"Modern dance has given us a unique way of viewing and experiencing the world through human creativity that is the exemplar of synthetic thought which stems from the roots of many cultures. The discipline of dance is the movement of the human body, which is also the site of interactions with the mind, spirit and emotions; its non-verbal communication has formed a universal language that transcends cultures. Therefore, dance is an agent for global communication and understanding. It is the expression and embodiment of the total human being, and an art form that crosses all boundaries. " - Lan-Lan Wang

Lan-Lan Wang
Professor of Dance

Joined Connecticut College: 1994
Specializations:

• Intermediate and advance levels of Theory and Style
• Choreography
• Research in Dance

Lan-Lan Wang was the chair of the dance department at Connecticut College from 1994 to 2006. Born in Taiwan, she came to the United States at the age of fourteen. She is a former member of the London Contemporary Dance Company and was on the faculty at the University of Iowa (1980-90) and UCLA (1990-94) before she assumed the position of chair at Connecticut College in 1994.

She was one of the first American modern dancers to teach and perform in China after the Cultural Revolution in 1978. In 1980 she founded the United States - China Dance Exchange Program at the University of Iowa, which she directed for many years. A specialist in scholarship and cultural exchanges with China, she has received numerous grants, including the only research grant in dance from the United States Scholarly Exchanges with People's Republic of China in 1994 for her research of "Father of Contemporary Dance in China."

She has directed and produced several major projects and supported by grants from the Freeman Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Asian Culture Council, Connecticut Commission on the Arts and New England Foundation for the Arts. Projects include the 1995 regional American College Dance Festival; Symposium on New Waves of Chinese Contemporary Culture in 1997; and the 1998 International Dance Festival, which brought choreographers, dancers, educators and companies from all over the world including China, West Africa, Mexico, Malaysia, France, New Zealand, the Philippines and Russia. She also implemented the Limon Summer Dance Workshop at Connecticut College in 2000 and 2001.

Since 2002, Wang has been directing Connecticut College's Yunnan China /Mekong Project in partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The project involves Yunnan China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand with a 2007 Mekong River Arts Festival on the National Mall in Washington DC as the culminating event. As a part of the Mekong project, Wang co-produced an eight city national tour of fifteen indigenous artists from Yunnan Province, China:  "Yunnan Revealed: Indigenous Music and Dance from China's Land of Clouds" in the fall of 2005.  

Lan-Lan Wang is also a choreographer with forty original works and three operas to her credit. She has performed and taught in many countries and throughout the United States. She has been on the national board of the American College Dance Festival and the World Dance Alliance Americas Center. She is a published writer of many articles in both Chinese and English for newspapers and publications in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, the United States and Germany. She is the artistic advisor of the Beijing Modern Dance Company. 

The Connecticut College dance department has a rich history and an approach to education based on "ways of knowing, thinking, doing and creating."