Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Force of Nature

2011-12-29T09:26:00.000-08:00

Force of Nature

Nai-Ni Chen and her company, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, prepare to perform their annual Chinese New Year celebration.

Posted December 12, 2011 by Karyn D. Collins

If the only thing that choreographer Nai-Ni Chen and her company, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, did all season was their annual Chinese New Year celebration, scheduled for January 21 and 22 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Victoria Theater, the group would still be noteworthy.

The annual event—this year celebrating the Year of the Dragon—brings together dancers and musicians from New Jersey and New York City’s expansive Chinese cultural community. The experience, which immerses audiences in the sights and sounds of Chinese culture—will be further enriched by a traditional Chinese New Year banquet following the January 21 matinee.

But there’s more to the magic of Nai-Ni Chen than her Chinese New Year extravaganza.

In the 24 years that Chen has been part of the New Jersey arts community, the choreographer has gained a reputation as the creator of richly constructed works that seamlessly blend Western modern dance with aspects of culture from Chen’s native Taiwan, from having her dancers emulate the dramatic flourishes of calligraphy to employing traditional legends as themes.

For Chen, 52, who lives in Englewood, that blending is just doing what comes naturally.

“My main goal has always been using dance as a way to communicate with people,” she says. “It’s one way that I know how to express myself and cross cultural boundaries to share something with people and hopefully transform people’s lives. I try not only to move forward in the programs that we do, but to go back to see what’s valuable and what made these traditions passed down for thousands of years so special.”

To be certain, the Chen Company focuses on contemporary works that reflect the choreographer’s richly varied culture and dance background.

In Taiwan, Chen studied ballet, folk dance, martial arts and Peking opera, as well as Western modern dance. Her career there included performing with the renowned Taiwanese modern dance company Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. Chen came to the United States in the 1980s, originally to study dance at New York University.

Today, Chen’s company is recognized as one of this country’s few Asian-American professional dance ensembles. Chen’s prominence is reflected by a long list of honors, including choreography fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and, in 2011, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Chen says she turns to nature for much of her inspiration. “Nature is the master, it’s the teacher. It teaches me how to use rhythm, how to vary dynamics, how to make things flow on stage,” she says. “I think you can learn so much in observing animals and nature. My movement style comes from a lot of observation of that.”

Not surprisingly, Chen’s hobbies include hiking through the woods and dabbling in painting as well as playing the piano. She also stays busy raising her 16-year-old daughter, Sylvia, with husband Andy Chiang, a computer programmer who serves as the Chen Company’s executive director.

Chen fans rave about the company’s technical abilities and the choreographer’s knack of seamlessly melding styles and cultural influences. They also enjoy the often arresting visual imagery that Chen creates.

“It’s a beautiful perspective. Her work is truly special and spectacular,” says Sanaz Hojreh, assistant vice president of arts education for NJPAC, where the Chen Company is a regular presence. “You can’t sit and watch her work and not be moved.”

On The River of Dreams

2011-10-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Oberon's Grove blog post (by Philip Gardner)

"On the River of Dreams" was originally choreographed by Nai-Ni Chen in 1988. She has revived it, and Kokyat and I were very taken with it at the studio rehearsal on October 7, 2011 as danced by Riya Mito and Guanglei Hui. In this love duet, a fisherman and a water nymph depict their journey on the river of life. A bamboo pole will provide a link between the two dancers in performance.

Guanglei Hui and Riya Mito of Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company: even in a studio setting and wearing practice clothes, they wove a poetic dance full of expressive detail. This is so characteristic of Nai-Ni's work, and of the generosity and artistry of her dancers.

Photos by Kokyat.

In the Studio with Nai-Ni Chen

2011-10-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Oberon's Grove blog entry (by Philip Gardner)

Friday September 7, 2011 - Nai-Ni Chen is one of my favorite choreographers. Her work is rooted deep in the ancient cultures of Asia but it also has a contemporary sweep and sheen that

make it extremely appealing. She seems to find the very essence of whetever musical forms she is working with, and to sense the undercurrents of energy in a rhythmic pattern.

Her dancers are finely attuned to her concepts and they move with a certain fluidity of style that has a ceremonial

elegance.

