Oberon's Grove accounting of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company/Ahn Trio Collaboration

Nai-Ni Chen/Ahn Trio Collaboration

Friday December 5, 2010 - Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and the Ahn Trio have joined to present an evening of dance and live music at Harlem School of the Arts. Read about our first encounter with Nai-Ni Chen's company here, and a recent rehearsal here. Photo above: dancer Wei Yao.

There are two more performances of this programme: Saturday evening December 4th and Sunday matinee December 5th. For information: 800-650-0246.

The collaborative presentation is entitled Temptation of the Muses. The Ahn Trio opened this well-paced evening with a dynamic rendition of David Balakrishnan's Skylife. The three sisters - violinist Angella, cellist Maria and pianist Lucia - are leading proponents of contemporary classical music. Following this prelude, they embarked on the Pat Metheny score for the first of five new Nai-Ni Chen choreographic creations: Yu Ryung.

This work opens with a solo for Jamison Goodnight (above) danced with an intense lyricism that keeps the viewer entranced. The other dancers of Nai-Ni's company - Saki Masuda, Ekaterina Chernikova, Riyo Mito, Jung Hm Jo, Wei Yao and Justin Lynch - appear in this ensemble piece of flowing combinations...

...and quietly ecstatic partnering motifs (Ekaterina & Wei, above).

The music of composer Kenji Bunch was a central element of the programme. The first of Kenji's works to be heard was Dies Irae. a brief spirtual work played by the Ahn Trio. The stage was then set for the longest and most complex work of the evening: Concrete Stream.

In this work the excellent lighting by Joe Levasseur was an integral part of the performance. Click on the above image to enlarge. An illuminated font of water where the dancers bathed and annointed themselves gives the piece a rutualistic feel. The musicians became active participants: the cellist is seated alone in a pool of light...

...as the dancers move in and out of her sphere of influence. Above: Jamison Goodnight at the left with cellist Maria Ahn. Click on the above image to enlarge.

Partnered phrases: Jung Hm Jo and Riyo Mito (above). The baby grand became a source of both the music and the movement: dancers emerged from under the piano and later a bolt of silky cloth was unrolled...

...creating a waterway down which the violinist Angella Ahn slowly walked as the work came to an end.

Following a brief intermission four dancers in street clothes - Wei Yao, Jamison Goodnight, Saki Masuda and Justin Lynch - performed to a Ronn Yedidia score, the first of two Lullabies which were programmed. The Ahn Trio played two lively interludes from Kenji Bunch's 'danceband': Backstep and Disco Boogie. These bookended a gently lyrical duet entitled Lullabye for My Favorite Insomniac...

...danced with expressive tenderness by Ekaterina Chernikova and Jung Hm Jo (above).

In the concluding work, Grooveboxes, Nai-Ni Chen put aside her usual style of sweeping expansiveness in favor of a fast-paced, jazzy style to mirror Kenji's energetic score which was played with lively attack by the Ahn Trio.

Francisco Silvino (above) clad in sexy, fiery dancewear, was the lone male in this work. The four women in candybox colours are Ekaterina Chernikova, Saki Masuda, Riyo Mito and Jamison Goodnight.

Here are some of Kokyat's images from Grooveboxes:

Jamison Gooodnight

Francisco Silvino and Riyo Mito

Saki Masuda

Francisco Silvino

Composer Kenji Bunch and choreographer Nai-Ni Chen with the performers sharing the applause at the end of an impressive evening. Click on the image to enlarge.

With this programme, Nai-Ni Chen and her Company secured a top spot in my shortlist of dance groups to follow closely on my blog. Her choreography, her musical and stylistic expressiveness, and the beauty and spirit of her dancers are just the kind of thing I love to experience. And her East-meets-West fusion is wonderfully satisfying to the senses.

All photos: Kokyat

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Oberon's Grove gets sneak peek of this weeks premieres

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company: Rehearsal

Tuesday November 23, 2010 - I went down to Harlem today to watch part of a rehearsal of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in preparation for their upcoming performances. The Company will perform at the Harlem School of the Arts from December 2nd thru 5th. Details here. The performances are a collaboration with the Ahn Trio and composer Kenji Bunch. In addition, dances set to works by Pat Metheny and Ronn Yedidia will be premiered.

