Carmen Yih

Cred. Nam Chops

The JourneyCarmen began her dance journey jamming alone in her bedroom to the tunes of Kylie Minogue and High School Musical. Growing up, her grandmother frequently shared her stories of Chinese Opera and traditional dance, instilling Carmen with an innate sense of awe and appreciation for the performing arts. In those years she found what would be the heart of her practice today - a celebration of the authentic expression and empowerment found through dance.

Carmen studied ballet, commercial jazz and commercial contemporary under the tutelage of Monique Shipp before continuing her dance studies at Denise Utz School of Dance predominantly in the Cecchetti Method of Ballet. She completed Advanced 1 in the Cecchetti Method with Honours and was awarded the Cecchetti Ballet Winter School Scholarship. During this time, she explored her interest in choreographing; competing and achieving runner-up in solo contemporary choreography for 3 consecutive years at the Cecchetti Choreographic Competition adjudicated by Marissa Yeo. During her high school studies, she regularly choreographed for the extra-curricular dance program, with her ballet and contemporary teams becoming national medallists at the DanceStar National Championships.

After competing in Form Dance Projects’ Sharp Short Dance, she was awarded a scholarship to Seet Dance’s Intensive with Lee Serle where she developed her knowledge of modern and contemporary dance lineages through connecting with the founder of Seet Dance and former Union Dance company dancer - Charemaine Seet. After this experience, she was inspired to pursue the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) at the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts where she had the opportunity to learn from artists including: Sade Alleyne, Lloyd Newson, Kialea-Nadine Williams, Siobhan Mckenna, Kimball Wong, Antony Hamilton, Stephanie Lake, Monica Lim, Julie Ann Minaai, Brianna Kell, Kyall Shanks, Brooke Stamp, Georgia Rudd, Rachel Coulson, Samantha Hines, Kalman Warhaft, Jonathan Homsey, Efren Pamilacan, and Philipa Rothfield.

While pursuing tertiary studies in contemporary dance, she discovered her place in the street dance community, becoming an active member of Burncity W_ack - Naarm’s community of dancers specialising in the dance form of ‘Punking/Whacking’ originating from the underground gay bars of 1970s LA and Burncity Krump - Naarm’s community of dancers specialising in the LA’s South Central-born early-2000s street dance form of ‘Krump’.

She furthered these new avenues of interests by seconding with not-for-profit street dance organisation L2R Dance, Sydney Dance Company, and with Monica Lim and Rianto in their developmental residency. She also co-designed Next Wave’s World+ program produced by MaggZ and supported by VicHealth. Her interest in the intersection of street dance and contemporary dance spaces led to the beginnings of Space Generate - a community all-styles jam focussed on movement exchange and experimentation open to movers of all styles and abilities.

Shortened Bio
Carmen Yih (she/her) is an emerging Chinese diasporic artist graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts' Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance). Carmen’s practice skates along the boundaries of hybrid dance-theatre, telling urgent stories that draw on forgotten histories and marginalised voices. In her theatrical work, Carmen uses movement scores and structures influenced by non-Western narrative world-building, immersive theatre, and street and club dance forms.

Carmen’s major works include: M_N (2024) at Bowery Theatre, tackling toxic masculinity’s impact on youth mental health through street dance-theatre, Texture of Absence (2025) at Platform Arts Geelong - a quiet ode to the complex experience of ageing and loss, and ‘to disappoint a god.’ (2025) at Melbourne Fringe (in-development).

She has been selected for Stephanie Lake’s ESCALATOR, as one of five up-and-coming choreographic voices and will develop I.E.T (Idol for the End of Times) for the program. Carmen is the recipient of the Abbotsford Convent Maggie Maguire Residency 2025-26. Beyond her major projects, she has created and presented various site-specific, video and community-based works including ‘REGENESIS’ (Club Alt, Bluestone Church Arts Space), ‘Home’ (Union House Theatre), ‘SWARM’ (Science Gallery Melbourne), ‘Empty Your Plate’ (Bunjil Place, Sharp Short Dance, Blackbird Protostars), and Holding Absence (Geelong Arts Centre - in-development).

Carmen is the founder of Space Generate - an interdisciplinary freestyle jam session facilitating storytelling through art, bringing together musicians, dancers, and writers in a mixed-medium conversation. Interested in street and club dance forms, she also practices the 1970s LA gay club dance form of Punking/Whacking and the 2000s South Central street dance form of Krump.

Click to see Curriculum Vitae

Contact
Instagram: @hitahhchi
Email: hitahhchi@gmail.com