Associate Professor Yu Pik-yim is a Senior Lecturer in Chinese Dance in the School of Dance at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Associate Professor Yu is an award-winning choreographer born in Hong Kong and teaches Chinese Folk Dance, Performance Lab, Individual Creative Project and Choreographic courses.  She is also Programme Leader of the Academy’s Undergraduate and Post-secondary Programmes.

Pik-yim graduated from the HKAPA and was awarded a scholarship to further her studies at the Beijing Dance Academy, majoring in Chinese Folk Dance.  In 1991, she was recruited by the Hong Kong Dance Company as a professional dancer.  In 2005, she received her Master’s degree in Creative Industry (Dance Teaching) from the Queensland University of Technology.

Pik-yim has won multiple awards for her works in Hong Kong and beyond.  In 2003, her dance piece Life? was awarded Class 2 Award for Originality and Performance at the 7th Taoli Cup Dance Competition in Chinese Mainland.  In 2004, Cohere won Gold Award for performance at the 2nd Bauhinia Cup Hong Kong Dance Championships; At the same event, Break Through received the Bauhinia Cup Four Seas Overall Championship, Gold Award for Originality and Sliver Award for Performance.  Thousand Lives got Grant Prize of the 4th Bauhinia Cup, Gold Award for Originality and Gold Award in 2008.  Once in the Secret Night received Grand Prize at the 4th Shenzhen Dance Competition (Choreography Category) in December 2006 and the Hong Kong Dance Alliance – Hong Kong Dance Award 2007.  Her works were recognised internationally as well.  The Besiegement received Characteristic 1st Award, and Cohere received 1st Award in Folk Category in the Barcelona Dance Award 2007 in Spain.  The Snow and Thousand Lives also received Grand Prix at the 2009 New Prague Dance Festival Competition, etc… More recently, her 2023 work Unleashed was shortlisted for the National Outstanding Projects in International Exchange and Cooperation Selection and Showcase for Vocational Colleges of Culture and Arts in Shenzhen.

Pik-yim's influence extends beyond her own choreography.  Beyond her creative repertoire, she is the Artistic Director of T&Y Creative Arts and a prominent collaborator across the cultural sector.  She collaborated with numerous local arts sectors as a guest choreographer, including the Hong Kong Dance Company, Actor’s Family, Fredric Mao Theatre, Hong Kong Disneyland, Spring-Time Experimental Theatre, the HKAPA's School of Drama and School of Chinese Opera, and Taiwan's Hsin Chu Dance School, etc… Parts of her recent international engagement include participating in the 2nd World Dance Drama Education Alliance in Marseille, France (2025) and serving as a choreographer at ArtsCross London in the UK (Summer 2026).  Locally, she contributes as an Examiner for the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, an adjudicator for dance contests for many years, and most recently as a symposium conductor at the HK Bauhinia International Dance Grand Prix 2026.