The UW–Madison School of Education offers academic excellence in areas spanning the arts, health, and education. We are a proud community of innovative leaders, creative thinkers, and fearless trailblazers. Our talented students are committed to making their college experience a meaningful journey that aligns with their interests and helps them achieve their future goals.
Following is a Q&A with Pa Ying Gia Thao, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Dance with a certificate in Pilates Instruction and graduating in 2027.
Where are you from and how did you become interested in pursuing a degree in this field? I grew up in the small town of Weston, Wisconsin. It wasn’t until I was 14 that I discovered my love for dance! I joined a breaking club called Break United that was part of the Boys and Girls Club held after school. Although I could never afford to be in studio dance or take dance classes, I enjoyed being part of a community helping each other learn how to dance. Essentially, this was the start of my dance career.
Two years after I joined Break United, the club was officially disbanded due to the lack of members and no teacher — thus began my self-taught dance journey. Even though my friend and I were the last two dancing in Weston, Wisconsin, we continued to keep our passion for dance going. I learned to teach myself breaking and gained more knowledge about breaking whether it be from battling, jams, or the internet. Meeting new people and coming together with the culture of hip hop helped me see the world of dance. During my senior year of high school, I thought that it would be foolish to pursue a degree in dance. This ended with me taking a gap year.
During my gap year I worked at a cheese factory which ultimately made me realize I could not do a day-to-day job and dance on the side. I realized that if I wanted to grow as a dancer and as a person, I needed to change. From that point on, I realized that the role of dance in my life will always be constantly changing but my love for the movement and what it brings me will never change. As a current junior in college, I’ve realized that dance allows me to explore everything I love about living. It helps me meet new people, (engage with) new communities and new explorations, create choreography, make screendances and short films, and help people. Pursuing this degree was the best decision I’ve made in my life to help inspire people and help them in the pursuit of art.
How did you decide that you wanted to become at UW–Madison Badger? When it came to looking for colleges that involved dance and have a strong student life, I immediately knew I wanted to become a Badger. Even before deciding to go to college for dance, I’ve known that I wanted to go to Madison since middle school. We had a program in my town called EIP, which allowed us to go on field trips for college tours. Of all the schools that I went to on tour, UW–Madison was the only school I saw myself going to realistically. Going to a school that allowed me to be free in my identity and explore more cultures was something I wanted to experience and be able to share with others. I wanted to meet different people and create new perspectives in the world and I believe UW–Madison helped me experience that.
Choosing UW–Madison helped me learn more about myself and what dance has taught me in order to create the person I am today. I am thankful for my decision to come to UW and what it’s brought me. I’m honored to receive the Bucky’s Tuition Promise and the Dean Excellence’s Scholarship to financially help and support me in pursuing my degree. These scholarships have changed my life. I did not think that I would be able to afford going to UW and would have to drop out of college because of the financial burden. However, the Bucky’s Tuition Promise and Dean Excellence’s Scholarship provided me with the chance to keep attending college.
What has been your most meaningful experience with the Dance program? As cliche as it sounds, every part of the Dance program has been a meaningful experience to me. I’m super grateful for the experiences that I have gained. I cherish the community that has been established within the program and how we all look after one another. Growing up dancing by myself for most of the time and teaching myself how to dance for five years, I feel that I can honor the space that is provided for me in the Dance program with others who share the same love. I’m surrounded by people that I value and can smile with everyday. The most meaningful experience that I have with the Dance program is sharing my passion and spending my days laughing with my peers and the faculty. It’s as simple as that.
What class or professor has had the greatest impact on you, and why? I have to honor and appreciate all of the faculty for their work. Not only are they teachers or professors to us students, but they are a guide to what our future will be. Yes they provide us with movement material in classes and the history of dance, but it becomes more than that. Anna Peretz Rogovoy is an example of someone who is part of the Dance faculty and has shown me more to the life of dance. She has had the greatest impact on me by providing me guidance to appreciate and balance the life of being a human and being a dancer. Although I’ve come to learn more about dance at UW, I believe that we can forget we are human beings who are just doing things that we love. Through times of the difficult balance of being a dancer and my life outside of dance, Rogovoy has given me empathy, patience, inspiration, and respect as a student. I think we shouldn’t forget those who’ve helped us beyond just our career. I am dancing with love today because of the love and support of Anna Peretz Rogovoy.
