SanSan's research interests include dance studies, Asian American studies, and performance studies. Her recent book, Love Dances: Loss and Mourning in Intercultural Collaboration (Oxford UP, 2021), is winner of the 2022 de la Torre Bueno© Award. She is also author of Kinesthetic City: Dance and Movement in Chinese Urban Spaces (Oxford UP, 2013) and co-editor, with Kenneth Speirs, of Mixing It Up: Multiracial Subjects (University of Texas Press, 2004). Her article on cartographies of race and the Chop Suey circuit, a group of Asian American cabaret entertainers who toured the nation during the World War II era, is published in TDR. Her article, "When is Contemporary Dance," on contended understandings of the term "contemporary" across dance genres and communities, is in the December 2017 issue of Dance Research Journal. Additional articles can be found in Theatre Survey, Performance Research, Choreographic Practices, Representations, and other journals and anthologies. SanSan remains active as a professional dancer and is currently performing with Lenora Lee Dance, Chingchi Moves, and Jen Liu.
Recent Publications (selected):
Books
Love Dances: Loss and Mourning in Intercultural Collaboration. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
Kinesthetic City: Dance and Movement in Chinese Urban Spaces. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Mixing It Up: Multiracial Subjects. Co-edited with Kenneth Speirs. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2004.
Articles and Book Chapters
"Dancing in the Aftermath of Anti-Asian Violence: An Introduction in Three Parts." (co-authored with Yutian Wong). Dancing in the Aftermath of Anti-Asian Violence, a special issue in Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies. Vol 42 (2023).
"Remote proximity: Making immersive dance under COVID-19 lockdown." Choreographic Practices 13:2 (December 2022).
"Acts of Loving: Emmanuelle Huynh, Akira Kasai, and Eiko Otake in Intercultural Collaboration." The Methuen Drama Handbook of Interculturalism and Performance. Eds. Daphne Lei and Charlotte McIvor. New York: Methuen Drama, 2020. 133-152.
"When is Contemporary Dance?" Dance Research Journal 49.3 (December 2017).
"Even as We Keep Trying: An Ethics of Interculturalism in Jérôme Bel's Pichet Klunchun and Myself." Theatre Survey 55.02 (May 2014): 185-201.
"Performing a Geography of Asian America: The Chop Suey Circuit." TDR 55.1 (T209 Spring 2011): 120-136.
"Jagged Presence in the Liquid City: Choreographing Hong Kong's Handover." Planes of Composition: Dance, Theory, and the Global. Eds. André Lepecki and Jenn Joy. Seagull Books, 2010. 15-39.