Featured Artist Interview | Karen Ng brings underground NYC Nightlife to the stage

Dance Mogul Magazine · From the Archive · Featured Artist

Karen Ng: Bringing Underground NYC Nightlife to the Stage

From one of New Zealand’s original hip-hop dance groups to dancing behind Jody Watley in New York, Karen Ng built her career on waacking, house and heels. Our 2016 Featured Artist interview, in full, with the culture behind it.

Originally published May 30, 2016 · Updated November 12, 2026 · Dance Mogul Magazine

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At a Glance The Interview Waacking Timeline Where Now FAQ

Dancer and choreographer Karen Ng in a white fur coat — Karen Ng, New York, 2016. From DMM’s original Featured Artist interview.

File // At a Glance

Name — Karen Ng

Roots — Born in Hong Kong, raised in New Zealand; based in Brooklyn, New York, in 2016

Styles — Waacking, house, hip-hop, stiletto heels, burlesque

New Zealand work — Triple8Funk, Soul in Motion and All Aboard Burlesque; co-created Waack It Out, New Zealand’s first waacking battle

Big moment — Danced with Princess Lockerooo as backup for Jody Watley

Dream (2016) — A “Chorus Line” for underground nightlife dancers

1st

Waacking battle in New Zealand, which she co-created

125

Years the NY Botanical Garden was marking in 2016

Mentors she named: Lockerooo, Polanco, Cebo

Countries that shaped her dance

Why This Story Still Matters

Waacking was born in the clubs of 1970s Los Angeles and nearly disappeared before a new generation brought it back. Karen Ng is part of that generation. She came to New York from New Zealand, trained with the people preserving the dance, and then did something harder: she used it to make new work for the stage.

Her 2016 interview with Dance Mogul Magazine is about respect for lineage. She talks about dancing beside Jody Watley, a Soul Train dancer turned pop star, and about her “grandfather” in waacking, Tyrone Proctor. She also says something every studio dancer should hear: go out, party, feel the music, and stop looking at the mirror all the time.

The Interview: Karen Ng in Her Own Words

From the DMM Archive · May 30, 2016

Dancer, Choreographer Karen Ng has had a whirlwind of a time establishing herself here in New York City. A New Zealander at heart, with roots in one of the original hip hop dance groups, Triple8Funk, she has now set up in Brooklyn, NY and continues to work within street dance culture to lead and teach, and perform for some of the leading artists from the golden era of disco and soul that are still around today. We catch up with her and some of her upcoming projects.

Dance Mogul: Tell us about what you’ve been working on?

Karen Ng: I’ve been having a blast working both as a dancer and choreographer on a variety of projects. Choreographed a live performance for a Drag Pageant with Honey La Bronx (The Vegan Drag Queen), an all-Asian female music video produced by Diane Phelan (The King & I) and Rebecca Lee Lerman and performed with Princess Lockerooo for the Decade of Dance Gala at Dixon Place, and for Linda Kuo’s Dance Unlimited project. I’m really happy to be able to do both, and work with fellow artists I really respect and admire.

Dance Mogul: Tell us about some of your favorite performance experiences?

Karen Ng: Last year I got to perform with Princess Lockerooo as back up for Jody Watley – the original pop diva princess. I’d been listening to her music ever since I got into Waacking and to meet and perform with her was unbelievable. When you watch Jody Watley’s music videos you see where Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, and even Aaliyah got their influences from. She herself was a dancer on Soul Train at first, along with my ‘grandfather’ of Waacking, Tyrone Proctor so it was so special to be involved with a legend directly relevant to the style I do today. She was so gracious and beautiful too, was so incredible dancing next to her.

Portrait of Karen Ng in light and shadow — Karen Ng, 2016. From DMM’s original coverage.

Dance Mogul: What has been your favorite choreography experience?

Karen Ng: My favorite was having my choreography selected for the Ladies of Hip Hop Festival Showcase. I had created a piece merging Burlesque and Waacking with a 1940’s feel, to keep in check with the theme of the Golden Era of Radio for an arts event with Letter of Marque Theater and Gowanus Free Radio in Brooklyn. It was already done, so I thought I’d give LOHH a try. I was really surprised they chose it actually because it was a little out of the box, but I guess it worked out in the end. I was happy to be able to perform something I’d created, that had come from a very personal place of finding someone that you really want to be with, but realizing that you’re romanticizing a situation that isn’t going to change no matter how much you pine for them, they have their own battles to get through first.

Dance Mogul: What’s coming up next for you?

Karen Ng: I’m choreographing for the Mobile Monday’s dance celebration for The New York Botanical Garden’s 125th Anniversary. It’s the first time they’ll be having a dance party up there and Mobile Mondays is a great team preserving music and culture. I’m excited we’ll be presenting freestyle and choreography with some of the best dancers in the scene with a live vinyl set with DJ Misbehavior. There’ll also be a dance lesson by Jeff Selby teaching New Style Hustle and a big dance party after! I always think it’s important for studio dancers to go out and party, to just feel and not be looking at a mirror all the time! It’s all about the groove!

Karen Ng balancing on a New York fire hydrant — On the street in New York, 2016. From DMM’s original coverage.

Dance Mogul: Who are your biggest influences?

Karen Ng: Definitely in the past couple of years training in Waacking, Stiletto Heels and House – I’ve found that training in Waacking with Princess Lockerooo has helped me in so many ways, learning to listen to music deeply, learning about the history and culture behind the movement, and connecting to freestyle movement and club culture, and then coming back to using it in choreography. Danielle Polanco, for learning how to move properly in heels, and gracefully executing choreography in stilettos – it’s still something I’m working on but the simplest things can be the hardest! Another one of my favorites is Cebo, for House and Hip Hop. He’s one of the original cats from the club and battle scene that is teaching consistently in NYC, and moves with such fluidity but can teach freestyle and choreography without losing the original essence of what those dances are about.