We discovered Nai-Ni Chen earlier this year when a dancer we'd met, Jamison Goodnight, joined Nai-Ni's company. Both Kokyat and I so thoroughly enjoyed the programme we saw and have been looking forward to seeing the group again. Kokyat's photo of Jamison, above.

At today's rehearsal I watched a preview of the works to be shown at the upcoming performances. Each piece is like a visual poem; certain stylistic elements run like silken threads thry the tapestries of dance but each work is also a unique response to the respective musical composition. Above: dancers Riyo Mito and Justin Lynch.

Central to the Chen/Ahn/Bunch collaboration will be a piece entitled CONCRETE STREAM. The work - which begins with a finely-wrought solo for Jamison Goodnight - will feature the musicians' participation onstage. For another Kenji Bunch composition, GROOVEBOXES, the choreographer departs from her signature style of spacious, lyrical movement and has the dancers sailing thru fast-paced, energized combinations with perfect grace.

I am not sure who has the finer fortune here: the dancers who have Nai-Ni's entrancing choreography in which they can give wing to their expressive artistry, or Nai-Ni Chen herself in having such an appealing and polished roster of dancers to turn her visions into danced reality. It's an ideal situation for all concerned.

The dancers were kind enough - at the end of a long day in the studio - to pose for some photos which of course made me wish that Kokyat had been there. It does seem that he will be photographing one of the performances next week so then I should really have some exciting images of this radiant Company to share. Above: Riyo Mito and Justin Lynch.

Wei Yao and Jamison Goodnight...

...performed an impromptu adagio for me.

Jamison and Wei

Francesco Silvino...

...tries on a new costume, and he looks great.

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Oberon's Grove Review of Moon Festival in Harlem

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in Harlem

Saturday October 16, 2010 - You have no idea how time-consuming it is to blog about dance in New York City. It's a full-time job, especially if it's to be kept current. Every single day I get invitations to performances I'd love to go to, but it's simply not possible to do it all. Only rarely these days do I get a chance to try a new company but this evening I made time in my schedule and went with Kokyat to see Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performing at the Harlem School of the Arts.

Kokyat and I see so many wonderful dancers in our travels; we see them performing, rehearsing, taking class, at intensives or taking auditions. Once in a while a dancer makes a special impression and it was one of these - Jamison Goodnight - who drew us to the Nai-Ni Chen performance tonight. I first saw Jamison at an audition for Amy Marshall Dance Company and I thought she had that special something that made me want to see more of her dancing. She performed in Amy's production, and when Kokyat and I were setting up our first blog photoshoot, Jamison was someone we wanted to be a part of it. She was so great to work with and so beautiful to watch in that up-close setting. She told us she had just joined Nai-Ni Chen and about the upcoming perfomances. Kokyat and I were genuinely excited to watch Jamison performing from the front row tonight and we were honestly thrilled by her beauty, intensity and her passion for dancing.

Every dancer in Nai-Ni's company proved to have a similar spark, making this evening a real treat to watch. And Nai-Ni Chen has created works of extraordinary poetic power and grace; in her fusion of traditional Asian dance elements with the spacious breadth of movement of contemporary Western dance, Nai-Ni offers a bridge between two cultures and she has the choreographic wisdom, the musical taste and the vivid imagination to transport us to another world.

Six works were offered tonight, two of them (Incense and The Way of Five - Fire) zoomed to the highest echelon of dance pieces that I've seen in the past twelve years. But in fact, there was not a weak link on the programme. And the music Nai-Ni has selected was an integral part of the evening's success. Superb lighting (by Tony Marques) and costuming (various designers, all of them enhancing the dancers' attractiveness and movement) gave the production added visual flair.

In Incense, four dancers clad in white move in mysterious rituals to a score by Joan LaBarbara. Hypnotic humming mingled with the sounds of nature give way to drumming as the dancers waft thru the choreographic patterns with a wondrously rapt quality. Ethereal lifts evoke the ascendance of prayers to heaven. Here Jamison and the exquisite Riyo Mito were simply gorgeous to watch while the two beautifully bare-chested boys - Jung Hm Jo and Wei Yao - were thrilling in their combination of poetry and strength. By the end of Incense, Kokyat and I were major Nai-Ni Chen fans.

