Student Spotlight: Tzong-Han Wu

El Camino College graduate Tzong-Han Wu plans to transfer to California Institute of the Arts as a dance major this fall, but first — a command performance on the East Coast awaits.

Wu's original choreographic work "Prosecutor On That Finger" is one of six pieces selected to be presented on Aug. 22 during the Inside/Out Series at the world-renowned Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts. Her piece was the only one from a two-year college chosen from among 624 dances from American College Dance Association regional conferences across the United States to participate in the festival at Jacob's Pillow, which is known as "the dance center of the nation" and is a National Historic Landmark.

"The name 'Jacob's Pillow' had been just a name that appeared in my dance textbooks since I was little," said Wu, a lifelong dancer and 2019 ECC grad. "Now I'm going there; it's such a dream being able to present my work at the great Jacob's Pillow. I appreciate everyone who is involved in this project."

Danced by fellow ECC students Sunwoo Hong, Daniel Morales, and Son Lam Nguyen, "Prosecutor On That Finger" is all about decisions. Wu wants audiences to think about choice.

"As we're living in an era of information explosion and freedom, what should we choose?" she said. "We must trust and completely understand our choice and our voice."

Being a part of the ECC dance program has made a difference to Wu's growth academically and as a dancer.

"Studying in the ECC Dance Department has not only turned me into a better student, a better dancer, and a better choreographer, but also turned me into a better person," she said. "All of the faculty I've met in the dance department are extremely thoughtful, understanding, and are filled with humanity. How much I've learned as an artist and as a human over the past two years at ECC is beyond my imagination."