Grace LEONG Yit Ming

Grace Leong is a Singapore-based multi-disciplinary artist-educator, exploring Southeast Asian identity through performance. Trained in dance and theatre contemporary performance practices, her works investigate tradition, embodiment, and authenticity. She has directed acclaimed productions, presented internationally, and published on movement pedagogy, collaborating with institutions like George Town Festival, Paper Monkey Theatre, and Noise Performance House.

Education background:

  • Master of Arts in Contemporary Performance Practices,
    Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education （PGDHE),
    Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education, Singapore
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance （Ballet Pedagogy),
    School of Dance, University of Oklahoma, USA
Research Interests/
Primary Fields

Performative body in Southeast Asia; Actor Training; Body and Movement; Contemporary Performance Practices.
Dissertation Topic/Title Seeking truth in the performer’s body to align body-mind-emotion in relation to performative movement in Southeast Asia
Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor Liang Pei Lin
Recent Presentations

1. Southeast Asian Arts Forum 2025: Chronotope Lab as Living Archive- Creating A Space to Build Community in the Arts

2. ADPRex 2025 Double-Bill Book Launch: Signature Pedagogies for Professions in Arts and Design
Publications
  • Leong, Grace Yit Ming. "Articulating Theatre Students’ Conceptions of Movement in Body-Time-Space Through Video-Based Peer Critique." In Teaching and Learning the Arts in Higher Education with Technology: Vignettes from Practice, pp. 17-30. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2022.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4903-5_2

  • Leong, Grace YM, and Christopher SG Khoo. "Performative Movement in Actor’s Training: Seeking Truth in the Body to Build Trust." In Signature Pedagogies for Professions in Arts and Design: Issues, Methods, Contexts, and Practices, pp. 187-205. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2025.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-2616-8_12
Modules Taught Ballet Level I,II,III; Dance Appreciation; Physical Theatre; Movement 4 (Asian Forms); Dance and Cultures; Interdisciplinary Lab; Artist as Futurist; Documentary Studies: SEA Puppetry
Practice
  • Contemporary Performance Practices: Directing
  • Choreographing, Teaching
Other Experience and Information Award and Nomination:

  • 1st place (Group-contemporary), New Prague Dance Competition, Czech. 2008
  • “Macbeth in Nanyang Spirit” received a Special Prize from The Shakespeare Association of Mongolia 2015
  • “Duo Duo 3” nominated for Best Director at 15th ADA Drama Awards 2018.
  • "My Ugly Duckling," received 14 nominations including Best Director at 20th ADA Drama Awards in 2024.

Teaching Experience:

  • 2000-2025 Senior Lecturer at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of Arts Singapore.

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