The delicate sound of small bells chiming created the feel of Raindrops falling in the second and equally fascinating work. Four women are clad in satiny gowns over soft trousers; their sense of wonder to be caught in the gentle rain was charmingly depicted. The women (Ekaterina Chernikhova, Julie Judlova, Saki Masuda and Riyo Mito) each have solo passages in which we can enjoy their individual personalities. Translucent parasols are in play and the music evolves to gently percussive sounds. There came a moment that seemed to me to be a lovely final image of the dance but alas, another section followed - a celebratory finale - which was well-crafted and finely-danced but which ended Raindrops in a pleasant but less-poetic way.

Moving to the southern borders of China, Love Song of Xishuangbanna is a duet which shows the influence of Laotian and Burmese traditional dance. In richly coloured costumes, dancers Min Zhou and Wei Yao express the love poetry of the culture in which the courting man refers to the object of his affection in with floral allusions. The dancers moved fluently to the traditional folk tunes of the Dai people: yet another Nai-Ni chen jewel.

The Way of Five - Fire: the music of Tan Dun signaled a brilliant finale to the first half of the evening as five dancers, clad in vivid scarlet costumes with flared trousers, leapt and swirled about the stage in a striking dance depicting the element of Fire and its role in the ever-changing phenomena of Nature. Each dancer carried a large fan which is flicked open and closed in rhythmic patterns that illuminate the movement. This astonishingly gorgeous piece featured a striking trio for women (Saki Masuda, Jamison Goodnight and Ekaterina Chernikhova) and a combative, martial arts-styled duet for two men (Francisco Silvino and Jung Hm Jo). Tan Dun's score, with its magnificently throbbing rhythms, supported the dancers perfectly and the combination of music, movement, costuming and lighting resulted in a fascinating theatrical experience.

The second part of the evening began with the dancers in silhouette in Mirage, danced to music by Glen Velez. The sound of the gong resonates here, and the dance is inspired by the desert-dwelling tribes of the Uyghur peoples. There is a long solo with a veil danced with a tranquil sense of mystery by Ms. Chen, and in another section the slow pacing of the dancers was a simple but wonderfully expressive moment.

Min Zhou, clad in soft white like a bride in a dress spangled with peacock appliques and wearing a peony in her hair, was a pure delight in Peacock Dance. She uses her entire body to express the actions of the sacred peacock, a bird revered by the Dai people of Yunan province. Traditional Dai music in dulcimer style provides the aural imagery for the dancer in a charming portrayal of the peacock's movements which Ms. Zhou expressed with delicate and slightly ironic gestures.

Finally, Festival sets the Nai-Ni Chen dancers in a bravura celebration of the traditional Dragon Boat Festival. Banners and swirling long ribbons of fabric create joyous, flowing movement patterns while masques and an enormously tall figure (one dancer atop another's shoulders, covered in a long gown) add comic touches. Colourful folk costuming and music give the work a buoyant feeling of happiness.

Kokyat found after the performance that he could have photographed the whole evening; it's a shame we didn't clarify that beforehand because the images all thru the performences were just strikingly wonderful. He did take a couple of shots during the bows, top and here:

I am hoping to have some images from the production taken by the Company's photographer and to post them here soon.

So: we have a new and exciting addition to our dance company A-list and we are looking forward to following Nai-Ni Chen's work in the future and hopefully getting to know her and her dancers and watch them at close range.

In the immediate future there will be performances at Harlem School of the Arts on December 2nd thru 5th featuring music by composer Kenji Bunch (yay Kenji!) performed live by the Ahn Trio. Following tour dates ranging from California to Montreal, Ni-Ni Chen will be at Dance Theater Workshop May 13th - 15th, 2011. And we will surely be there also!

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Friday & Saturday, October 15 & 16, 2010, 8:00 PM Sunday, October 17, 2010, 3:00 PM

In Asia, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is one of the most important holidays on the calendar, a day rich in myth and history. For most Asian cultures, the full moon is often associated with family, unity, art and immortality.

Join the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in celebrating this special occasion in support of the arts. Each dance in the program is infused with the energy Ms. Chen acquired being a resident artist in the Harlem School of the Arts, and reflects her background as an immigrant artist who continually incorporates new and diverse ideas into her work.

