SABRINA CHOU
Director, Choreographer, Performer, Singer and Cultural Educator
Sabrina Chou was born in 1968 in Taiwan and graduated with a Bachelor degree of Dance (Honors) from Chinese Cultural University, Taipei, Taiwan. She is an outstanding dancer and also an excellent choreographer, performer, singer and cultural educator. She has extensive performing experience including a residency as principal contemporary dancer with the Taipei National Theatre, touring in Japan, Canada and in the USA at venues in New York, Washington D.C., Hawaii, and Chicago.
In 1998, she migrated to Melbourne, Australia on a Distinguished Talent Visa. She got the Diploma of Dance Teaching & Management at the Box Hill Institute of TAFE (2001), then a Graduate Diploma of Choreography at the Victorian College of the Arts (2002). She has received awards such as the Overseas Outstanding Youth Award by the Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations in Taiwan (2009), first prize in the Chinese Ex-Patriot Writer’s Competition Melbourne, 2003, and Best Artist in the Song Writing and Singing Competition, Yi Juan Youth Association, Taipei 1998.
Sabrina Chou is the co-founding member of KITA Performing Arts Company. Since 2001, she has choreographed, performed, and ran workshops at schools, community events, festivals, and has toured Victorian schools with the Regional Arts Victoria Arts2Go program. She completed two Artists in Schools projects funded by Arts Victoria in 2007 Coconut, Rice and Bamboo and 2008 The Golden Mountain, NSW with Cultural Infusion and Pan Event Entertainment, 2009.
Apart from this, she is also the co-founder of the Bendigo Harvest Moon Festival, in partnership with The Golden Dragon Museum, producing Tales of the Moon 2007, a community arts development project. Sabrina has collaborated with various local community groups and schools to choreograph various traditional dance works including Stories of the Autumn Harvest Moon (2007) with Vietnamese and Chinese elders and Trinity Primary school, Richmond in partnership with Art Play 2007.
Moreover, Sabrina is the Artistic Director of the Sabrina Dance Troupe based in Melbourne which presents Chinese traditional dance at schools and at community events. The works are part of the Melbourne Chinese Community’s outreach program which aims to bring Chinese culture to Melbourne audiences. Events include the annual Lantern Moon & Dragon Boat Festival, the Buddha & Multicultural Festival, Federation Square, the New Year Festival, Crown, and the Tianjin Kite Festival as well as Moon Lantern Festival sponsored by the City of Boroondara.
Years back, Sabrina has worked with contemporary dance choreographer Alistair MacIndoe from Chunky Move performing at the Meat Market and she performed in 180 Seconds in (Disco) Heaven or Hell, part of the Dance Massive program presented by Arts House, and she was an ensemble singer and dancer in Miss Saigon with CLOC Musical Theatre.
Between 2007 and 2013, Sabrina has been involved various projects, including created Dragon Boat Festival School Program for The Museum of Chinese Australian History Inc., designed Children’s Program for Immigration Museum and been the only Chinese Performing Arts Group performed at the Federation Square on Australian Day in 2009. Her dance troupe also participated at Brimbank Festival, Viva Victoria Festival, Castlemain Festival and Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Museum Easter Spring Festival in 2011 then performed at Malaysian Culture Festival in 2013.
From 2014 on, Sabrina has been tirelessly promoting Chinese Culture and Asian Cultures through school incursions and general public performances. She was the Program Director of Melbourne Dai Loong Association’s Chinatown Chinese New Year program (sponsored by City of Melbourne) since 2015 and has been arranging top overseas artists to perform with local performing groups. She also heavily involved the CNY celebration program in Crown Riverside, Federation Square and Victoria Market for many years. Currently she is studying Master Program of PERFORMING and CREATIVE ARTS (MPCA) in Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan and remotely managing her Dance Troupe and Performing Arts Company in Melbourne.
