Movement artist, writer and poet based in Nanaimo, BC, traditional Snuneymuwx territories.
KIAN CHAM – BIOGRAPHY
Throughout my foundational years, I studied Japanese martial arts under the Ling family at Delta Karate School, receiving my black belt at sixteen-years-old. During my competition career, I competed for BC, Quebec and Canada and was a 7-time national medalist including 3-time national champion; and Pan-American silver medalist, competing in Santiago, Chile in 2005. In my early 20’s, I was introduced to Sensei Kenji Ushiro and began learning from his teachings to harmonize through conflict with ki/qi (internal energy), shifting my practice away from competition toward a practice to align mind, body and heart.
In my thirties, having medically transitioned and recovered from addiction, I felt compelled to explore story-telling through movement to express and heal from particular life experiences related to gender-violence and street-involvement. Having always been curious about dance, I began learning pole aerials with Karen Fabara, and pole choreography with Lydia Tang in Vancouver. At the same time, I began what is an ongoing mentorship with Tasha Louie, learning to move more expansively through creative strength and flexibility grounded in bio-psycho-social principles. I have since trained in a 10-day residency with Cirque du Soleil soloist Dimitry Politov in Antalya, Turkey (2024). Most recently in Spring of 2026, I was selected for Groundwerk’s Movement Residency, working with choreography and dance mentors Geneviève Johnson and Sam Letourneau over the course of ten weeks to develop a solo piece, performing at the Malaspina Theatre in Nanaimo.
In 2025, I completed a short dance and poetry film I had spent a year creating while learning to adapt to severe cervical spinal stenosis, a chronic condition impacting my spinal cord. Funded by the Canada Council of the Arts, this piece was made in collaboration with musicians Francis Arevalo, Alvin Brendan and Sejal Lal, and choreographer Lydia Tang. Separately, I have published writing featured in books Joyful Militancy (2017) and Radiant Voices (2019) and printed in Perspectives Journal (2016). I am honoured and grateful for artist, writer and curator carla bergman who has been a long-standing writing mentor and early supporter of my artistic vision.
I am currently based in Nanaimo, BC where I continue to develop my creative practice and teach movement. Because of my training style and life experience, I regularly work with people with complex conditions including various forms of hypermobility, chronic pain, old injuries; people who are racialized, queer and trans, people experiencing mobility and strength changes related to age, and people with neurodivergences such as adhd and autism.
Kian Cham 