Today I went to watch Nai-Ni's rehearsal at DANY studios; she spent the first couple of hours having her dancers work with composer/percussionist Glen Velez. Glen was tapping out rhythmic patterns on a frame drum and the dancers were chanting in accented counter-rhythms. This actually has a genuine musical appeal. From there Nai-Ni asked the dancers to improvise movement, using the breathing mechanism of sustained chanted notes as a support while branching out on the ideas that Glen had shared with them. This led to some really lovely expressive improv.

I posted some of my snapshots from Glen's class on Facebook here. It was so enjoyable to watch Nai-Ni's dancers but I needed to be at another rehearsal at DANY so I left them chanting and improvising. Later, after Kokyat arrived, we decided to go back to Nai-Ni's studio and that's when Kokyat took the photos in this article.

Ekaterina Chernikhova, Riyo Mito, Sarah Pon, Jamison Goodnight

Ekaterina Chernikhova, Jung Hm Jo, Noibis Licea, Sarah Pon, Jamison Goodnight, Riyo Mito

Jamison Goodnight, Jung Hm Jo, Guanglei Hui, Noibis Licea, Ekaterina Chernikhova

Riyo Mito

Sarah Pon, Riyo Mito, Jamison Goodnight

Guanglei Hui, Ekaterina Chernikhova

Jamison Goodnight

Riyo Mito

Sarah Pon, Jung Hm Jo

Riyo Mito, Jamison Goodnight, Ekaterina Chernikhova

Photos by Kokyat

2011-05-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's 'Dragons on the Wall' celebrates freedom, growth and change

Published: Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 10:40 AM

By Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger

NEW YORK — The dancers lie folded upon themselves and rounded like stones at the start of "Dragons on the Wall (Tianji)," a dance of rare intensity that the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, from Fort Lee, revived on Friday at Dance Theater Workshop.

Strewn across the floor and mostly isolated, they seem immovable and beyond reach.

Yet the great force that compressed these figures resides latent within them. In the background, the amplified sound of breathing suggests this scene is not a barren field, but an incubator. Each human knot is tense, awaiting the moment when a hidden spring will release it. When the dancers unlock their limbs and assemble in a circle on the floor, arms stretching toward a common center, the slow revolutions of this design suggest the inevitability of growth and change.

Despite the darkness of its scenes — almost the whole dance is cast in gloomy shadows — "Dragons" is an optimistic piece. The struggle that it portrays, as bodies attempt to escape confinement with sharp exhalations of breath, is a struggle that must be won. Pushed to the back of the stage and arrayed in a line, individuals make their way forward cautiously yet determinedly, ignoring whatever it is that makes them cringe and dodge. Notably they do not need to work together to achieve their goal. The desire to cross this space works inside each one like a hidden motor, an inborn yearning for freedom.

Inspired by the poetry of Chinese dissident writer Bei Dao, by ancient legends and by the challenges that beset the world today, "Dragons" is an ambitious piece. It comes elaborately dressed with props, projections and hanging fabric, all of which looked more elegant in 2001, when this dance made its debut on a proscenium stage at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

At DTW, viewers peer down into a pit, and Chen Shen’s scenery, which should dominate the space, is not as lofty or as magical in effect.

The dance remains filled with images of mysterious potency, however, reinforced by the aura of whispering, clanging sounds composed by Joan La Barbara, and by the dancers’ own strangled cries. At one point, sheets of paper rain down from the sky. Fragile things, they are easily disposed of. Yet not before a woman rescues some. Her eyes widen, as she contemplates the significance of the precious sheaf of papers in her hands.

Duets seem wary and mistrustful, conducted just out of reach of watchmen who pass by carrying lanterns. Yet in the small space that remains to them, the partners seem to find a haven where they can rest undisturbed.

Long sheets of fabric unfurl, and dancers slide along them on their backs working their way upstream. Others gather on the shore, as if waiting to embark. Although much of the choreography has a stolid, sculptural quality, the impulse to move builds gradually gathering momentum until it finally explodes as calligraphic action-painting.

In the finale, all restrictions seem lifted. Dragging heavy tubs to the border of a canvas, the dancers fling water into the air, and smear the stage with gleaming jets of ink. Never has the act of writing seemed so all-consuming or so liberating. Significantly, only when Chen’s characters can taste freedom do they form a genuine community.

