Rohan Zhou-Lee is an international award-winning Black Asian dancer, trumpeter, writer, and public speaker, with publications, performances, and presentations delivered in The United States, Canada, Switzerland, and Japan.
In 2020, they founded the Blasian March, an award-winning Black-Asian-Blasian solidarity organization through art, education, and activation.
In 2024, they co-curated the Critical Connections exhibit with the Pace University Art Gallery and the George Stephanopoulos photo collection of the Civil Rights Era. In 2023, they became the first mixed race Black Asian admitted to the Open City Fellowship for Journalism at the Asian American Writers' Workshop. They have written for Newsweek, Hyperallergic, Truthout, and more. They have performed poetry and dance as a reflection of their activism in the United States and the 2022 Unite Festival in Zürich, Switzerland. Spotlight features include CNN, NBC Chicago, USA Today, WNYC, AJ+, and more.
Zhou-Lee has spoken at Harvard University, New York University, Yale University, Oberlin College, The University of Tokyo, the 2022 Unite and Enough Festivals in Zürich, Switzerland, and more.
As a performing artist, major credits include: Julius Eastman’s Joy Boy on trumpet (ChamberQUEER, 2021,) and for dance: Lovecraft Country (HBO, 2018) François & The Rebels (Public Theatre, 2023,) Over Here! (Triad Theatre, Off-Broadway debut, 2019) West Side Story (New Bedford Theatre Festival, 2018) and Bluebird from Sleeping Beauty (Victoria Ballet Theatre, 2019.)
Zhou-Lee holds a Bachelor of the Arts in Ethnomusicology from Northwestern University. Pronouns: They | Siya | 祂 | Elle, gender identity: Firebird.
Pronouns: They | Siya | 祂(Tā) | Elle. Gender: Firebird
Rohan Zhou-Lee standing on a rock facing a cloudy sky and river. Siya wears a blue malong tube skirt to celebrate their Filipinx heritage. Photo Credit Stas Ginzburg.
Awards and Fellowships
2026 Camille A. Brown & Dancers Mentorship
2025-2026 BIPOC Critics Lab Fellowship at The Public Theater
2025 Ground Beneath Our Feet Fellowship at Pace University
2024 At Capacity Fellowship, Movement Research Artists of Color Council
2024 PEN America U.S. Writers’ Aid Initiative Grant
2024 Asian Women’s Giving Circle Grantee
2024 What Can We Do? Grant from Asian American Arts Alliance
2023 FIYAH Rest Grant
2023 Open City Fellow at The Asian American Writers' Workshop
2023 NAFCON Community Forum Awards Recipient
2023 New Yorkers for Culture and Arts Fellow
2022 City of New York Public Advocate Certificate for Blasian March
2022 Bandung Residency