MIA J. CHONG
MIA J. CHONG (she/they) is a director, choreographer, and artist from San Francisco, California, the Indigenous lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone and Muwekma people. Mia currently choreographs throughout the Bay Area, serves as ODC/Dance’s Staging Director, and is the founding Artistic Director of contemporary dance company EIGHT/MOVES.
She received her dance training from ODC School, Kirov Academy of Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, the Ailey School, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the School at Jacob’s Pillow, and BANDALOOP. Mia went on to enjoy a performing career that spanned over a decade with companies including ODC/Dance, Post:ballet, Robert Moses’ Kin, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, San Francisco Symphony, and Concept o4.
Throughout the years, she has received a Princess Grace Award, Chris Hellman Dance Honor, Aninstantia Foundation Grant, LINES Ballet Homer Avila Award, Jacob’s Pillow Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship, Zellerbach Family Foundation Grant, San Francisco Arts Commission Grant, and Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and nominations for her work as a performer and creator.
Mia’s choreography has been commissioned and presented by ODC/Dance, Post:ballet, FACT/SF, RAWdance, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, UC Berkeley, Gonzaga University, Berkeley Ballet Theater, BODYSONNET, RoundAntennae, and more. Her choreography for film has been selected and screened by more than 15 festivals around the world, reaching audiences in Japan, South Korea, England, Turkey, and Italy. Through EIGHT/MOVES, Mia has collaborated with Rena Butler, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, KT Nelson, RJ Muna, Tsai-Hsi Hung, and Sidney Chen.
As a dance educator, Mia has taught at ODC School, Alonzo King LINES Dance Center, The School at Jacob’s Pillow, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Westlake School for the Performing Arts, and more.
Mia earned her Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences with a concentration in Organizational Behavior and Change from New York University and her Master of Science in Arts Administration and Cultural Entrepreneurship from Northeastern University.
CHOREOGRAPHER | DIRECTOR | ARTIST
what people are saying
“Chong clearly has a vision. In a post-pandemic time, and a particularly hard moment for arts organizations in the SF Bay Area to sustain, Mia J. Chong comes from a place of beautiful optimism. [Her] choices offer a little window into Chong’s bold hope and what is driving her (which I feel is: vision, curiosity, story, and connection). ”
— EIGHT/MOVES Season 1 Review by Jill Randall
“Mia J. Chong is beloved in her community and in Bay Area performance spaces.”
— EIGHT/MOVES Season 1 Review by Heather Desaulniers
“For years, Mia J. Chong has stood out as a dancer with several of the Bay Area’s boldest companies, including Post: Ballet and ODC/Dance. Now, she’s stepping out with her own choreography — but with some powerhouse mentors by her side.”
— Rachel Howard for the SF Chronicle Datebook
“Mia J. Chong was phenomenal, moving with brute force one moment and feathery softness the next.”
— Ballet to the People
“…the dynamic Mia J. Chong [is] blessed with a seemingly impossible amount of flexibility and the good sense to control it.”
— San Francisco Weekly
“[The piece] opened with Chong’s solo; the simple staging and her breathtaking articulation created a meditative communion with the music.”
— San Francisco Gate