Robert Johnson: rjohnson@starledger.com

Read the review on NJ.com

Dance Review

2011-02-24T10:51:00.001-08:00

Dance Review Commentary (as seen on 2/12/2011)
Temecula Old Town Community Theater, Temecula, CA

By Rob Appel

From their resident home at the Harlem School of the Arts in New York City (for more than 10 years), the 9-dancer Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company brought to us, one of the finest contemporary and modern dance companies to have appeared at the Temecula Old Town Community Theatre annual Dance Series. Representing the ‘grace and splendor of Asian Art’, it is indeed a pleasure to see a group of dancers, whose quality of dancer’s technique is equaled by the superb choreography of Nai-Ni Chen! What a satisfying marriage!

Opening with a welcome greeting by Temecula Artists Advocate Lauri Torok, the Nai-Ni Chen dancers presented a varied program of seven (7_ dance creations of choreographer nai-Ni Chen, to the excellent lighting designs of AC Hichcox (Rain Drops, Incense and Bamboo Prayer), Barry Steele (Peacock Dance), Susan Summers (Way of Five-Fire) and Carolyn Wong (Love Song of Xishuanbanna and Mirage). Lighting plays such a key role in the visual success of any dance – all the more so, with Nai-Ni Chen’s casting of dancers representing a round-the-world cross-section of excellent dancers – Ekaterina Chernikhova (Russia), Jamison Goodnight (US), Jung Hm Jo (Korea), Saki Masuda (Japan), Riyo Mito (Japan), Francisco Silvino (Brazil), Wei Yao (China), Min Zhou (China) and Nai-Ni Chen (China), it was a banquet of super bodies and technique!

In Rain Drops, choreographer Nai-Ni Chen has her four female dancers, bare-footed, in the very flattering-to-the-figure, paneled Chinese dresses – moving effortlessly to the music of Henry Wolff (and others), while introducing the audience to the symmetric-design of Chinese umbrellas opening-closing-twirling…what peaceful patterns of serenity. The second work, titled just Incense shared two couples in “recalling the ritual of the incense offerings at a temple”. An American female dancer (Jamison Goodnight), a Korean male dancer (Jung Hm Jo), a Japanese female dancer (Riyo Mito), and a Chinese male dancer (Wei Yao…together, in a quartet of blissful harmony of movement…very precise and restrained.

Even though each dance work presented, stood very much on its own elegance, there were a couple of stop-your-breath moments of such incredible beauty. One came with the solo piece The Peacock Dance, danced by the rather sensational Min Zhou (from China)…as she created a bird peacock…drinking water, walking, working, running and combing its feathers. (As noted) with over 55 ethnic groups in China, each with its unique traditions of dance and music, the Peacock is considered a sacred bird among the Dai people of the Yunnan Province. Min Zhou’s captivating hands and head movements left no doubt to the story she told – fabulous!

This viewer’s favorite though, was The Way of Five – Fire – in which, powerful and strong, Brazilian male dancer (Francisco Silvino) led the exploration focus into the element of fire. Both choreographed and costumed (in all red Kung-fu wardrobe) by Nai-Ni Chen, the five dancers related to the elements of wood, fire, water, metal and earth, with the extremely effective use of Chinese fans – opening and snapping-closed to the dramatic moments in the music of Tan Dun. This dance piece is very physical when needed, lyrical when called-upon, and virtually explosive in a dynamic finale to Act I.

In the second act, three works were featured – the opening Bamboo Prayer with Nai-Ni Chen herself, dancing (with four female dancers)…making most effective use of long 10-foot, very flexible bamboo poles – reflecting mankind’s nobility and virtue – symbolizing justice, strength and humiliy. Nai-Ni Chen loves to use ‘props’ as extensions of her messages. In the succeeding duet by the tall and lanky Chinese male dancer Wei Yao, and the absolutely brilliant Min Zhou…Love Song of Xishuanbanna – is inspired by a tropical zone on the Yunnan Province of Southwest China, endowed with sufficient sunshine and rainfall, which is the cradle and paradise for wildlife, as well as the habitat for more than 5,000 tropical plants…this was the resource for this very stylized dance – a young couple admiring each other in this beautiful paradise. So performed these two fine dancers in another ‘hightlight’ of the evening’s program.