The program will include:
Incense
Rain Drops
Love Song of Xishuangbanna
Way of Five - Fire
Mirage
Peacock Dance
Festival

Harlem School of the Arts
645 Saint Nicholas Avenue at 141st Street, NYC 10037

Tickets:
$15 general admission
$10 children (under 12) & seniors (over 65)
order tickets online

Moon Festival in Harlem

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

presents

Moon Festival in Harlem

Friday & Saturday, October 15 & 16, 2010, 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 17, 2010, 3:00 PM

In Asia, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is one of the most important holidays on the calendar, a day rich in myth and history. For most Asian cultures, the full moon is often associated with family, unity, art and immortality.

Join the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in celebrating this special occasion in support of the arts. Each dance in the program is infused with the energy Ms. Chen acquired being a resident artist in the Harlem School of the Arts, and reflects her background as an immigrant artist who continually incorporates new and diverse ideas into her work.

The program will include:
Incense
Rain Drops
Love Song of Xishuangbanna
Way of Five - Fire
Mirage
Peacock Dance
Festival

Harlem School of the Arts
645 Saint Nicholas Avenue at 141st Street, NYC 10037

Tickets:
$15 general admission
$10 Children under 12/Seniors over 65

Information:
(800) 650-0246
website
info@nainichen.org

Season reflection from Artistic Director Nai-Ni Chen

Very often I feel that the journey of this Company is like a voyage on an unpredictable sea. Sometimes the wind is blowing just right and we sail quickly and effortlessly, and sometimes we are tossing in a storm, trying hard to keep our balance. Looking back at this twenty-first season of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, I am amazed at what we have achieved. Once again, having a few new dancers on board contributed to the artistry and accomplishment of our work this year, but it also created some difficulties in the beginning as we readjusted the relationships among the dancers and found a new chemistry for the group. We spent hours and hours in our Manhattan rehearsal space at the Harlem School of the Arts. We traveled to ten states in the US, including California, Virginia, Iowa, Indiana, and New York, and, as always, we enjoyed our audience here in our home state of New Jersey. We also traveled for the first time to the British Virgin Islands. In all, the total number of audience members we reached with our artistry numbered nearly thirty thousand. The magic that theater creates continues to amaze me and will inspire me for many years to come. Through it, we touched many people's hearts, and, in return, their energy and support enlivened us and gave us courage and strength to continue on our journey in these difficult times. I thank all the dancers for their wonderful work. I thank Liz and Heather, whose dedicated work at the office kept us going. I thank Andy and Elyse, who spent hours to find new funding resources for us. I also thank all the Company's board members for their love, passion, and support. With them all, I look forward to our many new challenges as well as the opportunities ahead.

Dancer Kerry Lee reflects on her 1st season with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

The 2009-2010 season has been quite an exciting one for me, as I had the opportunity to perform with the company in ten US states and abroad in the British Virgin Islands. I cherish memories from each and every performance, but my experiences in Iowa and the British Virgin Islands were particularly special to me.

Burlington, Iowa, where we did an evening concert in late March, is a small city bordering the Mississippi River. As we drove across the Illinois-Iowa border from the airport, we encountered miles and miles of farmland with few people, houses, or stores in sight. We didn't even see a Wal-Mart, which is where we usually stock up on food when we tour. It was quite a contrast to New York City! On the night we arrived, a local businessman who sponsored our performance graciously escorted us in Burlington's only limo to the only Chinese restaurant in town, where they had specially prepared an authentic ten course meal just for us (normally they serve Americanized Chinese food buffet style). There we learned that the number of Chinese residents in Burlington is literally about ten. We also discovered how much our performance had been anticipated and were quite moved by the great lengths they took to show their appreciation to us. Honestly the royal treatment made us a little nervous for the performance (after all of that, we didn't want to disappoint!), but after we received a standing ovation I knew that we shouldn't have worried. We had the opportunity to talk to several audience members at the post-performance reception, and they were equally impressed by our modern pieces as our traditional Chinese dances.

