Tiên Lê

Tiên Lê is a perfromer, dj, performer and choreographer. They build exciting, colourful and enticing worlds through the creations which come out in all kinds of forms.

We met in our introduction week at Fontys University and immediately adopted Pride and Prejudice character names for each other. I got to know them and their work further when we both joined the choreography department for our final two years and I am became even more obsessed with how they see the world.

What I admire so much about them is how they are not confined to one medium but rather pour their creative being into what excites them the most. Growing up they were flooded with interests and hobbies from drawing, singing, dancing, music, swimming, karate to piano.

‘‘I was really that overachieving kid, like the ADHD was early there and I didn’t realise it till this year. I just did so many things creatively. For a while the piano thing was going really well, until it just kind of didn’t becasue I just entered my teenage years and like depression and pressure, ye it just wasn’t fun anymore to be honest. The one that really stuck around was dance. I stopped dancing for a while and got back into it because of k-pop, I owe everything to k-pop honestly.’’

They began to teach themselves k-pop choreography and seeking out classes in their area and they stumbled across a dance group in Malmo. From there they began to delve more and more into the dance world which led them to club culture as a whole.

‘‘Really now, the backdrop to evrything I do is love and appreciation for club music and dance culture. I’m trying to make it work, I’m back to being the one who does everything even though I went to BACH (choreography department) to not do everything! Being a choreographer means being so many things, you guys don’t understand how difficult it is.’’

When they were 15, their local cultural centre hosted a week of free dance workshops surrounding club and street styles, which was their first exposure to all these new genres and facets of dance. Once they understood everything that this worls encompasses - community, music, people, dance and politics, it cemented that this is something that they want to do.

We bonded over the how as an international student it can feel like such a radical stance to apply to study abroad. You find yourself blindly commiting to something and having to decide that it’s what’s best for you when you have no idea what it’s like to study at an arts college let alone recognise the name of the city you’re moving to.

Tiên ended up applying alongside two friends without fully understanding what they were getting themselves into.

‘‘One night I roughly read the description, saw something contemporary urban, applied, and then I did it. I didn’t do much research, I was like somewhere in the Netherlands? Alright I just need to get the hell out of here. I did not really know what I was signing myself up for, especially the theatre part.’’

As they began to discover more about the possibilities of making the stories they are continuously drawn to began to reveal themselves. The core values of club and dance culture such as music, liberation, catharsis and politics.

‘‘It’s all done in a serious way but at the same time I always just try to have fun with it. If it’s all just serious then it’s like cool, what now? There’s no need to justify or explain why I want to have fun, I just want to have fun. It’s a bit of chaos. For example when I prepare my dj sets I have these experimental tunes, it’s not just to purely challenge people but I want to take them on a journey with fun ridiculous songs. I’m always bouncing between the two things. I think as a person I can be super serious but then also I’m a total idiot.’’

The beauty of djing is how they can create in their own bubble but then share the space live with an interactive audience.

‘‘It’s difficult, I’m still learning a lot. It’s been a bit over a year since I started playing at clubs so there’s still a lot of struggles a lot of battles and nerves. I don’t want to say it’s a performance, it’s a spectacle but you are performing, you’re working, you’re troubleshooting stuff. For me I just want the audience to fucking dance. There’s this stupod thing that’s happening right now at clubs and at parties where the dj is held on a pedestal, we’re here to spectate them. It’s just kind of insane because everyone is standing, no one is dancing anymore. No one knows how to party anymore post covid.’’

They feel their most creative when they can tap into this energy as well. Being with people and soaking in their surroundings truly get their juices flowing. Being able to work with other people and bounce off their ways of thinking sets them alight. But as a contrast to that, moments of silence alone at home, trying to fall asleep, cooking, listening to music or going for long walks have the ability to charge them with an urge to create. They find that this also alters how they experience the world.