The full ensemble of 9-dancers came together in the concert’s finale, simply titled Mirage to the music of Glen Velez…and, though a bit too long (could have been edited down for easier focus and consumption)…nevertheless, the Nai-Ni Chen dancers worked hard and delivered a sterling evening of quality dance. Seems much a shame that more of the SD [San Diego] dance community do not take these unique opportunities to see this quality of contemporary and modern dance.

www.theatrereviews.com

'Year of the Rabbit' review: Dancing to bring luck, fortune to the New Year

2011-02-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

Published: Wednesday, February 09, 2011, 8:00 AM

By Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger

Putting your left fist into your right hand, and then wishing your neighbor a Happy Chinese New Year, will bring good luck and happiness.

That’s according to Andy Chiang, the executive director of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which welcomed the Year of the Rabbit with a boisterous Chinese New Year celebration at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on Saturday.

It worked! The happiness started immediately, as soon as Chiang concluded his introduction and the curtain rose on the “Lion Dance,” an annual tradition featuring two men in a lion suit with a spectacular, wooden mask and the lion’s acrobatic handler.

In a shower of good fortune, the program also offered a striking Kunque Opera solo; a song recital by guest artists; folk dance favorites; and samples from Chen’s modern repertory displaying the sinuous and appealing physicality that is one of her trademarks.

The first duet of the evening showcased an odd couple. While the acrobat, Yao-Zhong Zhang, remained cheerfully deadpan, channeling his energy into foot-slapping leaps, his furry companion, the lion, was more relaxed and expressive. Though tempted by the toy that the acrobat held out to him, this jovial beast was too tame to charge after it, flopping on the ground to bite at imaginary fleas and needing to be roused from a nap.

lyrical partner

In “Duet on the River of Dreams,” Saki Masuda made a lyrical partner for Francisco Silvino, the boatman poling along an eternal stream. While he remained weighted, offering her support and framing her with the pole, Masuda embarked on playful adventures, always returning, however, to her place beside him.

Min Zhou and Wei Yao were the young couple flirting in “The Love Song of Xishuangbanna,” based on the traditional dances of the Dai people of Yunnan Province. Their oblique, twisting moves and finicky gestures, with the index finger bent, suggested the influence of neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.

Zhang returned in “The Double Spear Warrior,” an episode from Kunque Opera, an ancient Chinese performing art. Preening and striking poses in a costume that extended the lines of his body, with an extravagant, feathered headdress and platform shoes, Zhang was still able to twirl two batons and perform gymnastic feats.

Chen’s contemporary ensemble pieces were the most ambitious works on the program, however, from the wary and intensely contained “Way of Five — Fire,” in which the dancers sparred and brandished large fans as if they were weapons, to “Bamboo Prayer,” a dance in which bamboo poles created an environment trembling with life and energy.

Varying the mood and style, guest musicians David M. Liao and Linda Xia offered a trio of classical songs, his baritone warm and caressing to her piano accompaniment.

The matinee concluded with the “Dragon Dance,” actually a suite in which the title character, a serpentine puppet with gleaming, golden scales, made his appearance surrounded by dances in which the performers manipulated colorful ribbons, flags and kerchiefs. This kaleidoscopic ending placed the final, seal of good luck on the event, expressing everyone’s hopes for a New Year just as bright.

Photo by Joseph Wagner

CALIFORNIAN: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company celebrates nature

2011-02-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

By HOLLY HERNDON - For The Californian | Posted: Thursday, February 10, 2011 1:35 pm

When Nai-Ni Chen watches the changing of the seasons from her home on the East Coast she sees not only one of Mother Nature's greatest visual spectacles but also gets inspiration she can use in her day job.

"Ever since I was a little child I was very observant of nature," Chen said during a recent phone interview. "I would watch the clouds in the sky and the seasons change and it was like, somehow, I was born with a lot of interest in these things and I use them in my choreography. I see the colors. I feel the rhythm and I see the imagery change so I use nature as a subject."

Born in Taiwan, Chen began her training at the young age of four, specializing in Chinese dance. As a teenager, she branched out into various other styles of the dance genre as well as martial arts and music study. She began her professional dance career just out of college and has been on stage ever since.

Artistic Director and Choreographer Chen started Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in 1988 and, together with nine additional touring dancers, she has since won dozens of awards and critical acclaim for the unique style and vision she calls "cross cultural contemporary."