If Iowa was a big contrast to New York City, the British Virgin Islands were on a whole other level. Arriving in Road Town a couple of weeks ago where the humidity felt like 1000%, we immediately realized that Nai-Ni was not joking when she cautioned us to bring sunblock. Surrounded by the strong beat of Caribbean music and the picture-perfect turquoise water as we traveled by open air taxis and ferries, it finally sunk in that I was in a foreign country about to do my first international performances as a professional dancer. Our first performance in Road Town was an educational program for school children (the second was an evening concert for the public). We have been accustomed to performing for school children in the tri-state area who enthusiastically cheer us on as we dance; even so, the BVI children were by far the warmest group we performed for this season. After the performance they couldn't wait to ask us questions, and the number of questions they had seemed endless. They were so inspired that they asked what they needed to do to join our company. Even after the Q&A officially ended, they followed us onstage to hug us, get our autographs, and get tips on how to become more flexible. You know, whenever I have a bad day and start asking myself why I am willing to endure so much to be a dancer, moments like this make the answer crystal clear. Words cannot begin to describe how rewarding it is to perform for an audience like that!

Auditions for Dancers to be held on June 2 & 3

Directions to HSA

Audition by appointment only
Please call (800)650-0246 or email info@nainichen.org to schedule
Resume and Head Shot required for audition

Nai-Ni Chen will lead the Modern Technique and Repertory Workshop with the emphasis on her unique technique and movement style. With the influence of Chinese Martial Art and Calligraphy, her modern movements are full of strength and grace and deeply connected with the flow of energy. Excerpts of dances from her signature works such as "Incense"and "Mirage" will be taught during this workshop.

Monday, May 24, 2010 - Friday, May 28, 2010
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Peridance Capezio Center
126 East 13th
New York, NY 10003
(212)505-0886
info@peridance.com
Click here for more info

Full Workshop (Mon-Fri): $90
Single Class: $20

NEW STUDENTS - Welcome!!
Special Promotion - April 1st - June 30th
10 Class-Card Series for only $120. That's only $12 dollars a class!
Valid only for students who have never taken a class at Peridance,
purchasing their FIRST class-card series!
*Student must purchase promotion within 30 days of registration!
*This promotion cannot be combined with any other promotion
Click here for coupon

Ballet, tap dancing and theatrical magic April 24 at bergenPAC

The critics are raving about this show! "Compelling mystery and emotional depth." "A significant addition to NJB's repertoire." "Very sharp and up to date." "The dancers look terrific."

Recently voted New Jersey’s Favorite Dance Company, New Jersey Ballet returns to bergenPAC on Saturday, April 24, with an evening of new ballets introduced this season.

Top Hat Medley features the historic pairing of New Jersey Ballet's dancers with members of the New Jersey Tap Dance Ensemble in a jazzy, high energy ballroom piece. Top Hat Medley was co-choreographed by The Tap Ensemble director Deborah Mitchell and Broadway dancer/choreographer James Kinney, to excerpts from Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, I Could Have Danced All Night and Begin the Beguine.

Also on the program, Kinney's own piece, March, follows six couples through an everyday day in New York. This high-spirited jazz piece explores how people meet, come together and move apart and ends with a high-stepping walk in Central Park. One critic raved, “Very sharp and up to date.”

The third featured work, The Three Riddles of Turandot, is a neoclassical ballet that takes the audience back to Ancient China where the princess Turandot will not marry any man who cannot solve her three riddles. Created by celebrated Chinese-American choreographer Nai-Ni Chen – whose company is headquartered in nearby Fort Lee -- and set to Puccini’s famous score, the tale is deftly told in dance and pantomime. Critics applaud, “a ballet of compelling mystery and emotional depth” and “sumptuously theatrical.”

Performance tickets are $50, $40, $30, $20. 201-227-1030 or www.bergenpac.org.

Exciting dance performance to showcase at HLSCC

H. Lavity Stoutt Community College’s Performing Arts Series will feature the exciting Chinese dance group, Nai-Ni Chen, as part of its next concert to be held on Saturday, April 24 at the Paraquita Bay Auditorium.

The group’s performances fuse the dynamic freedom of American modern dance with the grace and splendour of Asian art, and its productions take the audience beyond cultural boundaries to where tradition meets innovation and freedom arises from discipline.

Nai-Ni-Chen performs “like endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy,” says the New York Times.

As choreographer and dancer herself, Nai-Ni Chen is an artist whose work defies categorisation, as she is continually working on new ideas from influences around the world.

Her mesmerizing and dramatic contemporary choreography has gained increasing recognition among domestic and international presenters and festivals.

Recently, the company was honoured by a distinctive grant 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 of Mexico.

It also has the unique honor of having received more than 12 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, the China Dance Association presented to the company its most prestigious honour for companies not based in China, the Golden Lotus Award.

To date, the company has mounted 20 national tours and seven tours abroad.

The performance at HLSCC will feature 11 members of the company. The group will also perform in a Student Outreach Show on Friday, April 23 at the College Auditorium from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Admission is by pre-registration only.

The College’s Performing Arts Series this season has featured a wider variety of artists, including gospel, opera, soca, reggae, classic, jazz and now dance performances.

Tickets for Saturday night’s dance show are $30 in advance, or $35 at the door, and are available at LIME, HLSCC Bookstore, Road Town Bakery, Umi Fashions and Sunny Caribbee. HLSCC faculty and staff tickets are $20, and College and secondary school students, $10. Primary school students admitted free.

LIME and FirstBank Virgin Islands are platinum sponsors of the College’s Performing Arts Series, while several other local companies have also supported financially.

For more information and registration for the outreach show, please call Coordinator of the Performing Arts Series, Linette Baa, 852-7223.

Click here for more information

Nai-Ni Chen Dancers Shine

Civic Music brings stellar group to Burlington

By BOB SAAR
for The Hawk Eye
3/27/2010

Perhaps the brightest facet of Civic Music flashes when it brings cultural presentations down to our side of the river. The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company proved that last night at Burlington's Memorial Auditorium.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance is a blend of modern jazz and traditional Asian dance and art, and as such conjures multiple images.

Poetry in far motion is too trite. Nai-Ni Chen Dance tells stories without words.

The New York Times called them a "blossom of color, energy and motion."

Burlington has witnessed a number of Broadway musicals, replete with song and hoofing in the vein of American culture; the best of these in recent years was "Chicago" in 2008.

Compare the choreography and dancing of Nai-Ni Chen Dance with "Chicago" and this is the result: Exotic not erotic. Sensual not sexual. Precious not precision.

A hallmark of any truly creative artist is the abandonment of self before self-serving perfection takes over, and the eight Nai-Ni Chen Dance members are, without question, world-class interpretive dancers who interpret with their souls.

The troupe presented last night's largish audience with humans who danced like tigers, like serpents, like birds and horses and fishes and wraiths and even children. No one really knew exactly what was the symbolism of each dance, but everyone knew that life was the celebration.

Brilliant choreography brilliantly executed.

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is art in the truest sense.

Jung Hm Jo of Korea estimated the dancers practice and rehearse "five hours every day." Their fluid and fluent bodies support that idea: The four men and four women have taut, lithe and sinewy physiques, not the Schwarzeneggerian beefcake that so many American dancers attain with too much weight training.

Ethereal at times, street raw at others, the dances were all, with a few exceptions, interpretive jazz, blending African, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern and Latin moves with music that reflected all of those origins as well.

One curious moment occurred when the singers on the accompanying prerecorded soundtrack sounded like Yoko Ono had joined the band.

"Love Song of Xishuangbanna" is a stylized celebration from the Dai people of southwest China, portraying two young lovers. "Peacock Dance," a solo presentation by Min Zhou of China, is another Dai dance; Min played the role of the sacred peacock with perfection.

Chien-Hao Chang of Taiwan is in America for the first time, and he found Iowa to be as exciting as New York, where, he said, "there are a lot of dancers and choreographers."

The troupe heads for the Virgin Islands for its next show, and Burlington awaits Civic Music's season closer, cowboy music legends Riders in the Sky Thursday, April 29.

TONIGHT: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in Burlington, IA

Click here for more information

New Jersey ballet kicks up its heels for gala

By Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger

March 12, 2010, 5:30AM

New Jersey Ballet has planned a colorful, theatrical event for patrons who attend the company’s annual gala benefit Saturday at Prudential Hall in Newark.

In addition to classical showpieces — sunny and vibrant pas de deux from “Le Corsaire” and “The Flames of Paris” — the Livingston-based troupe will reprise “The Three Riddles of Turandot,” a darkly romantic gloss on Puccini’s opera by contemporary choreographer Nai-Ni Chen. The commissioned piece received its premiere in January.

James Kinney’s “March,” from last year, adds an upbeat note of musical theater dancing; and Saturday’s performance will have more than touch of pizzazz, as the New Jersey Tap Ensemble, another beloved local institution, teams up with the ballet dancers in “Top Hat Medley,” the rousing finale.

“We want you to be jumping out of your seats,” says New Jersey Ballet artistic director Carolyn Clark.

The “Le Corsaire” pas de deux will introduce Newark audiences to Kuei-Hsien Chu, a former dancer with the English National Ballet who makes the latest addition to New Jersey Ballet’s international roster of dance artists. Chu will partner ballerina Mari Sugawa, while company principals Kotoe Kojima-Noa and Albert Davydov will be featured in “The Flames of Paris.”

Michelle DeFremery, the company’s resident bombshell, will lead the company in “March.” In this atmospheric dance in several scenes, we follow the heroine as she makes her way through a big city. Using gestures and groupings rather than props to convey his dramatic ideas, Kinney describes a series of cityscapes, starting with the morning rush-hour on a Manhattan subway platform, passing down streets crowded with tourists and strolling languidly through Central Park.

“Turandot” is considerably less carefree. In this fantastic tale set in China’s Middle Kingdom, choreographer Chen dramatizes the life-and-death choices that the ballet’s questing hero, Calaf, must make, as he guesses the answers to three riddles posed by Princess Turandot. The prize for answering all the riddles correctly is Turandot’s hand in marriage, but execution is the penalty for failure. The piece is replete with “emotion and drama,” Clark says.

Kerry Mara Cox and Andre Luis Teixeira are the protagonists in this luxurious cat-and-mouse game. As Turandot, Cox threads her way menacingly on pointe through ensembles in which the movement of swaths of fabric complements the dancers’ energy.

Intricate rhythms are the key to “Top Hat Medley,” jointly choreographed by Kinney and New Jersey Tap Ensemble artistic director Deborah Mitchell. This sampler, dressed with piano-key elegance in tuxedos and black-and-white gowns, will feature such outstanding tap artists as Karen Callaway Williams.

According to New Jersey Ballet’s associate director, Paul H. McRae, the company’s recent collaborations with other prominent dance groups in New Jersey are part of a “cross-marketing” strategy to broaden audiences. Says Clark, “We thought that if we collaborated with different groups, it would introduce ballet to other audiences, and get them to realize that there’s more to ballet than just ‘Swan Lake.’”

The New Jersey Ballet Gala

Where: Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, One Center Street, Newark

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

How Much: Performance-only tickets are $30-$50. Patron tickets —which include cocktails — are $300. Silver Patrons, $750, also get dinner after the show. Call (973) 597-9600, or visit njballet.org.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company brings the global language of dance to the stage

Daily Sundial

March 10, 2010

By Stephanie Bermudez

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which is one of the few Asian American professional dance companies in the USA, will be performing at the Plaza del Sol Performance Hall on Tuesday, March 16 at 8 p.m.

“The dances of Nai-Ni Chen fuse the dynamic freedom of American modern dance with the grace and splendor of Asian art,” said Pamela Bock director of marketing and strategic communications of the Valley Performing Arts Center. “ … Celebrating the diversity of ideas shaped by the immigrant experience, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company bridges the gap of understanding between East and West.”

Bock said recently the Company was honored by a distinctive grant award from both the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities and the Department of State to represent the United States.

Choreographer and dancer Nai-Ni Chen is an artist whose work defies categorization, as she is continually working on new ideas from influences around the world.

“Her mesmerizing and dramatic contemporary choreography has gained increasing recognition among domestic and international presenters and festivals,” Bock said.

The dance company will be performing “Song of Phoenix,” which features original choreography of Nai-Ni Chen.

“The phoenix, known in both eastern and western cultures as an awe-inspiring creature of death- defying strength and majesty, represents the power and mystery of the feminine for the East and renewal for the West,” Bock said.

According to Bock, it brings together a seamless blend of ancient rituals and modern concepts in a unique repertoire.

