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The Nai-Ni Chen
Dance Company is commencing a new season with fresh commissioned
works, collaborations, and the addition of new dancers following
their recent performances in Seattle, WA, and Tennessee. New dancers
joining the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company include: Caleb Baker,
Alexzander Larson, Ke’ala O’Connell, and YuChin (KiKi) Tseng.
As one of the leading Asian American professional dance
companies in the United States, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is
committed to creating works that reflect the immigrant experience and
perspectives. Nai-Ni Chen collaborates with both emerging and traditional
dance choreographers within the Chinese American community, fostering
a deeper understanding by bridging cultural boundaries. In 2022, with
support from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the
Company commissioned "Lion in the City," a collaboration
featuring Hip-Hop legend Rokafella, Kwikstep, and Lion Dance master
Henry Lee, working alongside renowned dancer/choreographer PeiJu
Chien-Pott.
For the 2023-2024 season, with support from NJPAC, the
Company is commissioning two new works. The first from a unique
creative team, including choreographer Aloe Ao Liu and digital
media artists Anna Borou Yu and Jiajian Min,
collaborating to develop a new work titled Reincarnation. This piece draws inspiration from Aloe's experiences living among
the indigenous community of the Derung Tribe, also known as the
Dragon People, in the mountains of Yunnan Province, Southwestern
China. Isolated from urban centers, the Derung Tribe has its own
language and unique religion, known as Derung shamanism. This
indigenous group has a deep connection to their natural surroundings,
with their way of life intrinsically tied to their mountainous
environment. "Reincarnation" expresses Aloe's awe
for life, death, the unknown, and the unknowable.
In Reincarnation, Aloe collaborates
with media artists Anna Borou Yu and Jiajian Min, both members of the
New Museum’s cultural incubator, NEW INC, aimed at advancing
technology in the arts. The artists will create a multimedia stage
design that reflects the culture and spiritual essence of the new
work.
In addition to Reincarnation, the Company is
also commissioning a traditional Mongolian dance titled Mongolian
Festival. Choreographed by Mongolian dancer/choreographer
Lawrence Jin, who has been a member of the world-renowned Bella
Lewitzky Dance Theatre and China's Beijing Academy Dance Company,
this dance is renowned for its powerful steps and expressive upper
body movements, capturing the essence of the nomadic way of life. Jin
grew up in inner Mongolia, China. In this dance, he focuses on the
generous spirit of the Mongolian people, the powerful Mongolian
warriors and the respect they have for the great prairie that is
essential for the nomadic life. The dance portrays aspects of Mongol
herders' daily activities, including milking cows, cooking, hunting,
household labor, celebrations, and traditions. This culturally rich
and dynamic performance will be accompanied by traditional Mongolian
music, creating a captivating and immersive experience for the
audience.
Both of these new works will premiere in New Jersey at
the NJ Performing Arts Center, and in New York City at the Kupferberg
Center in Queens College and at Hostos Community College in the
Bronx. They will also be showcased in the McLean Community Center in
the Washington DC area, as well as the Omaha Performing Arts Center,
in Nebraska.
About the Artists
Ao Liu (Aloe) is a performance artist,
dancer, and choreographer. She is currently the Performance Director
with CAAM Chinese Dance Theater in St. Paul. Aloe has performed
extensively throughout China, Asia, and Europe, including the
Shanghai World Expo and the Beijing Olympics. She was a principal and
soloist with China's renowned dancer/director Liping Yang, known as
the "Peacock Princess," for eight years. During this
period, Aloe was a principal in world-famous Chinese dance
productions, including "Dynamic Yunnan," "A Shangri-La
Spectacular," and "The Beautiful South." A graduate of
the Yunnan Arts Institute, her contemporary dance performances have
been showcased in Kunming, Macau, and the Walker Arts Center in
Minneapolis, MN.
Lawrence Jin began his dance training
in his native Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. Jin graduated from the
Beijing Dance Academy in 1986 and received the Best Performance Award
in the National Professional Taoli Cup Dance Competition, the highest
honor in Chinese Dance. He became a Principal in the Beijing Youth
Dance Company, touring around the world. In 1990, he moved to NYC
from Beijing and studied at Martha Graham Modern Dance School. In
1993, he joined Bella Lewitzky Dance Company in Los Angeles as a principal
dancer. He toured with the company nationally and internationally for
ten years. In 2003, he moved back to NYC and met Nai Ni Chen that
year. In recent years, he has been teaching dance at FA Dance School
in Livingston, New Jersey, one of the largest Chinese Dance academies
in the state. He has also served as a judge in many Chinese dance
competitions held by Chinese and American Dance Association in LA.
Anna Borou Yu is a new media artist,
interdisciplinary researcher, and dancer. She is the Art Director of
MYStudio, an experimental design group in Boston, integrating
humanity, art, performance, and technology. Anna is also the XR Track
Member at NEW INC, Ambassador of Arte Laguna Prize, and listed on
AACYF Top 30 under 30 in 2023. She engages in the contemporary
interpretation of cultural heritage, embodied exhibition, and
cognitive performance in extended reality, and translation between
media from artistic expression to science research. Her artworks have
been featured at Venice Biennale, Arte Laguna Prize, Hermes Creative
Awards, Lumen Prize Longlist, Ars Electronica Art Gallery, ACM
SIGGRAPH Asia Art Gallery, IRCAM FORUM at NYU, Chengdu Biennale, and
more. She has worked as a Fellow and Project Lead at Harvard FAS
CAMLab and taught interdisciplinary Design Studios at Tsinghua
University, China Academy of Art, and Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Jiajian Min is an architect, new
media artist, and creative entrepreneur. He is the Executive Director
of MYStudio and the XR Track Member at NEW INC, focusing on mixed
reality multimedia design and Generative AI creative tools. He has
worked as a Project Lead at Harvard FAS CAMLab, co-founded HarvardXR
Conference, and taught interdisciplinary Design Studios at Tsinghua
University, China Academy of Art, and Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Jiajian's research has been published by ACM SIGGRAPH Asia, IEEE
AIART Workshop, and more. He has lectured and reviewed at Harvard
University, Yale University, Brown University, RISD, NYU, UCSD, and
more. Jiajian has been selected as one of the 2023 Forbes China 100
Most Influential Chinese.
About Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company:
Choreographer/Dancer, Nai-Ni Chen (1959-2021), was a
unique artist whose work crosses cultural boundaries. Each of her
dances reflect her personal vision as an immigrant and an American
female artist with deep roots in Asian culture. From this perspective,
she created new works that reflect current issues with global
influences. Many of her works were developed in collaboration with
renowned artists such as the Ahn Trio, Glen Velez, Joan La Barbara,
Rokafella, The Chinese Music Ensemble and the New Asia Chamber Music
Society.
Bridging the grace of Asian elegance and American
dynamism, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is a premier provider
of innovative cultural experiences that reflect the inspiring hope
and energy of the immigrant's journey. The company's ground-breaking
works have focused on themes from ancient legends that reflect issues
of the present time to purely abstract, contemporary dances
influenced by a mix of cultures Nai-Ni Chen experienced in New York.
An Asian American company that celebrates cross-cultural experience,
the Company's productions naturally bring forth issues of identity,
authenticity, and equality.
The Company has presented at some of the most
prestigious concert halls such as the Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center
in New York, and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida. The
Company appears annually at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center,
Queens College, the College of Staten Island and on Ellis Island.
Internationally, the Company has presented at international festivals
including Open Look Festival in Russia, the Silesian International
Contemporary Dance Festival, the Konfrontations International
Festival in Poland, the Chang Mu International Dance Festival in
Korea, the Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival in China, and
the Tamaulipas International Arts Festival in Mexico.
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has received more
than 20 awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous
Citations of Excellence and grants from the New Jersey State Council
on the Arts. Advancing Dance Education, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance
Company is currently in residence in New Jersey City University
pioneering a program with the University's A Harry Moore Laboratory
School teaching dance to urban children with disabilities. For
additional Company information, visit their website, www.nainichen.org;
write to Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, P.O. Box 1121, Fort Lee, NJ
07024; or call (800) 650- 0246.
Programs of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company are
made possible by the generous support of our Board members, the
National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the
Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment
for the Arts, The Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF), the New Jersey
Cultural Trust, the New York State Council on the Arts with the
support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature,
The New Jersey Arts and Culture Recovery Fund administered by the
Princeton Area Community Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge
Foundation, the Hyde and Watson Foundation, E.J. Grassman Trust, The
Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, New Music USA, the Blanche &
Irving Laurie Foundation, Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund, the Rapid
Response Program of American Dance Abroad, the Association of
Performing Arts Presenters’ Cultural Exchange Fund, supported by the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, PSEG, Proskauer, WAC Lighting, and the
Glow Foundation and the Dragon and Phoenix Foundation. |