RUBY (PAI WEI) KAO
Chinese Dance Consultant, Choreographer, Dancer and Cultural Educator
Ruby Pai-Wei Kao was born in Taiwan. She holds a Certificate from the Chinese Folk Department of the Beijing Dance Institute and BA Dance (Honours) from the Chinese Cultural University, Taipei. This was followed by a period of research in traditional Chinese dance in Beijing. Ruby was a member of the Taipei Folk Dance Troupe and represented Taiwan in numerous cultural exchange performances in Macedonia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the US and in Asia. A career highlight was a performance of the Opera Aida, in German at the National Theatre in Taiwan.
Ruby has worked with KITA as a choreographer, calligrapher, performer and teacher since 2004 in Victorian schools, at festivals and corporate events, and she has toured Victorian schools with the Regional Arts Victoria Arts2Go program.
She is a co-founding member of the Bendigo Harvest Moon Festival, running a series of workshops which culminated with a public performance of Tales of the Moon (2007). Another successful project was Stories of the Autumn Harvest Moon, Birrarung Marr (2007) run in partnership with Art Play.
Ruby has contributed her talents to the Chinese Community’s Sabrina Dance Troupe in the following works: the Dragon & Lantern Moon Festival, Melbourne Chinese Museum; the Buddha & Multicultural Festival, Federation Square; New Year Festival, Crown; the annual Tianjin Kite Festival; the Moon Lantern Festival sponsored by the City of Boroondara, 2006; and Australia Day Voyages at Federation Square with Cultural Infusion and Pan Event Entertainment, 2008. She conducted a dance program at the Kingston Youth Festival, 2005 and Tet Festival, North Richmond Community Centre, in 2004.
Recently, Ruby worked with contemporary choreographer Alistair MacIndoe from Chunky Move performing at the Meat Market and appeared in 180 Seconds in (Disco) Heaven or Hell as part of the Dance Massive Festival 2009 presented by Arts House.
Between 2010 and 2016, Ruby was teaching classical dance in North West University for National Itineraries of Dance Academy. She is currently KITA's Chinese Dance Consultant.
YONG YING WOO
Asian Dance Consultant, Dancer, Teacher & Choreographer
Yong Ying Woo who is Chinese and Malaysian, originally comes from Kuala Lumpur. She specializes in traditional and contemporary Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian classical dances and has extensively trained in Ballet and contemporary dance at the Faculty of Dance in Malaysia's National Arts Academy. She represented her school by performing in Padang, Indonesia in 2007 and 2008, and also participated in the Bangkok Fringe Festival later in the same year, As well she represented Malaysia to promote culture and awareness in London upon completion of her course at ASWARA.
Yong Ying, seeking to advance her career further, came to Australia in 2008. During her course in Associate In Applied Dance at The Dance World Studio, she has performed at some of the most recognizable theatres in Melbourne including the National Theatre at St Kilda and Malt House Theatre. She also toured New Zealand in 2009 and 2011.
Yong Ying has since performed and choreographed at various events and locations including the 2010 Australian Dance Award at the Art Centre in Melbourne , Australian Dance Card at Melbourne Town Hall and Buddha's Day performances at Federation Square by Sabrina Dance Troupe, Melbourne Fringe Festival 2010 & Castlemaine State Arts Festival 2011 with Kita Performing Arts Company and Reliquary by Miji Present 2011. Yong Ying has also toured Australia and India performing the popular kids show Dora the Explorer Live show with Life Like Touring in 2013.
Most recently she featured as Eliza in The King and I, the multiple Helpman Awards Winning musical, including the prestigious Best Musical Award. Yong Ying was awarded the Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical 2015 at Melbourne Green Room Awards Association. Yong Ying has been working with Sabrina Dance Troupe and KITA Performing Arts Company since 2009 as a dance instructor, choreographer and performer. She is also a qualified Early Childhood Educator. She is also KITA's Asian Dance Consultant.
FIRDAUS "BAUS" SABRY
Indonesian Traditional Dance Performer, Teacher and Hip-Hop Dance Artist
Firdaus "Baus" Sabry was born in the United Kingdom but raised in Kuching Sarawak, Malaysia. He has been dancing for 17 years and as a professional dancer for the past 10 years. He represents "Soul Higher crew", it was founded in Kuching City and was established in 2003.
