In Conversation with Flora Li: Creative Director, Entrepreneur and Choreographer
- Emily Henman
- Aug 5
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 6
At 27 years old, Flora Li is the founder and managing director of XY STUDIO in London, a primarily dance-orientated space that is becoming increasingly more multi-purpose. She credits her love of dance to classes she took during her time at LSE, where she graduated in 2019 with a BSc in Geography with Economics. After graduating, Flora embarked on a 5-year full time Business Strategy & Analytics career in tech, living across Dublin and UK. Now, influenced by K-Pop and her enjoyment of “collaborating across cultures”, she works as a teacher, movement and performance director in addition to being an entrepreneur. We caught up with her in Holborn, home to her beloved studio, to hear about her experience working as a creative in London, and her ability to lead at such a young age.
What part did your degree, in addition to your background in corporate sales, play in influencing your role as founder/director of XY Studio?
I started treating dance seriously when I was in the LSE Dance Club and K-Pop society. I directed and performed dance shows until I realised “Oh, I actually want to do more of this when I'm working as well”. During COVID, which was my first year working, I found it to be the thing keeping me going in a really dark stage of life. It became my therapy. It was surprising how much I improved considering I didn’t take any in person classes. After the lockdown ended, I started funding my own dance classes alongside my corporate job.
What was it like moving to London at 14, having grown up across Beijing and Shanghai?
Coming here when I was 14, my English wasn't at an adequate level to understand the teachers or have a normal social life. Language and cultural barriers both played a part – I was quite a sociable person when I was in China but I turned into an introvert. I continuously worked hard to make the language work, trying to socialise and picking up hobbies so I could make new friends. It was maybe the most difficult two years of my life at that point, but I grew so much from the experience and became a more resilient person by the age of sixteen.
What prompted the shift from a corporate role to a more creative career?
Between 2021-2024, I was trying to progress on the corporate ladder and stay creative, which led to a burnout on both ends. I couldn’t give myself fully to either which resulted in a lack of sleep, not enough time to see my friends and family, nor have time for myself. So, after I parted ways with corporate, I chose to pursue my creative career full time.
What does your usual daily routine look like?
Apart from the studio, I'm a freelance movement director and model for TV, film and music videos. I have also just set up a new photography studio inside the dance studio – to bring different peoples’ visions to life. My day can be very different depending on what job aspect I need to do. A typical day could be completing administrative work for the studio, then going to a casting or creating a self-tape for a job. In the evenings we typically have dance classes, so I'll be there at the studio teaching or training myself.
Any good studio has a strong sense of community, something that’s reflected in XY Studio. How have you been able to nurture and grow that in a busy environment such as Central London?
In terms of my studio, I think everything starts with the teachers as they are the ones spending the most time with students – they are the ones nurturing and building its atmosphere. I pay a lot of attention to the energy of the teachers, if they are open to sharing their craft and creating a psychologically safe space for dancers of all levels.
You also work as a movement director for music videos - how does this compare to teaching classes?
It's entirely different because movement direction jobs are usually not about dance, they’re more about how someone moves across the scene. The music video I worked on showed a storyline between the main artist and a model where they have a romantic encounter, and have to mirror that in their body language. I have developed that ‘camera eye’ that allows me to know how good the models will look, especially in terms of positioning, and camera angles. It was something new but still relatively easy to adapt to.
You’ve also worked as a producer and director of photography for a promotional dance video. How did this come about, and what was it like being focused on different aspects of the same overall craft?
That opportunity came by surprise because we’d never worked with this artist before. His name is Verchi and he’s known for his song ‘My Lover’ which blew up in China's choreography scene. One of the teachers that works at my dance company taught her choreography to the song, and as we tend to post every class video on Instagram, that video ended up being seen by the artist. He then reached out wanting to know if we’d work on something for his next song and we were excited to collaborate. We didn’t have our own studio at the time so we booked a studio, casted dancers and I was the Director of Photography. It was a lot more like running a production than a studio. We had to consider the colours to create the mood, the costumes, angles of filming – all of which ended up having to be edited. We are excited to work on more projects like this!
What's your favourite class to teach?
I love teaching my own choreography and seeing other people dance to it feels empowering. In this way, I feel more motivated by my own class and the students. Even the energy I receive from teaching my own choreography is very different to that of teaching the K-Pop class. K-Pop needs to be accurate to the artist, whereas my own choreography can change during the class if I want to adapt to the students’ level or be spontaneous. No one would have known what it looks like, and it can’t ‘not be correct’ because it’s entirely my own creation.
What’s it like overseeing a company?
The dance studio company that I’ve set up helped me to gain leadership and organisational management experience, which I didn't develop as much from my corporate job. I really encourage anyone starting their own business not to be afraid to delegate. You don't have to have a big budget to have a team but you need to at least offer a wage, experience for the CV, and good references for their future employment. I had the opportunity to recruit people when I was 22 years old, something I wouldn’t have been able to do in the corporate space back then. I'm really grateful for taking the first step of hiring people, because that can be quite intimidating when you’re a young person getting into the world of creatives.
Being such an amazing dancer, would you ever just perform? What drew you to teaching and directing?
Objectively, my teaching skills are better than my technical dance skills. I wasn't trained in professional companies nor did I start my journey with classical disciplines such as ballet or Musical Theatre. I enjoy teaching and choreographing more than performing because it offers me a long-lasting relationship with students, artists and the space I teach at.
How has your dance style evolved over the years?
I started with K-Pop culture, which has evolved a lot since. It used to be quite easy technically, then they added a lot of Hip-Hop to the choreography, followed by House, Waacking, Vogue and more. In order to keep up with K-Pop dances, I had to step up my game. The LSE Dance Club I was performing in was quite demanding in terms of being fully rounded, not just in terms of one style. Then, after setting up my dance company, I realised that as a teacher, I need to be good at a lot of things in addition to teaching. As my students continue to evolve, as will I since they may no longer find my class helpful or inspiring. So, I've also picked up my passions for Hip-Hop and for choreography styles thanks to the diverse London dance scene. I do feel like dancers in this city are blessed with the range of classes and styles offered. Ultimately, K-Pop influences on my choreography are still there.
What is your ultimate goal?
A goal for the studio is more straightforward than a goal for myself as I'm still trying to figure out my own life! The studio is approaching its one-year anniversary, and I would love to welcome more students, creatives and teachers from diverse backgrounds to the space. The studio will hopefully become more multi-purpose; I want to have photographers working there during the daytime, as well as using the space for parties and corporate events. It's a space for everyone to enjoy regardless of whether you’re a dancer or not. I would love to continue movement direction and creative direction.
Edited by Daria Slikker, London Editor
