RABBIT GOD
A Queer Chinese Fantasy
Rabbit God: A Queer Chinese Fantasy is a visually striking dance-theater journey into Chinese folklore, queer love, and mythology. Blending contemporary dance, martial arts staff, immersive projection, and theatrical storytelling, the work reimagines the legend of the Rabbit God—a deity associated with same-sex love in Chinese folklore. Through a fantastical journey of love, identity, loss, and redemption, Rabbit God brings an ancient story into the present, creating a dreamlike world where myth, movement, and memory collide.
Nov 19-22, 2026
Runtime: 75 minutes approximately
as a part of New Work Festival at Culture Lab LIC
When: 7:30pm, Nov 19-21 & 3:00pm, Nov 22
Location: Culture Lab LIC, 5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101
(enter through the parking lot).
Content Advisory: This performance contains mature themes
and depictions of violence and may not be suitable for minors.
Please considera making a tax-deductible donation to
our fundraising campaign to help support the production!
CREATIVE TEAM
Artistic Director & Choreographer & Producer
Jiemin Yang
Photo by by Alice Chacon, Courtesy of Mare Nostrum Elements
Jiemin is a NY based dance artist and choreographer. His work has been supported by Culture Lab LIC’s Emergence Artist Residency (2026); the NYSCA Support for Artists grant (2026); the Simons Foundation & Gibney Open Interval Residency (2025–26); the CUNY Dance Initiative at Queens College (2020–22). His dance film Wo/我 received the Outstanding Dance Film Award at the Queens World Film Festival 2022. He was named an Artist of Exceptional Merit by the Asian American Arts Alliance (2022). He has presented works with Mare Nostrum Elements at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center and at many other venues across the city.
Lead Performer
Carl Ponce Cubero
Carl Ponce Cubero (they/siya) is a Filipinx American movement artist/creative based in New York City. They studied at the University of California, Irvine earning a BFA in Dance Performance and had the blessing to perform under the direction of the late Donald McKayle. They have performed with Ailey II and as a guest artist with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. They have also danced works by Aszure Barton, Lar Lubovitch, Andrea Miller, Jessica Lang, Rena Butler, and Omar Román De Jesús.
Lead Performer
Maya Lam
Maya Lam (she/they) is a New York-based Asian-American dancer and interdisciplinary artist. Maya graduated summa cum laude from Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Dance, a BA in Business, and a minor in Biology. Maya has worked with Sidra Bell, Jessica Lang, Jenn Freeman, and Yin Yue to name a few. She currently performs and tours with J CHEN Project, Chelsea Thedinga, and Aslin Projects among others and has danced professionally with Nimbus Dance Works, Ballet Nepantla and Periapsis Music and Dance.
Maya is a recipient of a City Artist Corps Grant, has been commissioned by The Kennedy Center, and was a Resident Artist with Moulin/Belle in France. She has worked administratively with GALLIM and McKoy Dance Project.
Dancer/Performer
Tsubasa Nishioka
Tsubasa Nishioka (he/him) is a New York-based dancer and choreographer from Japan. He trained at The Ailey School and has performed with companies including Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, H.T. Chen & Dancers, i KADA Contemporary Dance, and J CHEN PROJECT. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Feathers Dance Company.
Website https://feathersdancecompany.com
IG: @tsubasa_nishioka
Dancer/Performer
Chieh Hsiung
Chieh Hsiung is a Taiwanese dance artist, choreographer, educator, and performer based in New York City, and Co-Founder of Compound Playground. Her performance credits include Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey Theater, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, the US Open, and Bryant Park. She has worked across contemporary dance, theater, music, and live performance in Taiwan and the United States.
IG: @chieh___19
Dancer/Performer
Jacob Kurihara
Jacob Kurihara (he/him) is a New York based dance artist and a BFA Dance graduate from Hofstra University. He has performed with dance companies, such as Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Forces of Nature Dance Theater, and iKADA Dance Center. He has worked with choreographers such as Robin Becker, Jannis Brenner, Yoshito Sakuraba, and William Isaac.
