Shang-Jen Yuan MA

Born in Taiwan and based in Austria, Shang-Jen Yuan is a choreographer and dance pedagogue recognised for integrating dance and multimedia art into distinctive performance languages. His professional profile includes international fellowships such as the Citi–Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in New York and Hong Kong and the Bolshoi Theatre Fellowship in Moscow. In 2021, he collaborated with Boris Eifman and the Boris Eifman Dance Academy, serving as stage director and choreographer.

Shang-Jen began his dance training at an early age with a strong foundation in classical ballet, particularly the Vaganova method. He received a full scholarship to the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow and three consecutive full scholarships to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where he graduated with first-class honours in ballet and choreography. He also completed both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Dance Pedagogy at Anton Bruckner Private University in Austria.

His early stage experience included performing alongside dancers of the Hong Kong Dance Company in its outreach programmes. He later worked and collaborated with a range of international companies, including the National Ballet of Portugal, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Bremerhaven Ballet in Germany, TANZLIN.Z in Austria, and the Salzburg Ballet. Across his career, he has collaborated with or performed works by Peter Breuer, Boris Eifman, Mei Hong Lin, Marco Goecke, Ed Wubbe, Olga Roriz, William Forsythe, Christopher Hampson, Hwai Min Lin, and Maurice Béjart.

Since 2004, Shang-Jen’s choreographic works have been presented internationally in cities including Hong Kong, Lisbon, Seoul, Busan, Budapest, Taipei, Bremen, Beijing, Saint Petersburg, Sevastopol, Ulm, Salzburg, Florence, The Hague, Oulu, and Bucharest. He has also been invited to present his choreographic work at the Seoul International Dance Festival, the International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mexico City, the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum and the Florence Dance Festival.

In 2010, Shang-Jen expanded into multimedia design, combining choreography with video art to build immersive performance environments that balance narrative clarity with abstraction. Projects such as Connected and Outleap gained international attention, while Deriva, co-created with Portuguese choreographer Clara Andermatt and composer Bernardo Sassetti, toured across Europe. Drawing on ballet technique, Taijiquan, and contemporary movement research, his work often develops as an intricate mosaic of physical language, dramaturgy, and collaborative process.

Balancing his roles as choreographer, pedagogue, and video artist, Shang-Jen continues to contribute to the evolution of contemporary dance through artistic creation and education, supporting dancers in developing technical integrity, creative agency, and professional readiness.