“Gliding across the stage with color, lyricism and a subtle whisper of Chinese tradition … Nai-Ni Chen wishes to bring the audience on a flight through space and time to a place where tradition meets innovation and freedom arises from discipline,” Bock said.

Lena Ho, 26, says she has heard a lot of good things about the dance company and looks forward to seeing the performance. “I really enjoy watching live performances, especially from such talented artists,” said the creative writing major. “Being an Asian American myself, I’m excited to see what talent Nai-Ni Chen will bring to CSUN.”

Ho said she has already bought her ticket and plans to attend the performance with her boyfriend. “I try and take advantage of CSUN’s low ticket prices since I am about to graduate and won’t get the same discounts anymore,” Ho said.

Kathy Anthony, managing director of the performance hall believes the company will be a real treat for those who attend. “The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is a visual treat,” said Anthony. “Their costumes and movement fuse two cultures beautifully in dance, and they have done this for many, many successful years,” Anthony said.

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will be performing 8p.m, Mar.16, in the Plaza del Sol Performance Hall. For more information about the performance or to purchase tickets online visit www.arts.valleyperformingartscenter.org.

The Roar of the New Year at Sacred Heart

By Colin Gustafson, STAFF WRITER - Greenwich Time

Published: 09:54 p.m., Monday, March 1, 2010

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  Chu-Ying Ku of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company of Fort Lee, NJ, performs the Ribbon Dance with other members of the troupe at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT, Monday morning, March lst, 2010. The school was celebrating the Chinese New Year. Photo: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time | Buy This Photo
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  Convent of the Sacred Heart Kindergartener, Sophia Cone, 6, reacts as she watches the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company of Fort Lee, NJ, perform during a Chinese New Year celebration at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, Monday morning, March lst, 2010. Photo: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time | Buy This Photo
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  The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company of Fort Lee, NJ, performs the Fan Dance at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT, Monday morning, March lst, 2010. The school was celebrating the Chinese New Year. Photo: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time | Buy This Photo
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  Yao-Zhong Zhang of the The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company of Fort Lee, NJ, performs the Sword Dance at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT, Monday morning, March lst, 2010. The school was celebrating the Chinese New Year. Photo: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time | Buy This Photo

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On any other day, Convent of the Sacred Heart students would have erupted in chants of "Go! Go! Go!" as soon as Roary the Tiger sauntered into the school assembly hall.

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On Monday, however, the same cheer for the school's 10-year-old tiger mascot came in Mandarin Chinese: "Jia You! Jia You! Jia You!"

Students showed their school spirit with multicultural flair Monday morning, celebrating both the 10th anniversary of their mascot's creation and the Feb. 14 start of the Chinese New Year of the Tiger.

The celebration featured an assembly of traditional Chinese folk dances by Fort Lee. N.J.-based Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, complete with from fan- and ribbon-dance routines, and acrobatic displays of martial arts and spear twirling.

Students were later treated to a lunch of authentic Chinese cuisine with fortune cookies for dessert.

The language lessons did not end with the chanting. At the start of the assembly for middle school students, Head of School Pam Hayes welcomed students with greetings of "Happy New Year" in English, Cantonese ("gung hay fat choy") and Mandarin ("xing nian kwai le").

"I'm very pleased with Ms. Hayes' pronunciation," Sacred Heart Mandarin instructorJoanne Wu Havemeyer later joked.

Students also learned more about their favorite tiger.

Joined at the front of the assembly hall by Roary, Sacred Heart senior Paige Terry later recounted the story of how the school's mascot came to be 10 years ago. Formerly without a mascot, the school polled students in 2000 about their preference for a mascot, giving a tiger, a dragon and a "green storm" as options. The votes came back overwhelmingly in favor of a tiger.

Later, in 2006, they gave their tiger the proper name "Roary" after a similar poll that posed "Stripe" and "Grite" as other options. Since then, Roary has inspired the names of four middle school athletic teams: the Cubs, Tigers, Paws and Stripes.

"The tiger symbolizes intelligence, natural leadership, courage, selflessness and takes on the role of protector," Paige said during the assembly, as Roary mimed each trait.

Students said they enjoyed having the opportunity to learn more about Chinese culture.

"I really enjoyed the vibrant colors and the energy the dancers brought to the stage," said seventh-grader Sloane Ruffa, 13.

Photos: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time