Biography

A young man with dark hair, wearing a black jacket with a hood, standing outdoors in a mountainous area with a blurred landscape in the background.

Chung Nguyen (he/them) is a Vietnamese dance artist, somatic movement facilitator and registered Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist, with over a decade of international experience. His work is situated at the intersection of dance, live art, and healing through somatic and contemplative approaches. His current interests are in the examination of his personal political stories and Queer identity in relation to Vietnamese culture and history - exploring the dialogue between embodied cultural knowledge and new lived experiences within the context of his Australian migrant experience.

Passionate about the body-mind connection, consciousness, dreams, and memory, he also explores how the body interacts with domestic objects, found items, and natural materials across various environments. This somatic approach establishes deep relational presence between performers, audiences, and the more-than-human world, fostering positive social engagement through cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaborations.

Chung is a graduate of the Vietnam Dance Academy in Hanoi (Vietnam) and holds a diploma in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (Body Intelligence Training) and certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance, and is pursuing an additional qualification in Somatic Movement Education (Somatic Education Australasia).

From 2009-2016, he worked as a full-time dancer at Arabesque Dance Company (Vietnam), T.H.E Dance Company (Singapore), and Cinevox Junior Company (Switzerland), and in 2013 was awarded a special prize at the Korea International Modern Dance Competition. In 2021, he completed the Certificate Programme for Critical Practice in Contemporary Performance organised by Dance Nucleus (Singapore). He also performed in works by international choreographers such as Kuik Swee Boon, Isabelle Schad, Shang Chi Sun, and Ngo Thanh Phuong, to name just a few.

His performances and cross- cultural and interdisciplinary collaborations have been presented across Southeast Asia, Australia, as well as in the United States and South Korea, including Fluid Memories (a work-in-progress presented at Temperance Hall, Melbourne), AM/FM Therapy (Grey Space, Cont-act Contemporary Dance Festival with a development residency ARTEFACT #5, supported by Dance Nucleus 2022, Singapore), The Sack (No Cai Bum Art Week 2020, Vietnam | Performance Plus 2019; Mot+++, Vietnam | Para\\el Performance Space 2019, Brooklyn, USA | American Dance Festival 2019, The International Choreographers Residency, Durham, USA), The Hooks: No.2 (Time Between Project: Ether 2019, HCMC, Vietnam), to name just a few.

Chung has participated in artist-in residencies including the Front Studio Residency at Temperance Hall (Melbourne), Deep in the Mountains (South Korea), Southeast Asia Choreolab, (Malaysia), The International Choreographers Residency-American Dance Festival (Durham, USA), Southeast Asia Choreographers Network 2 & 3 (Indonesia and online), and Grey Space, Cont-act Contemporary Dance Festival (Singapore).

He has also received grants supported by the Asian Cultural Council, and travel grants supported by the Prince Claus Fund and Goethe-Institut in Ho Chi Minh City.