Baus major in Hip Hop dance name Bboying (breakdancing) but have practiced and involved in other genres such as locking, house, popping amongst other styles.
Since moving to Melbourne in 2017, Baus has been working with Street Dance Studios and joined Superhoodz crew, which is the biggest hip-hop dance crew in Melbourne, which have performed at Disney Land, Australia's Got Talent and toured all around the world namely Dubai, America and India, etc. Apart from that, Superhoodz is the official dance crew for Melbourne United Basketball team as well.
Apart from his busy life, Baus also working with KITA Performing Arts company from 2014 as both a hip-hop dance artist and a traditional dance performer. He is a popular Indonesian dance workshop artist form our school incursions programs.
MANMAN NG
Dancer, Teacher and Guest Artist
Manman Ng was born in Hong Kong. She specializes in traditional / folk Chinese and Jazz Dance. She holds Certificate for teaching the course of Beijing Dance Academy Chinese Dance Grading Examination. She also holds certificate of teaching Jazz of Australian Teachers of Dancing.
Manman was one of the member of Elegance Society Dance Troupe in Hong Kong and represented Hong Kong to Beijing to participate in National Folk Dance Performance. She also holds Dipolma of Early Childhood education.
MAX (SHOU-EN) LIAO & CANDY (TZE-HSUAN) HUANG
Professional Diabolo Artists, Dancers and Guest Artists
Born in Taiwan, Shou-En Liao (Max) and Tze-Hsuan Huang (Candy) are one of the world’s best Diabolo duo. Both Max and Candy started to perfect their craft at a young age with The Diabolo Dance Theatre. With a combined 30+ years of experience they are truly masters when wielding the Diabolo. They have performed in front of international world stages including the Beijing Olympics, New York Lincoln Centre Festival and Taipei Inauguration Ceremony for the Taiwanese President.
The duo has also traveled and performed at major cities in Africa, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States.
Max and Candy are now on a mission to share their skills and experience to the next generation of Diabolo artists. They have worked with many education providers from primary school students all the way to tertiary institutions by teaching and inspiring students to learn and enjoy the Diabolo. They have collaborated with the likes of Deakin University, Melbourne Grammar School, Maylands Peninsula Primary School and many other local and regional schools all over Australia.
Max also mentored many Diabolo players to achieve great success. Including Chih Han Chao who is the 2016 and 2017 Red Bull PAO champion and Si Xian Elementary School in Taipei whom became Zone D Diabolo competition champions in Malaysia in 2014.
Max has also been on the judging panel for the Osaka International Diabolo Competition in Japan in 2017.
SARAH (YU-JUNG) LEE
Dancer and Guest Artist
Yu-Jung (Sarah) Lee is a Taiwanese professional dancer who graduated from National Taiwan University of the Arts, major in Dance, including Ballet, Chinese Dance and Contemporary dance.
Sarah learnt dance at early age and throughout her school life. She worked as a dancer teacher in Taiwan’s Chung-Hwa School of Arts in Kaohsiung between 2014 and 2015. She also briefly joined Migratory Dance Company in 2015 as a dancer.
Some of her impressive experiences including:
2006: Was invited to the Kaohsiung state banquet of President Nourou as a Dancer
2009: Performed as a dancer in the 2009 World Games opening ceremony in Kaohsiung.
2013: Won the First prize Prague Dance Festival Dance Competition Annual Award as a dancer
2013: On behalf of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau went to Japan as a dancer to participate Domannaka Festival
ASHLEY (HSI TING) YEN
Dancer and Guest Artist
Ashley (Hsi Ting) Yen is a Taiwanese professional dancer who completed Master of Dance from University of Taipei. During her Bachelor degree years, she did Primary School Physical Education course and was major in Dance.
Throughout her school life, Ashley was always in the professional “Dance class” since her Primary School days till High School years. She has been working as a dance teacher in various Pre-School organisations, including Montessori Education Centre, Kindergartens and Primary Schools. She also teaches Ballet, Street dance, Chinese traditional dance and contemporary dance in different organisations like Hospital, Community centre and Fitness Centres.