Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performs this weekend!

FINAL REMINDER!
PERFORMANCES AT
HARLEM SCHOOL OF THE ARTS THEATER
DECEMBER 8 & 9, 2007

Dragons on the Wall
Celebrating Ten Years in Residence at Harlem School of the Arts!

Featuring artistic director Nai-Ni Chen's signature piece, Dragons on the Wall/Tianji

Seats are limited - Buy Tickets Now!

Performances
Saturday, December 8, at 8pm
Sunday, December 9, at 3pm

Tickets

$15 Adult
$10 Child/Senior/Student


Harlem School of the Arts Theater
645 St. Nicholas Avenue (near 141st Street)
New York, NY

Subway: A, C, D to 145th Street

Visit Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
or call the Company at (800) 650-0246

Tianji/Dragons on the Wall was created in collaboration with composer Joan La Barbara and renowned Chinese poet Bei Dao. Originally commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts, NJPAC, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

NNCDC Returns to the Shuang Wen Dual Language Academy

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY

An Inspiring Leader in Arts Education


Continuing its outstanding and innovative involvement in arts education, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is delivering another extensive after-school program at the Shuang Wen Dual Language Academy(PS 184M) in Chinatown, one of Manhattan’s most thriving and diverse neighborhoods. After her highly successful first year in residence at the school during 2006-07, which culminated in student and Company performances, Nai-Ni Chen has returned to share her unique approach to dance education through an expanded syllabus and an versatile and experienced team of teaching artists.

The Shuang Wen Dual Language Academy is the first facility of its kind on the East Coast, educating students in both English and Mandarin Chinese and incorporating the study of Chinese history, traditions, culture, and art. The school recognized Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company as an innovative arts provider with a strong history in educational programming for all ages and invited the Company to lead an after-school program of cultural and contemporary arts education.

During its first year in residence, the Company introduced students from the third to eighth grades to such traditions as the Lion, Ribbon, and Handkerchief dances, and to other related art forms, including Chinese music, martial arts, and Tai-Chi. This year, besides providing classes in traditional dance, the Company, under the guidance of Ms. Chen and in partnership with the school’s Chinese language teachers, will introduce modern dance, through a highly creative program that involves traditional and contemporary Chinese poetry. The Company also hopes to invite the participation of a Chinese artist with expertise in calligraphy, an ancient art form from which many artists, including Nai-Ni Chen herself, have drawn inspiration for their work.

With continued support from the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP), and an enthusiastic response from the New York City Board of Education, the students at Shuang Wen are continuing to learn the importance of Chinese visual arts and how to apply their principles in creating movement for performance. Upon the completion of this three-year residency, the Company will leave to the students a strong legacy of discipline and commitment, an understanding of traditional Chinese dance and movement forms, an appreciation of contemporary artistic themes and ideas, and an understanding of their context in today’s Chinese society in New York City.

A NEW THEATER FOR DANCE AND A 10TH ANNIVERSARY

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY CELEBRATES ITS TENTH YEAR IN RESIDENCE AT HARLEM SCHOOL OF THE ARTS WITH PERFORMANCES IN THE SCHOOL'S NEWLY RENOVATED THEATER, DECEMBER 8&9

Saturday December 8 at 8 PM; Sunday December 9 at 3 PM
Harlem School of the Arts Theater, 645 St. Nicholas Avenue (at 141st Street)
Tickets: $15; $10 for students & seniors
Reservations: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/21772
By Phone: 1-800-650-0246

"This choreographic whirlpool never
stops churning." The New York Times

"Tianji radiates visceral intensity."
Star-Ledger

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company announces two happy events - The Company will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in residence at the Harlem School of the Arts and will also be the first Company to appear in the newly renovated Harlem School of the Arts Theater, a welcome new dance space. The December 8 & 9 performances will feature the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in "Tianji - Dragons on the Wall, a major work created by Ms. Chen in collaboration with Nobel Prize Nominee in Literature Bei Dao and world renowned composer Joan La Barbara.

Ms. Chen took her inspiration from a work by Bei Dao, one of the best- known Chinese poets and leader of the Misty style of contemporary Chinese poetry. His work is characterized by its images of contrast and struggle, reflecting his experiences during the Cultural Revolution, and resonate with humanity's yearning for freedom around the world and throughout history.

Tianji
clanging tolls depart from the huge bell
chase a twinkling flock of birds
the Chi wanders in the world
gather, disperse but never gone
dynasties turn above the whirlpool
the bridge jumps to another language
until white paper falls
until the writing becomes possible
the bird's nest is empty
it is time to reveal TIANJI.