IG: @jacob_kurihara
Dancer/Performer
Gabriel Sharp
Gabriel Sharp (he/they) is a NYC based dancer, choreographer, and photographer. Gabriel earned his BFA in dance from Ailey/Fordham and has performed alongside the Ailey company in Memoria at New York City Center. He has danced works by Hope Boykin, Paul Taylor, Ronald K Brown, and Tamisha Guy. He has performed with Lydia Johnson Dance, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, and Forza Dance Company. He loves capturing movement and stories on film and in photographs.
IG: @_gabe_sharp_
Dancer/Performer
TJ Warren
TJ Warren (he/him) was born and raised in Camden, SC, where he first developed a passion for dance. He is a recent graduate from the University of South Carolina, obtaining a B.A in Dance Performance and Choreography with a cognate in Education. He has been a company member in Unbound Dance Company located in Columbia, SC, under the direction of Caroline Lewis-Jones and Morgan Holton. As well as a dancer in Gaspard and Dancers throughout the 2025 season, based in Durham, NC. Warren aspires to continue spreading joy and conveying important messages through his movement and choreography.
Web: tjwarrenoffical.com
IG: @teejwarren4
Composer
Yen-Nien Hsu
Yen-Nien Hsu is a versatile NYC-based musician involved in musical theater as a composer, orchestrator/arranger, guitarist, and mixing engineer. She has worked on productions in both New York and Taiwan, including the award-winning Three Lost Kids. As a guitarist, she played in Bloom, the musical at She NYC Arts, the Loud And With Feeling concert at Parkside Lounge, and several showcases and concerts. Current musical projects: Vincent, the new musical, "Things Will Be Okay!" The song from Vincent has been selected as a finalist in the 2024 Write Out Loud Contest and also selected for the Spark Festival in 2024.
IG: @yennien_
Dramaturge & Song Writer
Truth Bachman
James Acampora is primarily a cellist, multi-instrumentalist, visual artist, and composer for film. His music has been featured in multiple films and web series, including the Huntington film festival where his score for “Breathe” won first prize. James studied with multiple classical teachers and theorists while in school and also studied architecture and design at New York Institute of Technology. James uses his well rounded experience in the arts to understand his audience and move those who listen. James is inspired by music ranging from Bach to Japanese folk music, fusion Jazz, R&B and classic rock. James has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Voelker Orth Heritage Museum, The Triad NYC, The NYC Subway, Central Park, The Greene Room, The Tilles Center, countless catering halls throughout NYC and Long Island, and is a frequent busker in NYC. James is an active session musician, scoring and performing music for video games, rock bands, singer-songwriters, and much more. In his spare time he enjoys graphic design and coding on his computer, as well as painting and drawing at different beautiful locations in NYC and Long Island.
Costume Designer
Hao-Yun Emily Hsieh
Hao-Yun Emily Hsieh is a Taiwanese multi-disciplinary artist with BFAs in Art and Design from YUAN-ZE University, and Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her recent works focus on the theater space exploring queer and Asian narratives. She has designed costumes for Little Cinema’s rendition of The Never Ending Story at House of Yes, and Tiananmen Requiem at The Players Theatre.
Costumer Designer
Zhang Yu
Zhang Yu
IG
Projection Design and Operation
Wenjun Chen
Wenjun Chen (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist working on new media,focusing on exploring the mixed relationship between real and virtual. His work involves the fields of self-identity, internet and technology, data and personal data. Born in China, he is currently based in New York City. He was a self-taught photographer and received an MFA from the Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice Program at the City College of New York.
IG: @wwenjunii
Website: https://chenwenjun.net/
Special Thanks
Heartfelt thanks to all my collaborators for their incredible creative contributions.
&
All individual supporters
&
Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li & Museum of Chinese America
& Counterpart for fiscal sponsorship
This piece was created during Culture Lab LIC’s 2026 New Works Lab and produced as a part of Culture Lab LIC’s New Works Festival. It is made possible, in part, with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a regrant program supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by the New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Make a donation
We need your support to make dance! I want to compensate my collaborators fairly and continue to create more projects inspired by the culture and people of Asian American diaspora. All donations will go toward rehearsal space rental, artists fees, and production expenses. Please consider supporting my creation! No gift is too small. You may make donation via the below methods: