Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company announces 9/8-9/9 Schedule for The Bridge, Free One-Hour Company Classes on Zoom

Announces

The Bridge

Virtual Dance Institute

 of boundary-breaking dance experiences

Free One-Hour Company Class on Zoom

Open to All Dancers at an Intermediate to Advanced Level

September 8-9, 2021 

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has established a new dance institute through Zoom, The Bridge. The Institute’s aim is to bring together dancers, choreographers and directors around the world to experience the master teachers of color whose practices are embedded in the community and are focused on advancing the art of dance that transform the personal, environmental and metaphysical spaces. 

Interested dancers can join the class by registering on Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s website: https://www.nainichen.org/thebridge.

As a virtual dance institute, The Bridge will invite world renowned as well as up and coming dancers and choreographer to come to guest teach the class. Advanced/Intermediate level professional or pre-professional dancers who are looking to explore beyond their own boundaries and looking for new dance experiences are encouraged to participate. The core program is based on Nai-Ni Chen’s Kinetic Spiral, which is a cross-cultural dance vocabulary that integrates the Chinese martial arts philosophy in TaiChi with contemporary dance practices she studied in America. Guest artists will cover a wide range of folk and classical dance styles.

The Bridge will hold classes Wednesday and Thursday this week due to holidays and the schedules of teachers and participants.

The Bridge Class schedule are as follows: 

Week of 9/8/2021

Wednesday: Greta Campo (Kinetic Spiral) at 11am

Thursday: Xiang Xu (Flow (Contemporary Dance with Chinese Classical Influence) at 11am

In this trying time of change and uncertainty, the arts is a source of healing and unity, we would like to encourage everyone to support dance as dance is an essential medicine for the society to recover from the pandemic that has caused injury to our bodies and our hearts. Support for The Bridge can be sent through https://nainichen.org/donate.

About the Artists

Greta Campo is the Associate Artistic Director of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, She began her dance training in her native Milan at the Carcano Theater, where she was first introduced to Martha Graham’s work. She performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company in their 2012 New York Season and later on their international tour. Greta is a recipient of the 2016 Rising Star Award from the Fini Dance Festival.

Tap into the creative energy of the universe through Kinetic Spiral. Nai-Ni Chen’s signature technique is based on the principle of ever-changing universal forces of Yin and Yang. Dance phrases from Nai-Ni Chen’s repertory will be taught. 

Xiang Xu grew up in China and trained at the Beijing Dance Academy, where he earned his B.A. degree and won numerous awards, including the “Gold Lion” top prize at the Singapore World Music & Dance Competition. After coming to the United States, Xiang Xu earned his M.F.A. degree in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has served as adjunct faculty and guest artist at Syracuse University and Santa Monica College.

In Contemporary Dance with Chinese Classical Influence, students will learn how to use internal breath to control physicality and expand their movement capabilities, which will aid in their artistic growth as performers. Personal movement style and performance is strongly emphasized.

Xiang has collaborated with the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Merce Cunningham Trust, Palestinian Diyar Theater and Prumsodun Ok of the Cambodian National Arts Center. His academic book “Exploration of the Foot-Binding in Chinese Classical Dance” has been published in both Chinese and English language editions. The Joffrey Academy of Dance selected Xiang to premiere his latest work at its 9th annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition in March 2019. Xiang performs both contemporary and traditional classical Chinese dance styles, and has also studied and performed Thai, Indian, and West African dances

About Nai-Ni Chen

Hailed as a Spiritual Choreographer by Dance Magazine and recipient of multiple choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Nai-Ni Chen has been creating dances professionally for over thirty years in the United States. She has built a diverse repertory of over 80 original works and toured to major venues in the US and international contemporary dance festivals in 12 countries. She will be teaching her signature technique KINETIC SPIRAL which is a blend of the dynamic, ever-evolving spirit of contemporary dance and the grace and splendor of the Asian artistic traditions.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

A blossom of color, energy and motion, “like endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy,” said The New York Times.