-Bei Dao

In Tianji - Dragons on the Wall, the collaborators (choreographer Nai-Ni Chen, poet Bei Dao, and musician Joan La Barbara) sought to convey the yearning for freedom that reflects their own journeys, their passages as artists, and their hopes for the future. The sound and stage design were inspired by the richly imaginative sounds and images in Bai Dao's poetry, and by discussions among the collaborators.

Why a reference to "dragons"? The dragon, a dominant symbol in Chinese culture, represents the power of nature and is often used to convey imperial dominance. Many myths and legends also connect the dragon with the human instinct to seek independence and freedom from oppression. In this work, the dragon is regarded as a symbol of freedom.

One legend in Chinese history centers around the painter Wu Dao-Tze of the Tang Dynasty. The famous artist once painted dragons on the wall for the emperor, but failed to draw in the eyes. When asked why, he replied that if the eyes were added, the dragons would fly away (implying that giving sight to the dragons is like giving freedom to the people). The emperor, however, ordered him to draw the eyes, and he complied. At night, thunder and rain fell upon the palace, its walls crumbled, and the painted dragons disappeared without a trace.

Dragons on the Wall was commissioned by the NJPAC World Festival, the NJPAC Arts Education Department, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The work was choreographed in the dance studios of the Harlem School of the Arts and supported by the school throughout the creative process. Additional support came from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation's ArtsEmerge Program, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State. The project was also supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's next New York season will take place on
May 23-25 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Drawing on elements from the flowing lines of Chinese calligraphy to the thundering motion of the martial arts, Nai-Ni Chen is one of the very few established Asian-American choreographers who meld the dynamic freedom of American modern dance with the stoic discipline of the Chinese classical arts. This not-to-be-missed showcase includes new dances inspired by some of the most powerful ideas in Chinese philosophy combined with the freedom and energy of the western theatrical tradition. These works will bring a new level of appreciation for the globally connected,
cross-cultural contemporary arts to your audience and community.

Isle of Dunes

Choreographer: Nai-Ni Chen

Dancers: Michele Chung, Teri Miller, Gabriel Hernan, Noibis Licea,
Matthew Westerby, Chieh-Yu Teng, Tai Zhang, Joshua Thrower.

Photo: Carol Rosegg

A Word From Our New President

I am honored to serve as the new President of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. This season looks to be so exciting and productive that I can't wait to experience as much as I can! On behalf of the entire board of Trustees, I invite you to join us in actively supporting the Company's amazing work, as donors, as volunteers, and, of course, as audience members.
-Arlene Yang

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performs at

To celebrate its tenth anniversary in residence at the Harlem School of the Arts, the Company will present performances there from December 7 to 9, showcasing some of Nai-Ni Chen's signature works.

Harlem School of the Arts

Upcoming Performances

The Company kicks off its Fall engagements with visits to three wonderful venues. At the State University of New York at Albany, two evening performances will display the diverse range of Nai-Ni's choreographic work, with one night of her traditional Chinese dances and another featuring a selection of her modern works. Nai-Ni will also lead her dancers in a lecture/demonstration and a master class for student dancers, to highlight her sources of inspiration and demonstrate her unique use of the aesthetics of Chinese classical movement combined with the discipline of modern dance.

The Company will also travel to Copiah-Lincoln College in Wesson, Mississipi, to take part in its Aficionado Series, and to Indiana State University's Bloomington campus for a residency program with workshops for dance students, a lecture/demonstration for the community, and an evening concert with live music, featuring Nai-Ni Chen's signature work Calligraphy II and showcasing some of her traditional works.

For tickets, please use the link for each venue listed below:

Copiah-Lincoln Community College
October 30, 2007
http://www.colin.edu

State University of New York at Albany
November 1-3, 2007
Performing Arts Center
http://www.albany.edu

Indiana University
November 12-16, 2007
University Auditorium, Bloomington Campus
http://www.indiana.edu

A Quote from Nai-Ni Chen

Traditional Chinese dance, the training I had since I was four years old, involves the entire Chinese culture, not just its dance steps. The western modern dance I learned about is not just Martha Graham technique or José Limon technique; to me, modern dance is an entire way of thinking, of freedom, of expression. Besides learning the two different dance cultures, I tried to learn how people think and find ways to express the dynamic spirit of our changing world.
-Nai-Ni Chen

Save The Dates!

