Vancouver dance artist, photographer, and filmmaker Lewen Han didn’t have all the tools to be an artist when she was growing up in Nanjing, China. She attended boarding school and couldn’t go onto the Internet whenever she liked.
“I didn’t have access to my phone,” Han tells Pancouver over Zoom. “I didn’t own a laptop.”
Her days began at 6 a.m. with a short run with other students, followed by morning and afternoon schoolwork, along with more studying into the evening. But she was still able to come across some incredibly cool dance videos from Korea. Han recalls that they might have been from 1Million Dance Studio or Millennium.
“I just snuck out of my boarding school every Thursday to go to dance,” Han says with a laugh.
The imagery in those videos ignited a love of dance that stayed with her after she moved to Canada as a teenager. And her bold and imaginative work has caught the attention of many in Vancouver’s dance community. On Saturday (November 15) evening, Han will perform an original piece, Ghost Road, at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster as part of Ourofest.
“The theme for me is knowing how to just be,” Han says. “Being myself and connecting to my own emotions is more than enough in this piece.”
Watch Lewen Han perform in shadows in “Sticky”.
The Ouro Collective created the festival to promote street dance artistry, and Han is the festival’s 2025 Youth Artist Recipient. On Instagram, the collective states that Han’s work “lives at the intersection of street dance and theatre”.
“Drawing from whacking, hand performance, and popping, her choreography is rooted in personal history, tracing the echoes of her upbringing in Nanjing, China,” the collective declares. “These of memory, belonging, and identity shape her movement vocabulary, often manifesting in organic shapes and dynamic use of light and shadows.”
Han is also a photographer and cinematographer. Her deft handling of shadows is on display in her short video “Sticky”.
“I’m a dancer first, and I also do photography,” Han emphasizes. “I also did a couple of short films this year, which is quite cool. I love camera stuff; I’m a very visual person.”
“Ballet Bodies” looks at the world through the eyes of a racialized dancer.
Han turns visions into films
She co-directed and was director of photography, editor, colourist. and a producer of another short film, “Ballet Bodies”, which premiered at the Innovate Dance Festival.
“Ballet Bodies” is centred around a racialized dancer with an unconventional body. The film explores her complicated relationship with lithe, white female dancers in her midst.
In addition, Han directed, co-choreographed (with Sophie Sprun), and performs in another short video, “Five More”. It features a riveting encounter with fellow dancer Rajan Sandhu.
As in all of her work, “Five More” goes to the core of how the characters feel.
“I think I’m a very intuitive person in that way, if I have a vision in mind,” Han says. “I will literally go to the studio and do it, just to get it out of my system.”
Han offers an amusing response when asked why she initially became a dance artist.
“Honestly, I just wanted to look cool,” Han says with a laugh.
Han co-choreographed, directed, and performed in “Five More”.
Ourofest runs from November 13 to 17 with live performances at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster and workshops at Q7 Studios. For tickets and more information, visit the festival website. Learn more about Lewen Han by visiting her website or following her on Instagram @lewenhan. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social. The publication is also on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
