In Partnership with Out Innerspace
Summer Studio Artist Residency 2025
Artist in Residence
JL² | Juolin Lee & Jia Yi (Judy) Luo
In residence Summer 2025 at Q7
Meet JL²
JL² is comprised of Juolin Lee, a Taiwanese-Canadian dancer and creator based in Vancouver, and Jia Yi (Judy) Luo, a Chinese-Canadian dancer and educator based out of Toronto. This creative kinship began over a fluffy pancake brunch and conversations of parallel experiences: stories of split childhoods between Canada and Asia, formal dance training, and inquiries around shifting dreams and aspirations. Bridged by mutual friend Kelsi James and Dreamwalker Dance Company, the duo holds reverence for friendship and community.
With a desire to weave “work” and “life” together, they continue to ask questions around honour, revitalization and embodied transformation. JL² is an ongoing exploration of movement as a language for connection and becoming of self within community.
Photos by Toronto Dance Theatre, Plug-N-Play Residency
About the work
“JL²: Formation” is the research and development of a collective dance practice between its members, Juolin Lee and Jia Yi (Judy) Luo. Building on their inaugural meeting “JL²: Exchange,” which unfolded January 2025 in Toronto The duo are excited to continue to explore their relationship, and formation through the week-long New Works, Summer Artists in Residency in Vancouver!
This project looks at witnessing each other with rigorous focus and compassion. As artists shaped by hybrid identities, JL² explores how cultural upbringing, physical training, and geographic location influence the body’s expression. Through improvisation, “interviews,” and generated movement phrases, they trade puzzle pieces of their embodied influences and observe their habits and patterns. Lead by curiosity, they approach this residency with desires to expand their understanding of self, relationality, and the transformative possibilities of togetherness.
Credits for the residency
JL² expresses their gratitude towards Dreamwalker Dance Company and Andrea Nann who have continuously supported their development.
Among a competitive pool of applications, JL² was awarded residency space at New Works within the 2025-26 season. New Works strives to build process-focused artist-lead residency space that is responsive to the creative’s need.
A New Works residency is a safe space for creative risk taking.
This creation studio residency at Q7 is in partnership with Out Innerspace.