December 7-9, 2007
Harlem School of the Arts Theater
Harlem School of the Arts
New York, NY

Click here to Buy Tickets!

February 9 and 10, 2008
Chinese New Year: The Year of the Rat
February 9: Matinée and evening performances; Traditional Chinese Banquet
February 10: Matinée performance
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Newark, NJ

Corporate sponsorship is available for this event.
Please contact us for further information!

For tickets call 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5622)

May 23-25, 2008
NEW YORK CITY SEASON
Alvin Ailey CitiGroup Theater
New York, NY

Tickets available soon!

Please visit Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company for full season listings.

The Way of Five, No.2
Choreography: Nai-Ni Chen Photo: Carol Rosegg

The 2007-08 Season

In 2008 the Company will undertake its New York and New Jersey season and complete its 2007-08 seventeen-city American tour. Traveling across the country and exposing new audiences to its unique blend of contemporary and classical Chinese dance, the Company continues to be one of the most prominent and successful Asian-American professional performing arts companies in the United States.

October 30
Copiah-Lincoln College
Wesson, MS
Copiah-Lincoln

November 1-3
University of New York at Albany, Performing Arts Center
Albany, NY
University of New York at Albany

November 12-16
Indiana University, University Auditorium
Bloomington, IN
Indiana University

December 7-9
The Harlem School of the Arts Theater
New York, NY
The Harlem School of the Arts

January 15, 16
York College, Performing Arts Center
Jamaica, NY
York College

January 24
Queens College, Colden Center for the Perfoming Arts
Flushing, NY
Queens College

February 1
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center
Long Island City, NY
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

February 9, 10
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Newark, NJ
NJPAC

February 13
American Theatre
Hampton, VA
The American Theatre

February 20
Lakeland College
Sheboygan, WI
Lakeland College

February 22
University of Wisconsin
Marshfield, WI
University of Wisconsin

February 24
Cumberland County College
Frank Guaracini, Jr. Fine & Performing Arts Center
Vineland, NJ
Cumberland County College

February 27, 28
College of Staten Island
Center for the Arts, Staten Island, NY
College of Staten Island

March 15
Harford Community College, Amoss Performing Arts Center
Bel Air, MD
Harford Community College

April 18
Raritan Valley Community College
Somerville, NJ
Raritan Valley Community College

April 26
Stephen F. Austin State University
Turner Auditorium, Nacogdoches, TX
Stephen F. Austin State University

May 10
John Hancock Hall, Back Bay Events Center
Boston, MA
Back Bay Events Center

May 16
Publick Playhouse
Cheverly, MD
Publick Playhouse

May 23-25
Alvin Ailey CitiGroup Theater
New York, NY
Alvin Ailey CitiGroup Theater

For more information, contact each venue using the links above. We hope to see you in one of the cities that we visit!

New Dancers Join NNCDC

The Company welcomes several new dancers for the upcoming 2008 season. Nai-Ni invited Selena Chau, Lindsey Parker, and Julie Fiorenza to join the Company following their participation in her popular and highly competitive June 2007 audition series. Watch for future audition notices and artistic opportunities in our newsletter!

Board of Trustees Congratulatory News!

The Company would like to thank Shelly Jacobs Mintz, the outgoing President of our Board of Trustees, for her six years of outstanding and generous service. She will be moving to England with her family, and we wish her well for her future overseas. Arlene Yang, a current Board member with six years' service, has been elected as the new Board President.

Landscape Over Zero
Choreography: Nai-Ni Chen Photo: Carol Rosegg

A Word From Nai-Ni Chen...

During the last three summers, I have taken the Company to international dance and theater festivals and toured to overseas venues as far afield as Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Germany, and Mexico. Through our dances, we made many new friends and touched many hearts. After a busy and highly successful 2007 season, we felt it was important to spend this summer differently. We decided to take a break from performing in order for the dancers and me to have a chance to recuperate, and for our administrative staff to focus on preparing and planning for the next season. This uninterrupted thinking time was especially important for me because I rarely have time to look back and reflect upon our past achievements because of the amount of planning that is necessary for developing, coordinating, and implementing all the details and aspects of our various programs. But, every time I look through our calendar at the past year, I am amazed at how much the Company has achieved. We were busy for more than 42 weeks, performing and leading educational and outreach programs, and I am proud of our accomplishments.

