PeiJu Chien-Pott

Chien-Pott started her dance training in classical ballet and Chinese Folk Dance at the age of 10 and was a member of the leading competition dance group in her hometown. At the age of 15, she was selected as one of the top five dancers nationally for the seven-year dance program at Taiwan’s prestigious arts university, Taipei National University of the Arts. While still a university student, she performed with the Taipei Crossover Dance Company as a lead female dancer and with the Taipei Royal Ballet. After receiving her BFA in Dance, she performed internationally with the Taipei Crossover Dance Company as a leading dancer.

In 2008, Chien-Pott relocated to New York City through a Merit Scholarship at the Merce Cunningham Studio, where she studied with Merce Cunningham himself. The same year, she was invited to perform with Buglisi Dance Theatre and Korhan Basaran and Artists. The following year, she became a member of Nimbus Dance Works, a Jersey City-based contemporary dance company where she has performed lead roles in work by numerous artists including Samuel Pott, Pedro Ruiz, Francesca Harper, Korhan Basaran, Xiao-xiong Zhang, Charles Weidman, Randy James, and as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the annual Nutcracker production. Chien-Pott has also served as a Guest Master Teacher for Nimbus Dance Works, its school, and outreach programs in the Jersey City public schools.

In 2011, Chien-Pott joined the Martha Graham Dance Company as an Apprentice and within three years, she was promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer. On April 16, 2019, Chien-Pott was one of the 25 artists invited to perform at the Merce Cunningham’s centennial celebration at the BAM in New York City. In the same year, Chien-Pott made her musical debut and played the lead role Little Lotus in a new Futuristic Kung-fu musical production Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise directed by Chen Shi-Zheng at The Shed in New York City, and she graced the cover of WE PEOPLE (Taiwan) the September issue. Besides her stage work, Chien-Pott has been collaborated with renowned photographers including Lois Greenfield, Hibbard Nash, Paul B Goode, Tullio Fortuna, Jacob Sutton, NYC Dance Project and others. Her images have appeared in major media, commercial work and magazines including NYTimes, Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, ELLE, VOGUE, Spirit and Flesh Magazine, Capezio, GapFit campaign, Shiatzy Chen and Dior Magazine and others. Chien-Pott has taught modern dance, contemporary dance and performance workshops for several institutions, dance studios including Duke University, Martha Graham Dance School, School of Nimbus, Taipei National University of the Arts, Ballet Forte, Rutgers University, Ballet Intensive NYC, Union County Academy for Performing Arts, Zhengzhou Institute of Technology (as an honorary professor), Wuhan Conservatory of Music, and others. Chien-Pott is currently a faculty member at The Ailey School and the Martha Graham School in New York City. Her recent choreography includes REBIRTH in collaboration with renowned sculpture Kang Mu-Xiang for Taipei 101, ISLAND created during the pandemic commissioned by the Iron Rose Festival of Taiwan, UNITY completed for the late choreographer Nai-Ni Chen premiered at the New York Live Arts and SPLIT commissioned by Periapsis Music and Dance, and she was one of the collaborating choreographers for the evening length work The Threads Project #1: Universal Dialogues of Buglisi Dance Theater premiered at the Chelsea Factory. She has recently premiered her work Lion in the City, a hip hop Chinese Lion Dance for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Lunar New Year program celebrating the Year of the Water Rabbit at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.