Studio Stories: NEW BREED series with Cheng Xiong - Season 15, Episode 159

Cheng Xiong is a local Hmong dance artist, choreographer, teacher, and community leader. Xiong was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, sponsored by family in the United States, and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. Xiong started picking up Hip Hop dance, particularly Break(dance)ing, through family and friends. With his journey as a street dancer, he continued his studies in dance at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and was able to broaden to different styles and professional skills. Xiong became the first in his family to receive a Bachelor of Arts. He is currently a company member of Black Label Movement. He recently worked with local professional companies such STRONGmovement, BRKFST Dance, and Minnesota Timberwolves’s First Avenue Breakers. He is also a Breakdance instructor and educator, teaching at Cypher Side Dance School and the University of Minnesota Dance Program. 

Xiong is also a Hmong dance artist/researcher who is among the first in Minnesota to fuse forms of Breaking, Contemporary, and acrobatic dance styles. His integrated movement practice consists of floorwork, high physicality transitions, and rigorous dynamic movements that thrive on integration and cross-training. Developing a new personal style that pushes athletic skills to their highest and at the same time challenges the creative process by drawing from his background, allowing movements forming together in unique ways. His overarching aim is to continue to use the body as a medium for communication.

Some highlights of his work were in 2018, when Xiong participated in the “I’m From…Vol. 2” show at the Southern Theater, where he debuted his solo in collaboration with Tou Saiko Lee, called “Being Hmong, Being Free.” That same year, Xiong was one of the choreographers to present work for Saint Paul Conservatory Performing Arts’ J-Term Project: Dance Repertory Concert, where he debuted his new work “Locomote” in The O'shaughnessy theater at St. Catherine University.  In 2022, Xiong was awarded as one of the McKnight Dancer Fellows. The following year, Xiong debuted his new work “Penumbra” at the Southern Theater, for Arena Dances presents CANDY BOX as one of the Happy Hour artists. Right after that, he also debuted his new work called “Breaking Breaking” for the Mixtape Collective show, Mixtape 6: Cypher Space, that was held at the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. Later in fall of 2023, the Minneosta Orchestra commissioned Xiong to create a duet called, “Stories of the Harvest,” with composer Jocelyn Hagen’s excerpt of “Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon,” for their annual Young People’s Concert: Sounds of the Harvest. In 2024, Xiong presented his new work “Polarity” at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance for Black Label Movement’s Inaugural Mover’s Make series.

Alongside his repertoire of performances, Xiong is a Breakdance instructor and educator. He has taught at after-school programs such as Washington Technology Magnet Middle, Hazel Park Preparatory Academy, and Ramsey Middle through the East Side Arts Council. At present, Xiong is currently teaching at the University of Minnesota Minnesota Theater and Dance Program and Cypher Side Dance School.