Monday, February 16, 2015

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company welcomes Year of the Sheep at NJPAC




Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company welcomes Year of the Sheep at NJPAC
By: Robert Johnson | February 10, 2015
Photo: Joseph Wagner

An animal act always opens Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Chinese New Year celebration at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Two shaggy lion puppets with green top-knots on their heads are the stars of “Double Lions Welcoming Spring,” and you have to feel a little sorry for the pair of acrobats whose job it is to tame them: While they knock themselves out flipping and spinning, it’s hard for them to steal the spotlight from these not-so-fearsome beasts. All the lions have to do is bat their eyelashes or stretch out to nibble their toes, and they own the stage.

Watching these frolicsome characters is not only fun, but also brings good luck. So the audience at NJPAC, on Saturday, was doubly blessed.

This year Chen’s company inaugurated the Year of the Sheep, and in addition to the lions and the golden-scaled dragon who are her regular visitors, the choreographer also hosted some special guests from the Beijing Dance Academy. “No Boundaries,” a modern piece choreographed by committee, featured Zhung Tian as a black-clad hero whose fierce posturing kept him independent of a close-knit group. Though their comings and goings were fluid, one man had his head pushed down and the group’s attachment felt confining, not supportive. When two dancers seized and lifted Tian, however, he shook himself free and the ensemble scattered.

Other special guests were the jocular Xing Ye Ma, an exponent of “Bamboo Rap” who improvised tongue-twisters on the spot while accompanying himself with bamboo clackers; and Yuequin Chen, an elegant musician who drew twanging melodies from the Chinese lute known as the Ruan. The Nai-Ni Chen Youth Program Dancers were also on hand, taking a larger role in this year’s performance as youngsters of different ages multiplied the spiky attitudes of the “Peacock Dance,” and whirled through “Why Are the Flowers So Red?,” a circular dance from Xinjiang.

The folk material on these programs can be pure eye candy — banners rippling exuberantly and colored ribbons weaving through the air — or it can display intriguing particularities. In the harvest dance called “Gu Ze Yung Ge,” the man, Guixhuan Zhuang, adopted a sturdy posture, half-seated with feet planted wide apart, his body swaying from side-to-side. His sprightly companion, Min Zhou, manipulated a fluttering fan. When folk dances like these are shown alongside Chen’s contemporary works, viewers can observe how elements like the rhythm of a shuffling walk or hands poised delicately in opposition can become the building blocks of a new repertoire.

Saturday’s program reprised Chen’s “Peach Flower Landscape,” with alluring women in diaphanous robes drifting to the sound of a bamboo flute; and the more aggressive “Whirlwind,” a dance that balances images of struggle and contemplation.

Link to original publication: http://www.njarts.net/dance/nai-ni-chen-dance-company-welcomes-year-of-the-sheep-at-njpac/

New Year celebrated with dance mix


New Year celebrated with dance mix
By Niu Yue | January 26, 2015


Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company blends beauty of East, West on stage
One of the top Chinese-American-owned dance groups in the US staged a celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year by combining Chinese traditional dances with Western styles.
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performed its second Lunar New Year Celebration at the Brooklyn Center for Performing Arts on Sunday. Founded in 1988, the group, whose members are ethnically diverse ranging from China to Italy,aims to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western culture, something they did gracefully in this show.
The performance started with a salute to Chinese Lunar New Year with Double Lions Welcoming Spring,a version of the popular Lion Dance in China with interaction between the lion character and the other dancers.
Next was an excerpt fromPeach Flower Landscape,a dance drama portraying a peaceful agricultural community living in perfect harmony, signifying the coming Year of the Sheep in the Chinese zodiac. The sheepsignifies quietness, gentleness and peace in Chinese culture.
"It has a beautiful scene at sunset, and dancers wear gold, just like peace flowers in the golden sunlight,"said Nai-Ni Chen, the dance company's founder and choreographer. "That's why I choose this program. It talks about a peaceful land without war.”
The dance drama was also typical in Chen's combination of Western and Oriental culture. The choreography was based on a story written by Tao Yuanming, a Chinese poet from the 4th century. Dancers used techniques fromtaichi to control their breathing and movement.
"Look at how dancers' wrist joints make different gestures and movements. That's purely Chinese,"said Chen. "Western dancers are not as mellow as Chinese, they wouldn't move smaller joints in the body."
"Unbelievable,"said audience member Diane Sears, as the 100-minute show alternated between Chinese tradition and Western contemporary.
After Peach Flower Landscape came dances popular in north and northeastern China for the Gods' blessings for a good harvest and traditional street performances from central China.
Also included in the program was Whirlwind, whose Western-style choreography was inspired by the Silk Road — from Buddhist sculptures in northwestern China to the beauty of India and Central Asia.
About a dozen guest artists from China took part in the performance. Ma Xingye amazed non-Chinese-speaking viewers with his kuaiban or traditional Chinese rap accompanied by percussion from bamboo chips. He could utter around 450 syllables a minute and it needed no translation to be appreciated.
The show concluded with a dragon dance that drew cheers from the audience, more than half of whom were non-Asian.
Following its Sunday premier, the company will stage New Year's-themed school time performances on Monday at Brooklyn College and Wednesday and Thursday at Queens College this week. Another performance is scheduled for February 7 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
The performance is part of the Happy Chinese New Year series sponsored by China's Ministry of Culture, a campaign to celebrate Chinese New Year all over the world, said Wu Zhao, a consul of the Consulate General of China in New York.In addition, China Central Academy of Fine Arts will display works of Chinese artists at Lincoln Center on Feb 17. China's star violinist Tian Jiaxin is expected to perform at Carnegie Hall on Feb 18, Lunar New Year's Eve, and the New York Philharmonic will team up with Chinese musicians for a concert on Feb 24.