Dana Tai Soon Burgess | Artistic Director at Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company

Dana Tai Soon Burgess is a leading American choreographer, dancer, and cultural figure known worldwide as the “Diplomat of Dance.” In 1992, he founded the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company (DTSBDC), a preeminent modern dance company based in Washington, D.C.

As the Company’s artistic director, his work explores the idea of cultural “confluence” with many of his dances focusing on the “hyphenated person” – someone who is of mixed ethnic or cultural heritage – and the emotions of belonging and societal acceptance.

He has served as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department for over two decades, an appointment he uses to promote international cultural dialogue through “the global language of dance.” He has been awarded three Fulbright Senior scholarships for dance. He has also recently received two prestigious awards – the Selma Jeanne Cohen Dance Lecture Award and the Aaron Stein Memorial Award.

In 2016, Burgess was named the Smithsonian Institution’s first-ever Choreographer-in-Residence. From 2016-2023 he created new works inspired by museum exhibitions, participated in public discussions about dance and art and designed educational programming.

The exploration of dance and art is deeply rooted for Burgess. The son of two visual artists he has always approached the stage as a canvas, and the dancers as brush strokes. In 2003, Burgess was one of only three artists featured in the Smithsonian Institution’s “A Korean American Century” – an exhibition highlighting the history and achievements of Korean Americans in the US. “Dancing the Dream,” marked the Smithsonian’s first exhibition on American dance during this centennial celebration as well. Three portraits of Burgess are part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian  and his family archives reside in the American History Museum. He has created works for The National Gallery of Art, The Noguchi Museum, The National Museum of Asian Art, The National Building Museum, The Kreeger Museum, The Baltimore Museum of Art, and The UNM Art Museum to name a few.

Burgess and the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company have received numerous awards and acclamations including the Outstanding Emerging Artist at the 12th Annual Mayor Arts Award (1994), the Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence (2005), seven Metro D.C. Dance Awards, as well as the Pola Nirenska Award which celebrates trailblazers and leaders of the dance community. Burgess received the Paul Ré Peace Prize by the University of New Mexico Foundation for bridging communities around the globe through choreography.

Burgess is the author of Chino and the Dance of the Butterfly: A Memoir by University of New Mexico Press and the editor of and contributor to Milestones in Dance History by Routledge/Francis&Taylor. He is also the host of Slantpodcast.com which focuses on the Asian American arts experience.

photo credit: Sueraya Shaheen

Julie Park, PhD | Associate Professor of Sociology and the Asian American Studies Program, University of Maryland

Julie Park is Associate Professor of Sociology and the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland (UMD). She currently serves as Associate Chair in Sociology and previously served as the Director of Asian American Studies from 2017 to 2022. She is on the Faculty Council of the UMD Center for Global Migration Studies and the Executive Committee of the Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC). Prior to joining the Maryland faculty in 2008, she was a research assistant professor in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development and the associate director of the Population Dynamics Research Group at the University of Southern California. She received her Ph.D. (2003) and M.A. (2001) in sociology as well as a Masters in Urban Planning (1998) from the University of Southern California. She received her B.A. in sociology at the University of California, Davis.

Professor Park's research focuses most broadly on the adaptation process of immigrants in the United States which includes the areas of immigration, demography, race/ethnicity, gender, and urban studies. Specifically, she examines how immigrants improve their socioeconomic status with longer duration in the U.S. She also utilizes an innovative cohort method to assess intergenerational mobility across immigrant generations that she co-developed. Second, she considers how residential segregation changes in new and established immigrant gateways. Lastly, she assesses the health and health care access assimilation process of immigrants. Her work has been published in Demography, International Migration Review, American Journal of Public Health, Social Science Research, and Social Science and Medicine. Professor Park currently teaches courses on immigration, Asian Americans Studies, and social demography. In recognition of her teaching, she received the Excellence in Teaching Award (College of Behavioral and Social Sciences) and the Donna B. Hamilton Award for Teaching Excellence (Undergraduate Studies).