Dragons, Lions, Acrobats, Dancers, Musicians and a 12 course Banquet to Celebrate the Year of the Boar

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Boar on February 17, 2007, the day of the Lunar New Year's eve, and a fantastic festival is being planned. This year, the Company not only has planned on a celebration of dance but, in recognition of the adundance of luck that the Boar can bring, it has also invited world-renowned acrobat XiaoDi Yang to share the stage with traditional favorites such as the Lion Dance and the Dragon Dance. With support from Live Music for Dance of the American Music Center, Nai-Ni Chen will also perform a new solo dance, the Dream of Duanhuang, with music by noted Chinese composer and flutist Tao Chen. Mr. Tao will utilize research that he did at Beijing University and Cambridge University on Chinese Tang Dynasty music of three thousand years ago to create the score. Besides the lively, colorful stage performance, folk artist HoTien Cheng will greet the audience and will showcase his world-famous freehand papercut technique throughout the festival.

While the arts feed the soul, a Chinese celebration would not be complete without an oversized feast. The Company has commissioned a sumptous 12-course meal prepared by award-winning Chef Ni of the Chinatown Restaurant in Harrison. The feast will be held immediately after the show at the New Jersey Ballroom of the Robert Treat Hotel, across the street from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Tickets should be reserved as soon as possible.

Date & Time: Saturday, February 17, 2007. Performance 2 pm, Banquet 4 pm. Location: New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ Directions: www.njpac.org

Tickets: $75/Adult; $25/Children; Corporate sponsor tables are available. Call (800)650-0246 for tickets and information.

Jacek Luminski, Poland's Foremost Choreographer is Making Dance at Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Fort Lee, NJ - Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, one of New Jersey's premiere professional troupes, has recently invited Poland's foremost choreographer, Jacek Luminski, as a guest choreographer to work with the Company and make a new dance to be included in its repertory. During the past three years, the Company has visited Poland five times, gaining higher recognition and learning Poland's contemporary dance culture. Most recently, the Company performed in Lublin as part of the internationally renowned Konfrontation Theater Festival. Nai-Ni Chen met Mr. Luminski in 2003 while attending the Silesian International Contemporary Dance Festival, which he founded. There, they learned about each other's work, and the Company's dancers also learned about Mr. Luminski's unique philosophy and movement style. A mutual admiration grew between the two choreographers, who look forward to exploring and sharing their distinctively different idioms. Mr. Luminski is choreographing Ashes of the Dead Frog for the Company. For a preview of the Companys work, come to our APAP Showcase on Sunday, January 21, at City Center's Studio 5.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company teaches in the Shuangwen Dual Language Academy

New York, NY - A unique New York public school, the Shuangwen Dual Language Academy has a new partner for its art and dance curriculum: the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. The Academy, also known as PS 184, is one of the city's highest achieving schools and a bold experiment in the city's school reform.

With a recent FLAP grant, the Shuangwen Academy invited Nai-Ni Chen to bring to the students at Shuangwen knowledge that can bridge cultures; her Company is engaging students in learning the conflict and harmony of the two cultures in the lives of the students. The Company's initial program will focus on the bridge of Chinese visual art and Chinese performing arts and how the Chinese classical concept of Jin (concentration), Chi (flow) and Sheng (spirit) is so timeless that it is applicable to the students' daily lives and encounters. We expect, however, that this program will change and evolve as the artists and students become more familiar with each other so that it can help the students to achieve an even higher level of excellence.