Carmen Yih

Carmen’s practice skates along the boundaries of hybrid dance-theatre, telling urgent stories that draw on forgotten histories and marginalised voices. In her theatrical work, Carmen uses movement scores and structures influenced by non-Western narrative world-building, immersive theatre, and street and club dance forms.

Carmen’s major works include: M_N (2024) at Bowery Theatre, tackling toxic masculinity’s impact on youth mental health through street dance-theatre, Texture of Absence (2025) at Platform Arts Geelong – a quiet ode to the complex experience of ageing and loss, and ‘to disappoint a god.’ (2025) at Melbourne Fringe (in-development).

She has been selected for Stephanie Lake’s ESCALADOR, as one of five up-and-coming choreographic voices and will develop I.E.T (Idol for the End of Times) for the program. Carmen is the recipient of the Abbotsford Convent Maggie Maguire Residency 2025-26. Beyond her major projects, she has created and presented various site-specific, video and community-based works including ‘REGENESIS’ (Club Alt, Bluestone Church Arts Space), ‘Home’ (Union House Theatre), ‘SWARM’ (Science Gallery Melbourne), ‘Empty Your Plate’ (Bunjil Place, Sharp Short Dance, Blackbird Protostars), and Holding Absence (Geelong Arts Centre – in-development).

Carmen is the founder of Space Generate — an interdisciplinary freestyle jam session facilitating storytelling through art, bringing together musicians, dancers, and writers in a mixed-medium conversation. Interested in street and club dance forms, she also practices the 1970s LA gay club dance form of Punking/Whacking and the 2000s South Central street dance form of Krump.