Bio

Kim was raised in Perth within a family of reclusive visual artists, writers, antique dealers, and rare book sellers. Kim started classical ballet training at age seven, and later a pastry chef apprenticeship while still a student at Hollywood Senior High School. By age sixteen, Kim set her mind on a dance career, and so took up an offer of full-time dance training at The Australian Ballet School, Melbourne. After graduating from the ABS, Kim returned to Perth after accepting a fulltime dance contract with West Australian Ballet. Under the Artistic Directorship of Barry Moreland, Kim danced numerous soloist roles locally, nationally, and internationally, including a leading role in Moreland’s world premiere of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

After a few years with WAB, Kim headed east to perform two seasons with Sydney Dance Company, then under the guidance of Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon. While in Sydney, Kim also completed an accredited Personal Training course, which she used in combination with her dance training to provide Fitness and Movement Coaching for gyms and performing arts companies located in Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne. After her stint with SDC, Kim moved to and travelled around Europe, eventually accepting a contract with Bern Ballet, where she performed lead roles in the world premieres of Francois Klaus’ Peer Gynt and Sacre du Printemps.

As Kim’s dance career progressed, she developed a strong interest in theatre production, recognising a new framework to explore her creative and technical skills. Kim first started her involvement in theatre technical work while dancing with WAB, usually when company technicians required additional Mechanist assistance in regional venues. This role allowed Kim to gain hands-on experience in technical production, which she later applied at venues such as His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, the Sydney Opera House, and the State Theatre in Melbourne.

Kim (again) returned to Perth to take up another dance contract with WAB for a few more years, this time noting how regularly the company encountered natural disasters while on international tours, including typhoons, earthquakes, and even performing in Manila at the time of the tragic 1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo.

Following her retirement from dance and theatre production, Kim pursued new platforms to create and deliver stories and insights, which led her to attain an honours degree in Communications with a focus on film, television, and social sciences. Her academic experience led to her next roles as Science Writer for an online science magazine and as a Dance Writer for The West Australian, where she applied her artistic background and storytelling skills.

Building on her experience in journalism, Kim moved to Sydney to take on roles that helped establish her editorial and research skills, first as a News Librarian and later advancing to Broadcast Editorial Researcher and Coordinator with TEN News. While at TEN News, Kim worked on domestic and international news and documentary specials with journalists including George Negus, Hamish MacDonald, and Sandra Sully.

Following her time in broadcast news, Kim shifted her focus to supporting arts and non-profit organisations through grant and tender writing. This new direction allowed her to draw upon her experience working in the arts sector and her communications expertise, helping secure crucial funding for creative and community-focused projects.

Continuing her curiosity for blending art and immersive storytelling, Kim co-produced BitLit: Poetry Machine Corner, an art-science installation, with Lauren Amos for the 2019 Perth Fringe World Festival. The pair again teamed up for Perth Fringe 2020 and produced another machine learning arts exhibition, GANify: Funhouse Mirror Machine. Kim currently works as a freelance writer, and has more recently created articles for, among others, Seesaw Magazine and ArtsHub (portfolio).

A few years ago, Kim was awarded an arts residency with Centre for Stories, to help in the process of writing a creative nonfiction memoir that explores the themes of art, family, and identity, and the inherent complexities of growing up transgender and navigating the world of professional ballet. The insights acquired during the residency have proved to be extremely valuable, but the book has since been slow going due to other factors also explored in the book. It is in this context that Kim continues to focus on the book’s themes in her ongoing writing and creative projects, while making progress on the creative nonfiction memoir itself.