NYC Southeast Asian Festival 2025

Grateful for the chance to compose the keynote for the From Sea to SEA: NYC Southeast Asian Festival 2025. Combining fashion, dance, and storytelling, this was such a fun collaboration with @lexyniso @sagacity_256 and @coleenintheclouds.

The show focused on cities that were influential to Lexy and Sage, the main designers. As they told me the stories of the cities that shaped them most -- San Juan, Saigon, and NYC -- I was drawn to the themes of past and present that came out of Lexy and Sage. We all come from immigrant backgrounds, and we bonded over the ironic sense of both home and distance that came from the cities they chose.

To reflect this, I focused the score on themes of past and present. Each part of the show opened up with a narration by Lexy, followed by a dance from the model. The opening stories feature music that reflect older forms of music from these cities, whereas the dances feature more contemporary music from the respective city.