Company Feature: Meet Dance Artist, Irvin Chow

Irvin Chow did not dance before he walked. He did not spend his childhood dreaming of becoming a star. Chow chose dance by accident. He was introduced to dance at the age of 18, and with only one year of training, he decided to audition for York University’s dance program. 

Why did you decide to pursue a career in dance?
To be honest, I chose dance sort of by accident. I started taking adult dance classes when I was 18 and after a year took a long shot chance by auditioning for York University’s Dance program. I had applied and was accepted by other non-dance programs as well, so I wasn’t so worried about the outcome. By the time I actually went through the audition I was so traumatized that I refused to show up to the other auditions I had applied for and left my future in dance into the hands of York University.

You have worked with a wide variety of choreographers including including David Earle, Julia Sasso, William Yong, Debra Brown, Susan Cash, Jasmyn Fyffe, Robert Glumbek, Sylvie Bouchard and Yvonne Ng. What element do you feel the most comfortable in?
I am quite fond of working with choreographers who use dancers as both interpreters and as improvisers. There is something amazing about being able to draw from within yourself and express the choreographer’s intention through your own filter.

What is something people might not know about you?
I’ve recently started experimenting with 35mm film photography and I love it.

You are a member of the Canadian Society of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture and run your own practice. What drew you to acupuncture?
It’s sort of a family business. I grew up watching my father treat people and got sucked in from there. It’s been such an amazing journey with so much depth to it that I’m still discovering more to this day. You can contact me about my practice at siu.chun.acupuncture@gmail.com

How do you juggle being both an Acupuncturist and a dance artist? 
Carefully. It just requires a lot of planning and scheduling. It’s not as bad as it sounds as they can both be flexible in terms of scheduling.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
I just built my first PC in many years and I’m very proud of it! It’s a Micro-Atx motherboard with a Skylake processor and a GTX 970!