Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in Millstone

New Jersey celebrates the Chinese Year of the Tiger

Program at NJPAC just a few miles from original 1871 observance in Belleville

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

New Jerseyans can publicly welcome the New Year – 4708, for those keeping count – this weekend at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

With 2 p.m. performances Saturday and Sunday of a "Year of the Tiger" program, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company of Fort Lee will complete a 12-year cycle of dances based on the Chinese zodiac.

It's not just the coincidence with St. Valentine's Day that makes this annual celebration special, according to Andrew Chiang, the company's executive director. The Tiger is "a great year: vitality, strength and honesty," he said. "We need a good boost."

The location is also significant, because NJPAC is just downstream from the site of the first public celebration on Chinese New Year in New Jersey, the Passaic Steam Laundry in Belleville.

Taiwan native Chen is well known in the dance world, and her 22-year-old company tours extensively. It will perform the new program at multiple locations around New York.

"But it's much more special at NJPAC," where the performances will be the centerpiece of a larger cultural celebration, Chiang said.

Festivities include separate entrance parent-child workshops at 12:30 p.m. to make colorful masks for the colorful "Lion Dance;" masters of paper folding and paper cutouts who will demonstrate their works; handicrafts by other artisans, sounds by The Chinese Music Ensemble of New York; the country's oldest and largest Chinese orchestra, plus the option of feasting at Chinatown Restaurant in Harrison.

"As Chinese-Americans, not only do we carry the tradition, but we came here to develop new things," Chiang said.

In all, it promises to be somewhat more elaborate that the 1871 observance by laundrymen in Belleville. The 68 workers had only been in town a few months, traveling by train from San Francisco to the rural station called Santiago Park, then riding wagons the last six miles to their new dormitory home, fenced in at the Passaic Steam Laundry.

The business belonged to a retired sea captain, James Hervey, and was already successful. But not successful enough, for Hervey's employees were strangely ungrateful.

It seemed to the captain that his laundresses, mostly Irish immigrants, were lucky to be here. After all, one of the first major laws adopted by the new American republic had been the Naturalization Act of 1790, which offered a route to citizenship only to "free, white persons." The Irish barely met the criteria.

When his recalcitrant workers staged a work stoppage for higher wages, Hervey followed the "let's you and him fight" style of management. Looking across the continent for replacements, he dispatched a foreman and assistant to San Francisco, even providing money to hire an interpreter, Charley Ming.

Frustrated gold miner Wah Lee had established a "wash-house establishment" in the California city in 1851. Its success was a cultural accident.

Whatever piety, intrepidity and technology Europeans carried with them to the New World, they did not bring strong traditions of personal cleanliness. In Anglo-Saxon society, washing was women's work. That was a problem in the mining boomtowns, where the very few women tended to be otherwise engaged. Lee recognized he could build a service industry without irritating whites.

Chinese immigration never amounted to more than 4 percent of the nation's total. But no sooner had Chinese crews driven the final spikes for continental railroads than the unlucky, unskilled or just plain shiftless began heading west in record numbers.

Whites certainly didn't expect to arrive at the Pacific to find Asians holding jobs. Over the coming decades, racism grew into a wave of ethnic clearances from California to British Columbia. One businessman advised his son to "go back to China when you make your money ... if you stay here, the white man will kill you."

Back in mid-century China, though, the British fought two wars to force their surplus opium into the country. Much of central China fell to the vast insurgent armies of the Taiping Rebellion, in what some historians consider the bloodiest human conflict until World War II.

(As a young man, the Taiping leader, Hong Xiuquan, had been exposed to Christian missionaries, which led to the revelation that he was Jesus' younger brother. Also, that he should free China from the Manchu demons of the Qing dynasty.)

In sum, New Jersey never looked so good.

The Belleville laundrymen scarcely had been in their new quarters for 12 hours when reporters from Newark and New York arrived to peer at the wondrous heathens. Hervey reassured the New York World that the newcomers were segregated from his remaining female employees, even while at work.

A few months later in 1871, the reporters were back at the "scrupulously clean" dormitory to observe the New Year goings-on. The Newark Advertiser seemed particularly puzzled by the amount of tea, music, banging gongs and divinations, but all agreed that the decorations were colorful, representations of deities artful, and the men helpful.

