Kerry Lee – Dance/USA Artist Fellow

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Image Description: Kerry Lee, a petite American born Chinese dancer, smiles directly at the camera. She is wearing a vibrant red form-fitting top adorned with a mandarin collar and Chinese knot buttons. Her long straight black hair is in a side ponytail, and she is wearing red dangling Chinese firecracker earrings with the Chinese character “Fu” (福) which means “good fortune.” Photo by Bubba Carr.

Kerry Lee

she/her

Peachtree Corners, GA | Muscogee/Cherokee

Kerry Lee is the Co-Artistic Director of the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company. Rooted in the American South, her work honors and recontextualizes Chinese dance traditions to advance social change in contemporary American society.

Lee is an Atlanta native, where she began her Chinese dance journey under the direction of her mother Hwee-Eng Y. Lee while also immersing herself in the pre-professional ballet world. After graduating from Stanford University with an engineering degree, she followed her heart into the professional dance world in New York City and toured nationally and internationally with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, H.T. Chen & Dancers, Dance China NY, and gloATL before returning home to co-lead Atlanta Chinese Dance Company with her mother. Since 1991 the multigenerational troupe has shared Chinese and Chinese American dance, history, and culture through National Endowment for the Arts-supported full-evening productions as well as numerous performances, lecture-demonstrations, workshops, and residencies throughout the South and beyond.

Inspired by her work at the intersection of arts and activism on staff at Alternate ROOTS and as an advocate for the Asian American community, Lee pushes the boundaries of Chinese dance by creating and presenting choreography in collaboration with artists across disciplines in and beyond the Asian diaspora to amplify rarely told Chinese American stories and share a message of solidarity. Her work has been discussed in China’s prestigious Beijing Dance Academy Forum as an example of innovative choreography reflecting Chinese diaspora communities and performed at the national Dance/USA conference. She has also created and set choreography for professional theater productions, university and high school dance programs, and ballet companies.

Among other honors, Lee was the only Chinese dancer among the finalists who received a ticket on So You Think You Can Dance Season 11 and an invited speaker at the 212th National Council on the Arts meeting.

Learn more about Kerry Lee:

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Image Description: A group of Chinese American women perform the role of protestors in an Asian American rights march. They are wearing black and white attire representing different occupations and holding bright pink Chinese silk fans. The dancers in the front rows hold the fans open at waist level like banners, while the dancers behind hold the open fans above their heads like posters. Kerry Lee leads the group front and center, holding a closed fan in front of her mouth as a megaphone while pounding her other fist in the air. Photo by Patrick O'Neill.
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Image Description: Kerry Lee, an American born Chinese dancer, performs the Chinese ribbon dance for a large group of elementary school children and teachers of diverse backgrounds. She is wearing a red Chinese blouse and green pants while waving a golden yellow ribbon in the shape of a zigzag. Kerry smiles as the seated audience watches in awe. Photo by Hwee-Eng Lee.
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Image Description: Kerry Lee, an American born Chinese dancer, poses with a large group of KSU Dance Company dancers after teaching a Chinese dance workshop in a dance studio at Kennesaw State University. The dancers of diverse backgrounds are wearing black dancewear and having fun waving colorful Chinese dance ribbons. Photo by KSU Dance Company.
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Image Description: Kerry Lee, an American born Chinese dancer, leaps in the air in a 180-degree split while her right arm waves a long silk black ribbon above her head. She is smiling confidently towards the camera with her hair slicked back in two high buns adorned with a silver headpiece. She is wearing a white form-fitting sleeveless top and billowy pants with nude ballet slippers. Photo by Stephanie Gough.

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