Linxin
"Kisa" Li
(she/they/ta)
Multidisciplinary Artist-Scholar:
Choreographer, Filmmaker, Educator, Photographer, Composer, RYT 200.
A Voice:
我在学会说话之前，
就已经开始用身体表达。
动作，是我翻译沉默的方式——
是我理解世界边界的语言。
在中国长大的那些年，
舞蹈是逃离，
是我离开痛苦的地方。
而长大之后，
舞蹈不再是避风港，
而是成为——
是我梦见自己的方式。
十年前，二十岁的我，
跨越海洋。
那时的语言装不下我，
而我的身体，也还在学习如何归属。
在美国，我学会了重生——
不是抹去根，
而是让根在新的土壤里继续生长，
生生不息。
作为一个中国留子，
有时候，我被忽视；
有时候，我被放大。
肤色、口音、性别、身份——
都成了他人不敢直视的镜子。
这些时刻划破了我，
也让我学会，
做一个无法被翻译的人。
如今，我为这些记忆而歌颂，
为抵抗而舞蹈，
也为那些碎片找到归处。
创造艺术，
是为了让痛楚在另一个空间得以弥补——
让颤抖的声音被听见，
让那些不知的故事浮出表面。’
每一次抬手、转身、呼吸、坠落，
便都是我与“逃避”和“成为”之间的对话。
艺术，对我而言，
是一种活着的方式。
让挣扎呼吸，
让伤口开花。
那是我的叛逆，
也是我的疗愈。
我用身体说——
我在这里。
我一直都在。
而且，我仍在继续——
活着。
Before I learned to speak,
my body was already speaking.
Movement became the way I translated silence—
It’s the way I understood the boarder of the world.
In those years growing up,
dance was my escape,
a space to leave the pain.
As I grew older,
dance is no longer a refuge,
but a becoming—
a way to dream myself into being.
Ten years ago, at twenty,
I crossed the ocean.
I was lost between languages.
and my body was still learning how to belong.
In here, I learned rebirth—
not to erase my roots,
but to let them grow in new soil,
Alive.
As a Chinese international,
sometimes I am unseen;
sometimes, magnified.
My skin, accent, gender, identity—
all become mirrors others refuse to face.
Those moments cut through me,
but they also taught me
to exist as someone who cannot be translated.
Now, I dance to honor these memories,
to resist,
and to gather the fragments into my wholeness.
Creating art
is to let pain find a new space to heal—
to let trembling voices be heard,
and to let hidden stories rise to the surface.
Each gesture, turn, breath, and fall
is a dialogue between my “escape” and “becoming.”
Art, to me,
is a way of living—
to let struggle breathe,
to let wounds bloom.
It is my defiance,
and my healing.
With my body, I speak:
I am here.
I have always been here.
And I am still—
alive.
BIO
Linxin “Kisa” Li 李琳馨 (she/they/ta) is a multidisciplinary artist-scholar, choreographer, and filmmaker. She is a full-time dance faculty member in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Alabama. Li holds an MFA in Dance from Florida State University and a BA in Dance with a minor in Psychology from the University of Dayton.
Before moving to the United States, Kisa danced professionally in China and has also performed nationally and internationally, such as in Germany. During her undergraduate years, she danced with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC 2).
Kisa’s research and creative practice explore the body as a site of translation—between cultures, mediums, and emotional states. Her article “An Autoethnography: Chinese Contemporary Dance as a Catalyst for Inclusive Dance Studies” (Dancer-Citizen, 2024) examines intercultural pedagogy and inclusivity in higher education. The work was presented at DSA 2024, where she received the conference fellowship award. Her article in NetVUE’s Studies in Vocation and Calling examines how queer identity and faith intersect through embodied performance as a process of healing and self-discovery.
Kisa has performed and presented work nationally and internationally, including in the United States, Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Notable works include the dance film 劫: Self-Deconstruction, which won Best Experimental Film at both the Hong Kong World Film Festival (2022) and the World Class Film Awards (2024), as well as Best Director at The Music Dance Screenings Film Festival Consonance (2023). Dear Kisa received Best Choreography at the X World Short Film Festival (2023).
She also serves on the Programming Committee for the Dance Studies Association (DSA) and has adjudicated for the Utah Dance Film Festival, the Student World Impact Film Festival, and the Dance Alabama! Film Festival. Kisa was awarded the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs’ Dance Award (2024) for her choreography and directorship of the University of Dayton Dance Ensemble.
Based in San Diego, CA, USA