Last year, we performed at the Konfrontations Theatre Festival in Lublin, Poland, and undertook a three-week, seven-city tour to the Tamaulipas Festival in Mexico. The Company toured to eight different states across the U.S., including performances in Arizona, California, and Missouri, as well as at home at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Continuing the Company's tradition of excellence in the area of dance education, we created an innovative after-school program at the Shuang Wen School in Lower Manhattan that focused on traditional Chinese dance, martial arts, and music, teaching more than 300 students over eight months, culminating in an end-of-year performance involving both the students and the Company dancers. We also choreographed and collaborated with jazz composer Don Braden in the Litchfield Poetry Live! project in Connecticut, and the Company has been invited to return there again in 2008. We also staged more than two hundred performances of "The Art of Chinese Dance" in public schools in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, giving schoolchildren their first taste of traditional Chinese art forms.

As we are now entering the Company's nineteenth year, I thank my entire team of dancers and administrative staff for their endless and invaluable support. We are getting ready for more exciting performances to come, more new dances to be created, and many more projects for children and communities in the tri-state area.





Nai-Ni Chen

Artistic Director

The 2007-2008 Season

In 2008 the Company will undertake its New York and New Jersey season and complete its 2007-08 seventeen-city American tour. Traveling across the country and exposing new audiences to its unique blend of contemporary and classical Chinese dance, the Company continues to be one of the most prominent and successful Asian-American professional performing arts companies in the United States. Season highlights include performances at The Harlem School of the Arts, New York, a week-long residency at the University of Indiana, the Chinese New Year Celebration of the Year of the Rat at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, and the Company's New York City season at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater.

Please visit the Company website for the full list of dates and venues, along with booking information.

New Commissions

This summer, Nai-Ni traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to complete a commission for Dancing Wheels, a company that integrates dancers who use wheelchairs with other dancers. She created a fifteen-minute piece titled The Unconquered Warriors for six members of this unique company. The driving force and energy of Mary Verdi-Fletcher, its Artistic Director and one of the six dancers, provided Nai-Ni with great inspiration throughout the incredibly rewarding creative process. Watch for news of the premiere of this new work!

Nai-Ni was also invited to be a guest choreographer as part of BalletMet's 30X30 project in Columbus, Ohio. She set a short piece on five wonderful dancers of BalletMet in just six hours. Despite the challenge of creating a dance in such a short time, the process provided Nai-Ni with a working experience that was both exciting and memorable. The piece, titled Tiger and Water Lily, was showcased in the BalletMet Performance Space in Columbus from August 23-26, 2007.

NNCDC Dancers on the International Stage

Three Company members were invited to teach workshops at the Silesian Dance Theatre's XIV Annual International Contemporary Dance Conference and Performance Festival in Bytom, Poland. The festival, one of the largest contemporary dance education and performance festivals in eastern Europe, attracts touring companies, master teachers, prominent figures in arts management, and dance writers and historians from across the globe.

Community Outreach Workshop Performance
International Contemporary Dance Conference & Performance Festival, Bytom, Poland
Choreography: Matthew Westerby Photo: Beata Grzelak-Szweda

To adults, Noibis Licea taught Afro-Cuban dance and Matthew Westerby taught contemporary technique and choreographed for a community outreach project for adults with learning disabilities. Tai Zhang taught classical Chinese dance to both children and adults. All three Company members shared their knowledge of diverse subjects in workshops that were particularly well received by festival participants, and all three have been invited to return for next year's event. Matthew later traveled to his native England to teach contemporary technique and choreography for Laban, London.

An Outdoor Spectacle

The Company recently performed in the Young People's Concert Series at the prestigious Mann Music Center in Philadelphia.The dancers led two days of workshops for the young people, followed by an outdoor performance attended by more than 5,000 children, in a program showcasing Nai-Ni's traditional and contemporary work. The children were thrilled by the performance and gave the dancers a standing ovation at the end of the show.

Dancer: Noibis Licea Photo: Carol Rosegg

A Step into the Future

The Company is again leading the way in dance education! The dancers recently participated in an innovative education project organized by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. With the help of new technology, schoolchildren in remote areas who would ordinarily have little or no access to arts education were able to participate in online dance classes led by Nai-Ni and her dancers.

Teri Miller Photo: Carol Rosegg

COMPANY BIOGRAPHY

A blossom of color, energy and motion, "like endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy," says the New York Times. The dances of Nai-Ni Chen fuse the dynamic freedom of American modern dance with the grace and splendor of Asian art. The Company's productions take the audience beyond cultural boundaries to where tradition meets innovation and freedom arises from discipline.

