Lin Hsiu-wei graduated from the Department of Dance at the Chinese Culture University. In 1986, she was invited to the American Dance Festival as an international choreographer, where she premiered her work Nuwa. In 1987, she received the Fulbright Artist Fellowship, which took her to New York for nearly six months of study. Upon returning to Taiwan, she founded the Tai-Gu Tales Dance Theater. Lin is dedicated to exploring life through the physical body. She infuses raw, primal life with unique Eastern philosophy and New Age spirituality, touching the deeper realms of the soul and internal sensory resonance.

Tai-Gu Tales Dance Theater has presented over a dozen works, including Myth of the Fin de Siècle, Mandala of Life, The Five-Color Compass, The Boundless Womb, Soliloquy of Poetry and Flowers, Dance of the Senses, Flying Apsaras, Pilgrimage I: The Shamanic World, Dance of the Sun, and Dreamland. The troupe has been repeatedly invited to perform at international arts festivals. In 2003, Tai-Gu Tales Dance Theater stood out globally when it received a prestigious invitation to perform at The Joyce Theater, a premier dance venue in the United States. In 2004, the company toured Canada, performing at the National Arts Center, Toronto, and the Montreal International Dance Festival, where they earned the distinct honor of ten consecutive standing ovations. In 2006, Lin was invited to choreograph for the Seoul Performing Arts Company in South Korea.

Concurrently, Lin serves as the producer for the Contemporary Legend Theatre, where she has long been in charge of theatrical movement and choreography. In July 1993, she directed The Medea of Loulan, interpreting the Greek tragedy Medea with heavy mysticism and a dance-centric approach. Her production credits include The Kingdom of Desire, War and Eternity, The Great King of Western Xia, The Medea of Loulan, Oresteia, and Lear Is Here. She has also served as the choreographer for Snow in August, a work by Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian; the complete Kunqu opera The Peony Pavilion starring Hua Wen-yi; and the stage play The Butterfly Dream directed by King Hu. In recent years, alongside her ongoing creation and choreography, Lin established the "Lin Hsiu-wei Dance Garden" to promote dance courses for toddlers, children, and adults.