Photo by Sonia Shao)
Po-Nien Wang
Berlin-based
Dancer, Choreographer, Performance Artist
Most Recently he received the support from Ministry of Cultural Taiwan for his performance “Mountain Ghost” (a work-in-progress) at 2024 Want To Dance Festival in Taipei, Taiwan.
He performed in Fabrizio Favale’s “Winter Forest” at Umbria Danza Festival 2024 in Perugia, Italy. He has also worked with Aakash Odedra Company as dancer/rehearsal director for “Samsara” at Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York, USA.
Po-Nien was born in 1988, in Taipei, Taiwan. He first started taking ballet classes at age of 11. He attended Dance Academy, SUNY Purchase (State University of New York) on a scholarship in 2009. He then graduated from Dance College, Taipei National University of the Arts in 2011. He received both classical ballet and contemporary dance training, as well as Chinese opera movements, Chinese martial arts and Tai-Chi.
For five years starting from the autumn of 2011, Po-Nien was a member of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. He was a solo dancer in Hwai-Min Lin’s “White Water”. Repertoire performances included: “Rice”, “Dust”, “Moon Water”, “Songs of Wanderers”, “Pine Smoke”, “Smoke”, “Nine Songs”, “Portrait of the Families” and “How Can I Live On Without You”. Following these, Po-Nien performed in international tours. These included performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington D.C, 2016), Sadler’s Wells (London, 2016), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris, 2016), Next Wave Festival (NY, 2015), Chekov International Dance Festival (Moscow, 2015), Movimentos International Dance Festival (Wolfsburg, 2015) and many more.
Po-Nien began working as a freelance dancer in 2016. He has worked at Dance Ensemble Singapore, Ji Eun Jin Art Project (South Korea) and the 12th Tsai Jui-Yueh International Dance Festival (Taipei) as a guest artist. He was fortunate enough to perform at La Biennale di Venezia Festival 2017 (under the direction of Marie Chouinard) with choreographers Irina Baldini, Chloe Chignell and Joaquín Collado Parreño.
In March 2018, Po-Nien moved to Berlin. He has performed at the Staats Oper Unter den Linden, Pfefferberg Theater, Trauma Bar und Kino, Ufersudios, Lake Studio and the 48 Stunden Neukölln. He enjoyed working with choreographers such as Aakash Odedra, Aleta Collins, Ali Heffetz, Colm Seery, Daniel Hay-Gordon, Elisabeth Kindler-Abali, Fabrizio Favale, Gemma Payne, Koen De Preter, Monika Dorniak, Robert Wechsler, Takayoshi Tsuchida and Yeri Anarika.