"I have a lot of training in traditional Chinese dance and the culture and philosophy but I've also been in this country for a long time so I'm trained as a modern dancer and choreographer so my work combines both cultures," she said. "My dancers also have very strong backgrounds and come from very different places like China, Korea, Brazil and the United States. It's a very international company and once they join the company they all bring their own specialties and their diverse unity which the others will learn. We are basically immersed into this unique style of unity."

Inland Empire residents can experience Chen's work this weekend as the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company comes to Old Town Temecula. The performance will include seven pieces from the company's vast repertoire.

"We will be doing a unique program that will include some of my jewels; my signature pieces that I have done over the past 20 years," Chen said. "Some are original choreography and there are a few folk dances as well. It should be a good mix."

The Temecula performance begins with an original work by Chen entitled "Raindrops."

"'Raindrops' is modern choreography and it is inspired by my childhood memories," she said. "I was born and brought up in a city North in Taiwan. It was a city by a seaport and it rained a lot. This dance is very joyful because it's a mixing of my childhood memories and how playful you can be during a rainy day as a child. It's just very lyrical and very sweet and very sentimental for me. It's a place that's very far away from me now but it's always in you."

A second piece, entitled "Incense," draws upon Chen's religious upbringing for inspiration.

"I remember I would go to temple and see the incense burning and people use it as a way to communicate with their god," Chen said. "I go to this country and see many artists and many other religions using it. We are so vulnerable and want to communicate with a higher being and somehow we use incense as a way to give our prayers. So, it's a piece that's very spiritual and very physical."

An additional piece being performed this weekend is "Bamboo Prayer," which pays tribute to one very symbolic plant.

"This piece describes how, in Chinese tradition, bamboo means a lot," Chen said. "It means justice and it means humility. It grows straight up into the sky but is flexible and I relate that to women's spirits. I feel that females have a lot of strength and willpower but we're very flexible. So, in this dance I use five female dancers with long bamboo poles. It's kind of like a ritual ceremony where we celebrate women's lives."

In a fourth dance, entitled "Mirage," Chen's choreography, combined with original music from Grammy winning composer Glen Velez, the audience is transported into the desert as the dancers depict the caravan of the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang province of western China.

"I really wanted to show the spirit of this group of people as well as bring the mystery of the desert scene," Chen said. "So, I open the scene with only one dancer in this desert back drop and he is essentially moving very slowly toward the audience to take them into a dream world; slowly moving toward the climatic celebration."

With seven unique works combined with the diverse cultural backgrounds of herself and her dancers, Chen promises the performance of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has something for everyone.

"My work is very accessible and the choice of pieces are very colorful and can be appreciated by anybody," Chen said. "Certainly a beginner who's never been to dance before will have a great experience. I think they would take home a very special feeling, a certain spirit, which is common throughout the whole program."

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

8 p.m. Feb. 11-12

Old Town Temecula Community Theater, 42051 Main Street, Temecula

$15-$25

866-653-8696

temeculatheater.org

Dance review: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company brings studies of movement to Kutztown University

2011-01-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

Originally Published: 1/27/2011

Dance review: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company brings studies of movement to Kutztown University

John Fidler

Reading Eagle

Dancers' eyes, arms and spirits reached upward, ever upward, as the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company brought its unique set pieces, tableaux and celebrations of movement to Kutztown University on Tuesday night. The performance in Schaeffer Auditorium was part of the Kutztown University Presents series.

The eight dancers, including Nai-Ni Chen herself, who danced a transporting solo tribute to her Chinese heritage in "Passage to the Silk River," swirled, pirouetted, pranced and seemed to make their bodies move in two directions at once through seven works, all choreographed by Chen.

These were studies in movement of all kinds.

In "Incense," four members of the troupe - Jamison Goodnight, Jung Hm Jo, Riyo Mito and Wei Yao - danced separately and together, their bodies arching and ramrod straight, sometimes touching without quite touching, arms akimbo and fluidly waving. Their white costumes became incense itself.

Moto and Francisco Silvino seemed to be floating in "Duet on the River of Dreams." Silvino wielded a rattan pole to push them across the water as she writhed around the oar, all the while reaching upward.

He finally shared it with her, the oar becoming a pathway between two sensibilities. There were moments when their bodies paralleled the oar in peaceful symmetry.

The finale, "Mirage," evoked Matisse's "Dance," his seminal work from 1910. The entire company, Chen included, danced in this feral tribute to the Uyghur people of Xinjiang province in western China.

