Bradford Chin

San Francisco native Bradford Chin (he/they/Bradford) is a Chicago- and San Francisco-based disabled dance artist & methodologist, accessibility cultural strategist, and artistic audio describer. Their personhood and artistry are shaped by a love for chosen family (both blood-related and not) and their deep familial roots in San Francisco. He comes from a family of artist-activists and creatives including the late photographer Benjamen Chinn, LGBTQIA+ artist-activist Lenore Chinn, National Book Award Finalist author Traci Chee, an architect father, a piano-playing and tap dancing mother, and many others. Additionally shaped by the golden age of MySpace and Tumblr, Bradford enjoys Cantonese Chinese cooking and TV/film media that highlights queer, Asian American, and/or disabled experiences.

In their work, Bradford uses choreographic process to explore disability as a generative lived experience and what disability can teach us about our practices, aesthetics, and culture. His work is informed by an emphasis on community-engaged artistic practice as a means of preserving and sharing our community histories toward a more connected future. Specializing in disability dance, Disability Justice-informed critically inclusive dance pedagogy, and creative process and aesthetics, Bradford has taught contemporary modern, ballet, and improvisation and/as composition techniques across the United States and internationally. Their artistic lineage includes Laurel Jenkins (Trisha Brown), Lorin Johnson (American Ballet Theatre), Gracie Whyte (WHYTEBERG/Ground Grooves), and Sophie Monat (Lille Opera Ballet) among many other accomplished and inspiring artist-educators.

Bradford earned a BFA in Dance from California State University, Long Beach, an MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, and a Certificate in Social Justice and Diversity from City College of San Francisco. His work has received support from entities including the California Arts Council, The Actors Fund, Arts Council for Long Beach, the UCI Division for Teaching Excellence and Innovation, and the UCI Center for Medical Humanities, among others. He was formerly a research consultant with Dance Data Project, two-year artist in residence with High Concept Labs (Chicago, IL), and company member with AXIS Dance Company (Berkeley, CA), one of the world’s leading ensembles of disabled and nondisabled dancers. Bradford is grateful and proud to be an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Education

• MFA Dance, University of California, Irvine, 2023
• BFA Dance, California State University, Long Beach, 2017

Selected Awards and Honors

• Distinguished Visiting Practitioner, College of the Holy Cross, 2026
• Fellow Artist in Residence, High Concept Labs (Chicago, IL), 2025
• Artist in Residence, High Concept Labs (Chicago, IL), 2024
• Choreo Lab Fellow, Rutgers University-Mason Gross School of the Arts Integrated Dance Collaboratory (declined), 2024
• Graduate Pedagogical Fellow, University of California, Irvine Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation, 2022
• Individual Artist Fellowship, California Arts Council, 2021

Selected Affiliations and Memberships

• National Dance Education Organization (Advisory Council, 2022-present; Presidential Service Award)
• Dance Studies Association
• California Dance Education Association