Meet Annika Wong | Artist & Dancer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Annika Wong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Annika, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
From a very young age, pursuing an artistic career was the only direction I saw my life taking. It all began with my love for dance, and as I got older I discovered other artistic mediums of expression, primarily music, writing and film. It was just what I naturally gravitated towards. There was never any question about whether I wanted to pursue it, it was always what I wanted to happen. Through my formative years I knew that if I really tried, I could have a voice in the arts – so when I came to New York at 18, and fell into my community here, I never looked back. New York was that thing that pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In my art, I want to tell stories – through dance, film, theatre, music, writing and all of the above. Stories of the humans I walk past everyday, stories of my culture and my lineage, of womanhood and the human condition; to give breath to the sweet sorrow that I feel in my life, to give breath to human connectivity. I notice a stark difference in the commercial/theatre and contemporary dance/music/art worlds here in New York, and I am interested in finding a way to bridge that gap. I am interested in immersive work and in film – finding a way to combine a rich cinematic world with colorful theatrical/immersive elements, and using old and new world aesthetics to create something meaningful. Everything has come with challenges. But choosing to be an artist means believing that sacrifices will pay off in the long run. It is a long term investment that will often not come with instant gratification. But there has to be the belief that you are doing something important – there has to be the trust that things will come in time, with patience and a lot of hard work.
When I was 13, I had to receive a major back surgery to correct my severe scoliosis. This event, while preventing me from dancing the same ever again, also served as the catalyst for the major shift in how I viewed my body – from my once capable dancing body, to my new, post-surgery body that lost a lot of mobility and flexibility. Going through something that affected my body like this was traumatic, but I attribute that experience to a lot of what I gained in determination, and I’m sure it’s one of the reasons why I am the artist I am today. In my pursuit of movement and art-making, I want people to know that, even if we aren’t able to go back to how things were (in my case, my pre-surgery body), there’s always a way to move forward into something different, and perhaps better.
And while being an artist is not a profession that rids the world of disease, for me, it is something that turns our faces to the softer side of a life, and concurrently the painful side of life… It helps us find a way to move through our complex, nuanced emotions and feelings, and somehow turn them into something worth experiencing. And we all keep coming back for more. My pursuit of the artistic path has lead me to seeing my whole life as a balanced composition of waxing and waning, of giving and receiving, of love and fear, of joy and heartbreak, of all the grey areas that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Art is what saved me. And so to art and art-makers I am forever indebted.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are too many fun things to do and great eats and drinks in the city. Like, it really just depends on the vibe of the night. Are you feeling like an LES night of happy hour sushi, Flower Shop and pool? Koreatown for Karaoke? My neighborhood (Bushwick) for a natural wine bar and tacos after? Flushing for Hot Pot? Williamsburg for cocktail bar with a view of the city? Chinatown for dumplings? Almost anywhere for pizza? It’s all about just picking a neighborhood and going from there. We would for sure try some of my favorite coffee places in the city, like Cafe Integral and Sey Coffee, bike to Greenpoint and sit by the water, probably bike over the bridge and back. For sure go shopping, maybe hit a museum or two, watch a comedy show, watch live jazz and social dance at Backroom or any other speakeasy, have a dinner party at my apartment, and definitely go to some of my favorite bars in my neighborhood until the wee hours of the morning.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family, friends and community of loved ones, near and far, have been and continue to be my most crucial support system. It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a village to raise a creative career. The people I am lucky enough to have in my community are who I am indebted to.

Instagram: @annikatofu

Image Credits
Kuoheng Huang, Samantha Cheng, Anneliese Wong