VERENA LEE

Dance

Verena Lee (she/her) is a dancer, musician, stage manager, and theater electrician from the Bay Area. She received her B.A. in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley in 2024 and recently relocated to New York.

Her mother had spent a significant amount of time in Indonesia as a child and passed down stories of her time there. Around the pandemic Verena became interested in learning more about Indonesian and Balinese culture and it just so happened that UC Berkeley had a Balinese gamelan class. From there, she joined Gamelan Sekar Jaya in 2022 where she continued learning gamelan, started studying Balinese dance, and fell in love with the Balinese Arts community. Her first Balinese dance teacher, Shoko Yamamuro had a connection to Dharma Swara, so after moving to New York, she wanted to continue studying Balinese dance with Dharma Swara’s dance ensemble.

Coming from a family of professional musicians, Verena grew up singing and playing violin, viola and piano. Verena’s movement practice has been informed by her studies in modern and contemporary dance, Chinese lion dance, and vertical dance. She has also trained in martial arts with Cal Wushu and Berkeley Taekwondo. In her personal projects, her interests lie in exploring the intersection between modern/contemporary dance, music, and martial arts.

Photo: Cassie Dietrich