Nisha Ha

Transitioning from being a dance teacher to an independent choreographer and artist, I faced a pivotal moment when I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 34. Undoubtedly, this profoundly altered not only my approach to creative work but also my lifestyle, and has predominately shaped the direction of the project I am currently engaged in.

Originally from China, I hold a Master’s degree in Dance Education from New York University. In the past few years, I faced numerous rejections from festivals and residency programs. These setbacks led me to a realization: perhaps my work was not meant for traditional theater settings. Instead, I became more interested in connecting with people in everyday spaces through artistic practices. I began organizing online discussions about dance — exploring topics such as dance competitions, the intersection of dance and technology, and contemporary dance outside the immediate purview of the West. I also performed in different spaces, such as a chaotic room that served as both a storage area and faculty lounge at a university. I organized events where women came together to celebrate menstruation through dance and to fundraise for schoolgirls in China’s rural areas who are unable to afford sanitary products. I invited friends into my apartment for intimate performances and hosted reading groups focused on illness and feminism. These experiences have guided me toward a more inclusive, community-centered approach to art-making, and made me realize the feminist, resistant, and even subversive potential inherent in the ordinary affects and daily encounters.

My research interest is to explore the intricate interplay among places, people, and things through the multifaceted lens of illness. My journey with illness has prompted me to recognize the heterogeneous assemblages that have participated in my daily existence and activities, as well as to forge new connections with other human bodies and communities, technological systems, medicinal and culinary practices, multispecies relations, and environments — both within and beyond the boundaries of my psychic/physical self.

To engage with the concepts and practices, my major concern is collaborating with people, in particular minority groups as environmentalists, feminists, and other queer subjects, and communicating with a broader audience through multiple platforms. This community-based work aims to cultivate a collaborative and creative environment where anyone can join in and initiate activities, fostering a sense of belonging and shared purpose. It will be presented and mobilized in various ways, including live performances, videos, workshops, and social media interactions.

The purpose of these practices is to create ethical moments and political sites that allow the ordinary micro-practices of everyday life to be held longer and to be repeated, so that different ideas and narratives have chance to emerge. It is not only about letting the idea of body embrace a whole range of diversity and possibility, but also about acknowledging the human body’s vulnerability, continuous variation, and its entangled nature with places, toxins, consumer products, microbes, and all kinds of not-too-human and other-than-human entities and forces.