The piece opened with a triptych: two pairs of two dancers and a trio, each creating a different mood to the whistling, sighing electronic music by Glen Velez. The dancers stopped and started, seemingly simultaneously, creating the effect of a body moving in a strobe light - without the strobe - for a rhapsodic study in staccato and legato.

Chen's demanding choreography required movements that seemed to defy anatomy. Hips loosened, shoulders seemed to dislocate and waists defied the limits of torsion.

As stirring as the dancing were the music and the lighting, especially that of A.C. Hickox, whose lighting design added a poetically intimate atmosphere to the first three dances. Her dramatic ending to "Raindrops," using a fading blue light that cloaked the four dancers, lent a sense of formal control over the piece, even as the music died away and the blue disappeared into darkness. It was a chilling moment.

The music joined the lighting as an integral part of the performance. Electronica, whispers, percussive elements, birds chirping and the sounds of the jungle swirled about the dancers as their own swirling arms created contours beyond mere torsos and backs.

Braiding harmony and dissonance, joy and melancholy, fluidity and angularity, Nai-Ni Chen brings a singular voice to the world of dance. We are fortunate to have seen her here.

Contact John Fidler at 610-371-5054610-371-5054 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting or jfidler@readingeagle.com.

Article online: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=282043

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

2010-12-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-29T08:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

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!

Click here to go to Oberon's Grove blog

2010-10-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

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

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

2010-06-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-26T08:54:00.001-07:00

Click here for more information

New Jersey ballet kicks up its heels for gala

2010-03-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

By Colin Gustafson, STAFF WRITER - Greenwich Time

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

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
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
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
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

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.

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

Review: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

2010-03-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

Jan 31st, 2010

By Jasmina Wellinghoff
Special to the Express-News

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company which appeared at the Carver Community Cultural Center Saturday night, is easily one of the most interesting dance groups we have seen in a long while.

Led by Taiwan-born Nai-Ni Chen, the New Jersey-based company cast a spell over the audience by weaving a tapestry of elegant dances set to unusual, goose-bump inducing musical scores. With a background in both Chinese traditional styles and modern dance, Chen blends the two genres in her choreography in a most auspicious manner. She also knows how to use props to add both visual and narrative dimensions to her work.

The evening opened with "Bamboo Prayer," featuring five white-clad women -- including Chen -- holding bamboo sticks at least twice their height. At first the women crouched while holding the poles pointing upward. Then the dance unfolded with dignified poise as they proceeded to create images of work and rituals with their bodies and their sticks. The latter were thrust out and bounced off the floor in unison, crossed in the air, arranged in patterns on the ground for the women to step in and out of, held between toes and pulled back and forth between pairs of dancers like stretchy cloth. Eventually, the dancers gathered in a circle, their poles held at an angle in front of them, crossing each other and thumping the floor.

The program notes said that that the bamboo used was rattan, which is known for its flexibility. Evidently, the choreographer was making a statement about the nature of women who may bend, work and suffer but do not break.

Another strong group piece in Act I was "The Way of Five - Fire," which refers to fire as one of the five elements of creation according to ancient Chinese thinking. (The others are wood, water, metal and earth.) With dancers wearing red outfits, the piece built up gradually like fire would, from crisp sparks to wild flames. The props were fans held by both men and women but these fans were no dainty feminine accessories. Brandished like weapons and forcefully snapped shut and boldly redeployed, they conveyed aggression or might. The feeling of gathering force -- or maybe passion -- was underscored by the overall choreography, which included strong elements of martial arts. The audience loved it.

The most traditionally Chinese number was "Passage to the Silk River," a solo by Chen. She appeared on stage, a small figure in white, wearing "water sleeves," which are very long, loose silk sleeves that hang way down over the hands. With exquisite art movements, she brought them to life and made them dance with her, undulating like waves, twirling like whirlpools or trailing behind like quiet streams.

In Act II, however, the most memorable number was a very different piece, "Dancing with the Yak," set to a Tibetan folk song and choreographed by Shu Ze-Hong. Featuring striking folk costumes, the dance opened with two men (Chien-Hao Chang and Wei Yao) bent and arranged so that their bodies and costumes created a shape of a yak, while a young woman (Min Zhou) stood right behind them. The lights were low; it could have been early morning in the mountains. Then the guys rearranged themselves, raising their opposite arms to look like horns, and she hopped on the back of the "yak." They cavorted together, the men often stepping about in imitation of the animal's gait, and all three dancing with long sleeves similar to the water sleeves, which is apparently a Tibetan tradition as well. At the end, they settled down sweetly together for the night.

