Johnny Huy Nguyen is a first generation Vietnamese American multidisciplinary artist based in Yelamu (aka San Francisco). Centering his practice on the body, he weaves together dance, theatre, spoken word, ritual, installation, and performance art to create immersive time-based works exploring notions of home, lineage, resistance, healing, and identity. In addition to his work as an individual artist, he has appeared in the works of Lenora Lee Dance Company, KULARTS, Embodiment Project, the Global Street Dance Masquerade, and James Graham Dance Theater.
He has performed in the Bay Area, Oregon, Boston, and New York City and his work has been presented by the Asian Art Museum, the Chinese Historical Society of America, and SOMArts. His most recent full-length work, Minority Without A Model, premiered in 2021 as part of the 24th United States of Asian America Festival.
Curriculum Vitae
2021
Man@ng is Deity, ODC (Kularts)
Embrace, APAture Festival
Joy on Joice, Chinese Historical Society of America
Minority Without A Model, United States of Asian America Festival
Lakbai Diwa, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival (Kularts)
2020
I Pray (short dance film), Kearny Street Workshop
Ancient Children, Joyce Theater (Embodiment Project)
2019
Su Hoi Tuong (Remembrance), City of Souls, SOMArts Cultural Center
In the Skin of Her Hands, Dance Mission Theater (Lenora Lee Dance Company)
Within These Walls & Dreams of Flight, Angel Island (Lenora Lee Dance Company)
The Grass is Sleeping , Joe Goode Annex (James Graham Dance Theater)
Man@ng is Deity, Bindlestiff Studio (Kularts)
2018
Chasing Papeles, Bindlestiff Studio (directed by Andrea Almario)
Music of the Actualized Child, ODC (Embodiment Project)
Incarcerated 6x9, Bindlestiff Studio (Kularts)
Dontuntrah: The Afro-Queer Masquerade, Castro District (Global Street Dance Masquerade)
2017
NPN Live & On Stage, YBCA (Embodiment Project)
Ancient Children, YBCA Transform Festival (Embodiment Project)
MQ4Prince, Luggage Store Gallery and Tenderloin District (Global Street Dance Masquerade)
This Is How It Happens, A Living Thing, San Francisco Art Institute
2016
This Is How It Happens, Market Street
BANANA Pt 1 & 2, APAture Festival, Asian Art Museum
BANANA Pt 1 & 2, Convent Arts Collective
2012
I Still Dare to Hope, History Maker Festival - Calgary, Canada (Legacy One)
Journey to Xibalba, Dancers Studio West - Calgary, Canada (directed by Gessuri Gaitan)
2011
In the Men’s Room, Centre for Movement Arts (Calgary, Canada) (W&M Physical Theatre)
The Subliminal Rabbit Presents, Dance Film (directed by Colin Menzies)
Finding AWAKE , Dancers Studio West - Calgary, Canada (directed by Taryn Javier)
TEACHING
UC Berkeley
Guest Lecturer, Dance in American Culture, 2021
UC Berkeley
Guest Teacher, African Dance Presence in Hip Hop, 2018
University of San Francisco
Guest Teacher, Global Street Dance, 2017 - 2018
COMMUNITY WORK
Program Director, CIRCLES (Cultivating Imagination, Restoration, and Collective Liberation through Expression of Self), 2020 - 2021
Founder and Production Manager, Battle City Breaking Championships, 2012 - 2014
Production Manager and Curator, National Youth Arts Week Calgary, 2012
AWARDS
ODC Queer BIPOC Space Residency, 2022
RAWDance Radiate Fellowship, 2021
APAture Festival Featured Artist, 2021
San Francisco Arts Council Individual Arts Commission, 2020
Creative Capacity Fund: Quick Grant, 2017 & 2019
Canada Council for the Arts Professional Development for Arts Professionals Grant, 2013
PUBLICATIONS
“An Altar to Resilience”, http://diacritics.org, 2020
PANELS
Navigating Queerness / Femininity in Heterosexual + / Masculine Dominated
Spaces (Panelist), Oakland Pride, 2020
Cypher Psychology, Get Free Festival, 2018
the most beautiful part of your body is where it’s headed
— Ocean Vuong