Another Dance faculty member that I appreciate and honor is Omari Carter. Carter has brought new perspectives I did not know existed in the dance world. Carter has helped prove to me that love and passion will be true if you stay true. Carter is truly an inspiration to me and is always introducing me and helping me learn more about my dance career and beyond. As Carter always reassures me, “If something goes wrong, and there’s something you can do about it, you don’t have to worry, if there isn’t something you can’t do about it, you don’t have to worry about it.”
What are your future goals or plans? I would say that I have a very simple future goal or plan: just keep dancing, spreading love, and helping people. At the end of the day, oddly enough, I try not to have future goals and plans — although, there are obvious future goals such as wanting to become a professional competitive breaker and professional dancer/choreographer and making screendances. For myself, I try to focus on what I can do right now because it’s the moment I want to cherish. I believe we can hope for all the things we can for our future but we hold onto it so much that we sometimes forget about what is happening at our current moment. I want to do everything I can right now so I can keep continuing what I love to do, which is dancing, spreading love, and helping people.
Do you have any tips for students thinking about how to maximize their experience? My one tip is to always experiment and to stay curious. College, in the beginning, forces you to find some sort of comfort in things, whether it be friends, your degree and its program, clubs, classes, etc. Although it is good to find comfort in things we enjoy, our life is constantly changing. I believe that in our comfort, we should still take every opportunity that we can get. If something is a scary decision to do, that means that you should go for it! Take the risk!
Have you participated in any internship/work experience, research, or study abroad program? What did you participate in and could you talk a bit more about those experiences? My first internship was at Barrio Dance. Throughout my time there, I was able to experience working front desk and videography in exchange for dance classes. I was able to meet a new community and find out more about filming dances and editing videos. I’m grateful that I was able to experience this because it allowed me to learn more about how to film dancers and edit videos. I was able to meet so many great people that have helped me gain a new perspective with dance.
I am currently working with UW Dance Exchange (UWDE), which is run by Dance faculty member Chell Parkins. I’ve been in this program since March 2025. UW Dance Exchange helps university students teach dance in public schools. UWDE’s goal is to help put more dance into public schools and promote culture and identity. By giving more exposure to different cultures of dance, UWDE hopes to provide fun learning experiences for students!
I am also currently working under Dance faculty member Li Chiao-Ping as an Art Administrative Assistant. This means helping write grants, creating a summer dance intensive such as SEED 2025, creating programs for shows, updating websites, etc. Through this opportunity and experience, it’s taught me about the life of a dancer after college: the amount of work that is put into your career in order to keep creating art. It’s admirable to see the work and effort of someone’s passion be brought to communities not only in Madison, but throughout the world. It’s an honor for me to be part of Li Chiao-Ping’s team.
I was also granted the opportunity to be a judge for the 2025 Hmong Wausau New Year. This opportunity allowed me to be a judge for the second day of the 2025 Hmong Wausau New Year, for the Non-Hmong Dance category. I critiqued dancers and gave helpful feedback as they performed on stage. Giving helpful feedback in a precise manner allows dancers to reflect on themselves to improve not only technique, but their artistry as well. It was also inspiring to see so many dances that will help me with my choreography in the future.
Lastly, I am currently working for the Isthmus Dance Collective for their performance, D.E.L.V.E. 2026, and am excited to work with dancers in the Madison community! I’ve also worked with Isthmus Dance Collective in the past with the Shifting Gears Bike Path Festival in 2025, for which I submitted choreographed work that was featured in the Cap Times.
Anything else that’s important to you about yourself or your studies or anything else? As someone who grew up as a self-taught dancer, has little financial support, took a gap year, is a first-generation Hmong American, and a lesbian, all these parts of my identity have helped me get to where I am. While sometimes I’ve suppressed these parts in shame, it’s taken a learning process to accept myself and that is still ongoing. I truly don’t think I’d be where I am, surrounded by people who support me in who I am, if I didn’t accept myself. I want to say that no matter what part of yourself you identify with, we don’t always need to fix ourselves — we just need to listen to ourselves.