Jas Lin, ’17

Jas Lin (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist who graduated magna cum laude from UCLA in 2017 with a B.A. in Communications Studies. Upon graduating, they studied at Jiaotong University in Shanghai and led the Events & Education Department at MoCA Shanghai as a UCLA Confucius Institute China Arts Postgraduate Fellow. Jas is now an internationally working performance artist, choreographer, and movement facilitator based in Los Angeles.
While at UCLA, Jas took on a number of leadership roles for UCLA Recreation, the Undergraduate Communication Association, The Daily Bruin, Prime Magazine, and UCLA Radio. They also directed and choreographed for ACA Hip Hop, a competitive dance team that performed at Spring Sing annually while Jasmine was at UCLA. In 2015, Jas received the Global Community Scholarship from the UCLA International Education Office to participate in the UCEAP Paris French Language and Culture Program. The following year, they were selected by the UCLA Center for Korean Studies for the Korea University International Summer Campus Fellowship. Jas completed their senior year abroad in London as a Media & Cultural Studies exchange student at University of Arts London, London College of Communication.

Jas’ artistic practice is a life-long process of un-learning and un-teaching hierarchical, Othering, and superficial ways of moving, being, sensing, and knowing. They are invested in the possibilities of socially engaged dance and accessible movement intersecting with sustainable activism and community-building. Jas’s choreographies, films, workshops, and lectures have been shared around the world, including at Danshallerne Copenhagen, MOCA Los Angeles, Power Station of Art Shanghai, the V&A Museum, Kassel Dokfest, SXSW, NOWNESS ASIA, and 4:3 Boiler Room. Their first solo exhibition, Schindler House Haunting, was presented by the MAK Center for Art + Architecture in 2022, an immersive performance shattering notions of useful domestic space partitioning interior and exterior, self and Other. In 2022, Lin choreographed their first world tour, a 22-song set for Mitski’s Laurel Hell Tour (featured in the New York Times and i-D magazine), and has also movement directed live performances for Melanie Martinez, Phoebe Bridgers, and SASAMI.

Years after graduating, the Norma J. Ehrlich Scholarship continues to gift Jasmine a consistently inspiring and caring community. Jasmine is immensely grateful for Craig’s generosity and commitment.