Dance Mogul: What do you hope to achieve in the future?

Karen Ng: I want to keep learning and preserving the originality of street dance culture, but also utilizing it to explore and tell new stories onstage. My dream would be to use all of that to tell real dancers stories, using a more relevant language to my world music and dance. Like a Chorus Line, but for the underground nightlife dancers. I’d love to develop my own ensemble to produce dance theater that places the art of Hip Hop on stages as prestigious as The Met, The Kennedy Center and gives dancers the opportunity to tell their stories.

Find Karen online (as listed in 2016): karenngdance.com · Instagram @karenngdance · Facebook /karenngdance

Reproduced in full from Dance Mogul Magazine’s May 30, 2016 Featured Artist interview, with a formatting fix to the opening line.

I always think it’s important for studio dancers to go out and party, to just feel and not be looking at a mirror all the time! It’s all about the groove!

— Karen Ng to Dance Mogul Magazine, 2016

Waacking, Soul Train and the Lineage Karen Ng Honors

Waacking, first called punking, grew out of the LGBTQ club scene of 1970s Los Angeles, where dancers used dramatic arm work, poses and musicality to express themselves. Television carried it to the country through Soul Train. Karen Ng names two people from that line: Jody Watley, who danced on Soul Train before her music career, and Tyrone Proctor, the Soul Train dancer she calls her “grandfather” of waacking.

Her teacher in New York, Princess Lockerooo (Samara Cohen-O’Neal), has since become one of the style’s leading ambassadors. She is a Bessie Award-winning choreographer, and in 2022 she founded The Fabulous Waack Dancers, which Ailey describes as the first waacking company in the United States. The dancers Ng trained beside in 2016 helped build the scene that made that possible.

Ng’s own contribution started earlier, at home. Her organizer bio says she co-created Waack It Out with Jayshri Nand, New Zealand’s first waacking battle, and brought Byron Cox’s House Dance Project to Auckland. In a 2016 HuffPost profile she described being born in Hong Kong, moving to New Zealand at about four, and starting in ballet because it was the only class available.

Career Timeline

CULTURE = the scene · CAREER = the work · TEACHING = passing it on · DMM = our coverage

Childhood · CULTURE

Born in Hong Kong; her family moves to New Zealand when she is about four. She starts with ballet classes.

New Zealand · CAREER

Dances with Triple8Funk, one of the country’s original hip-hop dance groups, plus Soul in Motion and All Aboard Burlesque.

New Zealand · TEACHING

Co-creates Waack It Out with Jayshri Nand, New Zealand’s first waacking battle, and brings House Dance Project to Auckland.

2010s · TEACHING

Moves to New York and trains in waacking with Princess Lockerooo, heels with Danielle Polanco and house and hip-hop with Cebo.

2015 · CAREER

Performs with Princess Lockerooo as backup for Jody Watley.

2016 · CAREER

Her burlesque-waacking piece is selected for the Ladies of Hip Hop Festival showcase.

2016 · CAREER

HuffPost profiles her as an Asian female hip-hop dancer and choreographer, noting TV work on Good Morning America.

May 30, 2016 · DMM

Dance Mogul Magazine publishes this Featured Artist interview.

2016 · CAREER

Choreographs for Mobile Mondays’ dance celebration at The New York Botanical Garden’s 125th anniversary.

Where Is Karen Ng Now?

DMM could not find a verified public update on Karen Ng’s work after 2016, so we will not guess. Her goal in this interview was clear: build an ensemble that puts the stories of underground nightlife dancers on stages as prestigious as the Met and the Kennedy Center. If you are Karen, or you have danced in her work, we would love to tell the next chapter. Reach us through our contact page.

The movement she belonged to has grown. Waacking now has its own company, its own training program and international battles. That is the context for any new chapter she writes.

What the Next Generation Should Learn

1. Learn the history behind the steps. Ng credits waacking training for teaching her to listen deeply to music and to the culture behind the movement.

2. Leave the mirror sometimes. Clubs and freestyle teach a groove the studio cannot. Feel first, then bring it back to choreography.

3. Take the chance on your strange idea. Her burlesque-waacking piece with a 1940s radio feel was “a little out of the box” and still got selected.

4. Find teachers who protect the essence. She chose mentors who teach both freestyle and choreography without losing what the dances are about.

5. Build where you are. Before New York, she created New Zealand’s first waacking battle. You can start the scene you want to join.

Why It Matters to DMM

Dance Mogul Magazine has always covered the club and street dancers whose work keeps culture alive between the big stages. Karen Ng’s story is about honoring originators while creating something new, and about an immigrant artist finding a home through dance. That is self-empowerment through lived experience, which is what DMM is here to document.

More from DMM on dance culture and lineage: Brian “Footwork” Green and the House Dance Conference, Mr. Wiggles, the DMM Video Vault and The Legacy.

Karen Ng: Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Karen Ng?

Karen Ng is a dancer and choreographer born in Hong Kong and raised in New Zealand who built a career in New York in waacking, house, hip-hop and heels.

What is Triple8Funk?

Triple8Funk is a New Zealand dance group that DMM's 2016 interview describes as one of the country's original hip-hop dance groups; Karen Ng performed and produced work with it.

Who did Karen Ng perform with?

She danced with Princess Lockerooo as backup for Jody Watley, and performed at the Decade of Dance Gala at Dixon Place and in Linda Kuo's Dance Unlimited project.

What is waacking?

Waacking is a club dance from 1970s Los Angeles built on fast, expressive arm movement, posing and musicality. It spread through Soul Train and has seen a global revival.