Welcome our new postdoc- I-Ying Wu to Regina!

We are very happy to welcome our new postdoctoral research fellow, I-Ying Wu to Regina this September. I-Ying has a PhD by practice-led research from the School of Arts in Northampton, and a MA in Performing Arts from the National Taiwan University of the Arts. Her postdoctoral research project rethinks the concept of improvisation from a Chinese perspective of qi-energy based on Daoism, aiming to fill the gap resulting from cultural differences between current concepts of improvisation inherited from American and European dance contexts and her specific cultural/social position as a Taiwanese somatic practitioner and improviser. The “nature” of improvisation, that is, what improvisation is, how it is characterised, and how it works, will be given a different interpretation in this study. Furthermore, how an improvisation practitioner/researcher’s work could be informed and shaped by the Daoist philosophy of qi will be revealed during the rethinking process by drawing on a practice-as-research methodology. I-Ying will also be working with the REACTING improv jam group, and become a part of the Regina Improv Studies Centre/IICSI activities over the year. We look forward to working with her, and hope everyone makes her feel very welcome in Regina.