One of the few professional Asian American Dance Company in the world with over 40 weeks of performances annually, the Company has been continuously touring for over ten years, reaching millions of audience. The Company’s constantly evolving work incorporates new ideas and influences from around the world. Nai-Ni Chen’s mesmerizing and dramatic contemporary choreography has gained increasing recognition among domestic and international presenters and festivals. Most recently, the Company was honored by a distinctive award from both the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities and the Department of State to represent the United States in a seven-city tour arranged by the Tamaulipas International Arts Festival in Mexico.

Presented by some of the most prestigious concert halls in the United States, from the Joyce Theater in New York to the Ordway Center in Minnesota and the Cerritos Center in California, the Company has performed in such acclaimed international festivals as the Silesian International Contemporary Dance Festival and the Konfrontations International Dance Festival, both in Poland, the Chang Mu International Arts Festival in Korea and the China International Dance Festival.

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company also has the unique honor of having received more than twelve awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous Citations of Excellence and grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. In the First China International Dance Festival in Kunming, Yunan, the China Dance Association presented to the Company its most prestigious honor for companies not based in China, the Golden Lotus Award.

Nai-Ni Chen

“Like Visual Poetry, Chen’s phrases, part exoskeletal rigidity, part boneless grace, embody an epic dignity.”—Village Voice

Drawing on elements from the flowing lines of Chinese calligraphy to the thundering motion of the martial arts, Nai-Ni Chen is one of the very few established Asian- American choreographers who meld the dynamic freedom of American modern dance with the stoic discipline of the Chinese classical arts. Through the more than 50 dances she has created since forming the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in 1988, Ms. Chen has developed a unique style that takes audiences into a realm beyond cultural boundaries.

Ms. Chen has received a two-year Choreographer’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and has twice received a Choreographer’s Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Her work has been commissioned by many foundations and institutions, including the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Joyce Theater, the Lincoln Center Institute, Dancing in the Streets in New York, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and, recently, Dancing Wheels of Cleveland, Ohio, and Ballet Met of Columbus, Ohio, among others.

Winning critical acclaim worldwide, her works have been presented at more than 200 art centers and universities in the United States and at international festivals in Mexico, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, and Korea, and in China, where in 2002 Ms. Chen received the prized Golden Lotus Award.

Ms. Chen comes from a rich dance tradition. Born in Taiwan, she began her training in Chinese dance at age four and, from the age of fourteen, received intensive training in the disciplines of Peking Opera, martial arts, ballet, modern dance, music, and visual arts at the Chinese Cultural University. She became an outstanding performer at an early age and, during her college years, toured and performed with numerous professional companies. When she was eighteen, the government of the Republic of China selected Ms. Chen for several ambassadorial culture missions to perform traditional Chinese dance in nineteen countries, including a one-month engagement at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway in New York. Later, as an early member of the Cloud Gate Dance Theater directed by Lin Huai-Ming, Ms. Chen broadened and enriched her dance experience. In 1982, she graduated from the Chinese Cultural University with special presidential honors awarded by its Board of Trustees. She then determined to come to the United States to pursue her dream of seeking her own voice in the world of contemporary dance.

In New York, Ms. Chen studied with many dance masters and was exposed to various modern dance styles, including those of Martha Graham, José Limon, Alwin Nikolais, and Paul Taylor. She also studied choreography at New York University with Doris Rudko and worked with Mary Anthony and Bertram Ross, who significantly influenced her dedication to her pursuit. After receiving her Master’s degree in 1985, Ms. Chen began to integrate the different idioms of dance that she’d studied, seeking the unique style that would be representative of her inspiration and heritage. In 1988, she formed her Company, whose success is evidenced by its having been presented by major arts centers in more than 35 states and abroad.

In addition to performing, Ms. Chen has taught master classes at many colleges and festivals in the United States and in Poland, Russia, Taiwan, and China. She has taught at New York University, Rutgers University, the Mary Anthony Dance Studio, and Peridance, she also has been a principal affiliate artist of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center since its inception. For K–12 Arts in Education, Ms. Chen has taken her Company to many public schools throughout the tri-state area for long-term residencies, including the most recent ones at PS 184 in New York City and Project Poetry Live in Litchfield, Connecticut. For her achievement in performing arts and dedication to arts education, Ms. Chen has received numerous awards, including the Achievement Award from the International Institute of New Jersey in 2001, and from the Organization of Chinese Americans in 1996. On television, Ms. Chen is an often-featured artist on PBS/NJN’s “State of the Arts.”