"There can nowhere be ... a busier, more orderly group of workmen," said Scribner's Monthly.

New Yorkers worried about an inundation "of painted and pig-tailed Mongolians residing here, will be surprised to learn how few the number really is and how largely they have conformed themselves to the manners and customs of those about them," said the Tribune.

Indeed, shortly after their arrival, some of the men had turned up at local churches and Sunday schools.

After news of a mutually incited riot that left French nuns and officials dead, as well as Chinese, Hervey got death threats and a crowd demanded he fire the workers. But others in Belleville, including returned missionaries, rallied to their support and the furor ended.

When one of the men died of pneumonia, the Newark Advertiser covered the funeral, finding "genuine sadness." It reported, "death raises the same feelings in the heart of the heathen as in the Christian."

That wasn't the feeling in much of America. To "preserve Anglo-Saxon civilization without contamination or adulteration," in the words of one senator, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, denying entry, re-entry or naturalization to any person of Chinese descent. The U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly upheld the law, and the number of Chinese in America fell 30 percent over two decades.

But at the Passaic Steam Laundry, the genie was already out of the bottle. Over the years, many of the men and their relatives had left the company to start their own ventures. Ong Yung, the brother of one, is credited with opening the first Chinese laundry in Manhattan off Chatham Square.

On Feb. 8, 1883, the New York Times reported on Manhattan's New Year celebrations, led by the community's patriarchs, "the laundry owners." But devout Chinese were headed for Belleville, and "the only Chinese joss-house or place of worship in the vicinity of this city."

The newspaper found "the shrine was fantastically decorated with cut-paper ornamentation, containing grotesque figures of Chinese men, women and animals." Throughout the day, worshippers of "devout face and humble mien" attended ceremonies supplemented with food, music and firecrackers.

For information on this weekends performances and mask workshops at NJPAC, visit njpac.org or call (888) 466-5722. For more information, other performances or the banquet, contact the dance company at nainichen.org or (800) 650-0246.

Joe Tyrrell may be reached at jtyrrell@newjerseynewsroom.com

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company rings in Chinese New Year

By Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger

February 11, 2010, 6:46PM

Dancers Noibis Licea, Chun-Yu Lin and Julie Judlova of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Where: Victoria Theater, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, One Center Street, Newark
When: Saturday Feb, 13 and Sunday.
2 p.m.
How much: Performance tickets are $20, $22. Call (888) 466-5722 or visit njpac.org.For banquet tickets and information, call (800) 650-0246.

Chinese New Year is a time for feasting. Yet even before waiters parade to the table carrying mounds of steaming delicacies, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will offer dance fans a banquet of movement, color and light.

The company’s beloved "Chinese New Year Celebration" returns to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, in Newark, this weekend, and Chen describes the spectacle as a "visual feast" that is every bit as satisfying — and less fattening — than the 12-course meal offered as an option to hungry viewers after the show.

Chen is a contemporary choreographer based in Fort Lee, and she has lived in the United States for many years. So while her program features traditional music and dance, including the indispensable good-luck opening "Double Lions Welcoming the Spring," this frisky program also features Chen’s original dance creations.

Even the folk dances have been enriched by the dancers’ Westernized approach.

In addition to a reprise of Chen’s mysterious and darkly glinting piece "Mirage," the company will present the premiere of "Earth," the latest in a series of Chen dances subtitled "The Way of Five," and inspired by Chinese alchemy. Chen says she has choreographed weighted movement, and layered ensembles for this piece, which is set to a commissioned electronic score by Rutgers composer Gerald Chenoweth.

The coming year is the Year of the Tiger in China’s lunar calendar, where every year is associated with a different animal rotating in a 12-year cycle. "The tiger is a very strong and powerful animal," Chen says, explaining why her new work, "Earth," focuses on images of deep-seated strength and balance. While both the tiger and the earth are dynamic
entities, Chen says that they radiate peace and harmony. So in contrast to other works in the "Way of Five" series, the new piece ends serenely as couples come together. "I encouraged the dancers to be very sincere, and to feel each other’s energy," Chen says, adding, "They feel a real connection."

Two new folk dances have been added to the program. As its title suggests, the "Love Song of Xishuangbana" is a duet for lovers who find themselves in an amorous paradise also suitable for Valentine’s Day. Here the dancers’ flexed wrists and gracefully curved bodies reflect the influence of the Southeast Asian dance styles.

"Young Ge," the second new dance, is a rousing group number usually performed in the fields, when farmers gather in the harvest. A specialist, professor Wei Chen of Sichuan University, has staged both folk numbers, but Nai-Ni Chen says that she also asked her dancers to participate by contributing ideas. The freedom to improvise with the folk dance steps, Western-style, Chen says, has given these dances a special beauty.

The "Chinese New Year Celebration" will also feature a musical interlude, in which the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York plays traditional instruments like the stringed "Erhu," the dulcimer-like "Yangquin" and the high-pitched, double-reed horn known as the "Souna."

"It’s all very celebratory," Chen says, "So I think the audience will enjoy it."

Robert Johnson may be reached at rjohnson@starledger.com.

See the lion dance

Millstone Examiner - February 10, 2010

MILLSTONE — Just in time for the Chinese New Year, the Millstone Township Performing Arts Center (MPAC) will present “Dragon’s Tale.”

“Dragon’s Tale” consists of a series of dances inspired by Chinese festivals and rituals. In addition to traditional dance steps, the program at 3 p.m. on Feb. 28 features martial arts, acrobatics and audience participation. The show will be performed by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company.

A New Jersey resident, Nai-Ni Chen was one of the most renowned Chinese classical dancers in the Republic of China. Chen founded her own company in 1988. Since then, she has created a wide-ranging repertory that includes dances that originated thousands of years ago and abstract, modern creations.

Tickets for “Dragon’s Tale” cost $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and for children under 12.

MPAC will continue its season lineup with a presentation of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” at 8 p.m. on March 13. Tickets cost $45 for orchestra seats and $40 for all other reserved seats. Seniors get $5 off the ticket price for this performance.

Call the box office at 732-446-8480 today or e-mail MPAC@millstone.k12.nj.us for tickets and more information.

12-course feasts at Harrison restaurant to follow next weekend's Chinese New Year dance shows at NJPAC

Saturday, February 06, 2010

By SARAH RAHMAN

STAFF WRITER - THE JERSEY JOURNAL

The internationally renowned Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will be in Newark next Saturday and Sunday to kick off the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Tiger.

Among the attendees at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center will be Jersey City residents Julia and Jordan Allen, adopted sisters from China who were brought here, 14 and nine years ago respectively, by their mother and grandmother, Robin and Eileen Allen.

"Each year we try to do something different for the new year," said Robin Allen, a Corbin Avenue resident.

"I've taken them over to New York before for the celebration, although they are a little terrified of the firecrackers."

Allen added that the three plan to make a trip back to China in 2011 to celebrate Jordan's 10-year anniversary of being adopted, but in the meantime are "really looking forward to the Feb. 14th performance."

Following the performances at NJPAC, a 12-course New Year's feast will be offered on both nights at Chinatown Restaurant in Harrison, beginning at 4 p.m.

The five-star, award-winning chef, Chef Ni, is scheduled to create dishes not available on the regular menu at the 218 Harrison Ave. restaurant.

The dance program at NJPAC will feature traditional favorites like the Lion Dance, as well as new Chinese dances by guest choreographers Wei Chen, Min Zhou and Wei Yao.

Choreographer Nai-Ni Chen is a native of Taiwan who attended the Chinese Cultural University at age 14 for eight years of intensive training in Peking Opera, martial arts, music, ballet and modern dance. She was a part of a Chinese performing arts tour that brought Chinese culture and dance to 17 countries, including a one-month engagement at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway.

She formed her company in 1988, and has performed at major art centers in 35 states. Since 1997, the company has been a resident company at the Harlem School of the Arts and receives support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Tickets for the 2 p.m. shows are available. For the performance and banquet afterwards, costs are $75 for adults, $25 for children and $650 for a table of 10. Tickets are $22 for adults and $12 for children for the performance only.

For more information, call (800) 650-0246 or visit nainichen.org/tiger.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company on SundayArts

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will be on SundayArts this Sunday, February 7, 2010 at noon on THIRTEEN and 3pm on WLIW.
SundayArts Programming for 2/7/2010 – A thirty second promo for the SundayArts programming to air February 7, 2010.

Opening Doors with New and Old

NEW YORK TIMES
By Tammy La Gorce

Published: January 29, 2010

EXPRESSION THROUGH MOVEMENT Members of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company rehearsing at the Harlem School of the Arts for performances Feb. 13 and 14 in Newark. Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times



THE dancer and choreographer Nai-Ni Chen tossed around terms like “movement vocabulary” at a recent rehearsal in Harlem for her company’s coming performances at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. And it was easy getting her to talk about the importance of educating audiences through modern works as notable for their boldness as their beauty. But ultimately, Ms. Chen wants the performances of her troupe, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, founded in Fort Lee in 1988, to be accessible.

Ms. Chen, 50, said that incorporating both modern and traditional dance “opens the door for a lot of people.”

“It lets them get interested,” she said.

Her company will present Chinese New Year shows on Feb. 13 and 14 at the performing arts center, as it has done for many years. Earlier in the week it will offer performances for school groups.

“There is so much treasure to be found in traditional dance,” Ms. Chen said. “Even though my company is modern, it would be stupid of me not to make use of that treasure.”

So Ms. Chen’s audiences generally see a mélange of dances: some modern, some traditional and some hybrids. In the performances at the arts center, for example, the company will wear traditional Chinese costumes and perform the familiar ribbon and lion dances to music played on Chinese instruments. But at some point during the 100-minute program the dancers will change into less vibrant costumes for “Earth,” a modern collaboration between Ms. Chen and Gerald Chenoweth, a composer and composition professor at the Mason Gross School fo the Arts at Rutgers University.

“Earth” is part of a five-piece cycle Ms. Chen began working on three years ago. (She has already explored water, for which Mr. Chenoweth also composed music, and fire; next she plans to tackle metal and wood.)

“Earth” has special significance this year, she said, alluding to the Chinese calendar. “This is the Year of the Tiger, and tigers are a very strong, earthy animal.”

Mr. Chenoweth, of Princeton, created the music for “Earth” on his computer, a process that he said afforded certain advantages. “Nai-Ni’s choreography will expand in certain areas or contract in others — she’ll say, ‘I need 45 seconds here’ — and the editing is very easy,” he said.

The music, which will be played from a CD for the Newark shows but may later be expanded to include a live percussionist, is “almost entirely percussion, a lot of gongs and cymbals,” said Mr. Chenoweth, 66. “It doesn’t sound like traditional Chinese music, though I’ve used some of the instruments.”

In the group’s recent rehearsal at the Harlem School of the Arts, eight of the troupe’s 10 members practiced a traditional Chinese folk dance. Four women whirled sequined scarlet scarves and bright pink silk fans while their male counterparts leapt athletically around and between them.

“They need the practice for this one,” Ms. Chen explained, as recorded music played and a coach shouted cues. “A lot of them didn’t major in traditional dance in college.”

Neither did Ms. Chen. She started dancing as a 4-year-old in Taiwan, and later trained there in ballet and folk dance before attending a performance arts school whose curriculum included modern dance, jazz and Chinese martial arts. While enrolled there, she joined the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, spending three years with the company. In 1982, she enrolled at New York University.

“After I came to the States I was more focused on curating dance,” she said. “My major was not just performance. It was education and choreography.”

Ms. Chen said that after N.Y.U. she thought, “I love to perform, but would that satisfy me as an artist, just doing the work of Western culture?”

Eventually she concluded that “my thirst for expressing myself, both East and West, could only happen through creating my own company.”

Four of Ms. Chen’s dancers are based near her home in Fort Lee, where she lives with her husband, Andy Chiang, the company’s executive director, and their daughter, Sylvia, 14. The rest live mainly in New York, and their backgrounds are varied. “One is from China, one is from Taiwan, one is from South Korea, one is from upstate New York,” Ms. Chen said.

What they share is respect for the many forms of expression through movement.

“This is my first season, and I knew nothing about Chinese before I started,” said Nijawwon Matthews, 23, of Fort Lee, who is black. “I’ve danced with a lot of companies, but this was a brand-new experience for me.

“One thing I’ve learned is that Chinese dance comes from a let-go place,” he said during a break in rehearsal. “You have to be incredibly detailed and athletic, but it also takes you to a place in your imagination. It’s made me humble. I’ve learned to be humble.”

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will perform at the Victoria Theater in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street, Newark, on Feb. 13 and 14 at 2 p.m. njpac.org or (888) 466-5722.