Two other dances -- "Incense" in Act I and "Raindrops" in Act II -- were complex and appealing but both went on for too long without offering either narrative or aesthetic reasons for their length.

However, the finale "Mirage," though also longish, did accomplish its apparent mission of conveying a sense of journey through harsh, desert landscapes when people see dancing mirages on the far horizon. Here, there were elements of Indian dance in the head movements and the barefoot stamping of the ground. As the journey abruptly dissolved, the mesmerized audience might have felt that they, too, had seen a mirage, a gorgeous mirage of chiseled dancing bodies.

With the exception of the Tibetan piece and the Peking Opera-styled "Passage to the Silk River, the dances were set to original scores that can best be described as richly textured. Gongs, bells, whispers, howls, chanting, murky crowd noises, drumming of all shades, echoes, meditative sounds and more complemented rather than accompanied the dancing.

Besides the dancers already mentioned, the cast included Julie Judlova, Kerry Lee, Chu-Ying Ku, Chun-Yu Lin, Nijawwon Matthews and Jung Hm Jo.

Center for Refugees brings dance troupe to annual fundraiser

2010-03-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

By LISA KAPPS

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Mar 04, 2010 @ 07:00 AM

Area residents can experience a variety of cultures when they get their “Passport to the World” Friday, March 5, at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees’ annual fundraiser. The event begins at 6 p.m. on the Mohawk Valley Community College campus.

Now in its seventh year, Passport features an ethnic food reception and cultural entertainment, said Alison Swartz, coordinator of public relations and events.
As part of Passport, the Refugee Center has partnered with MVCC to bring the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company for a performance at 8 p.m.
“The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is one of the few Asian-American dance companies that are in the United States,” Swartz said. “Their specialty is a mix of traditional and contemporary dance. What’s unique about them is they’ve got these costumes and these props that they incorporate in their dances.”
“It’s really a way for people to g

et out and enjoy a different culture through dance,” said Shelly Callahan, director of programs and services for the center.
The evening also will include a silent auction featuring items provided by locally owned, international businesses, including baskets made by refugees and gift certificates to stores and restaurants owned by refugees.
All proceeds from the event support the programs and services of the MVRCR, which include resettlement services for refugees, health and family services, and multicultural services, including education, training and outreach.
Tickets are $50 and are available by contacting Swartz at 738-1083, ext. 127 or by e-mailing alisons@mvrcr.org.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Mohawk Valley Community College

2010-03-03T12:49:00.001-08:00

On Friday, March 5, MVCC presents PASSPORT TO THE WORLD PERFORMANCE: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, at 8 p.m. in the MVCC Theater, Information Technology Building on the Utica campus. Admission is $5 general, $2 with college ID, free with MVCC ID. In partnership with Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute and the MV Resource Center for Refugees.

Location Information:
Utica Campus - Information Technology Building
1101 Sherman Drive
Utica, NY 13501
Phone: 315.792.5400
Room: MVCC Theater

Contact Information:
Name: William Dustin
Phone: 315.731.5722
Email: wdustin@mvcc.edu

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Mohawk Valley Community College

2010-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in Millstone

2010-02-19T09:26:00.001-08:00

New Jersey celebrates the Chinese Year of the Tiger

2010-02-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-12T06:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-01T06:30:00.000-08:00

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.

Video from this morning's Great Day San Antonio

2010-01-29T10:14:00.001-08:00

This morning, Nai-Ni Chen appeared with a couple dancers for a brief interview and demonstration on Great Day San Antonio to promote the company's upcoming performances in San Antonio. Click on this link to watch: http://www.kens5.com/great-day-sa/Nai-Ni-Chen-83037342.html.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Co. merge East, West

2010-01-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

By Jasmina Wellinghoff - Special to the Express-News

San Antonio, TX

In Western cultures, the phoenix is a symbol of rebirth. In Chinese tradition, the mythical bird represents grace and the power of women.

For Taiwanese choreographer Nai-Ni Chen, it is also “a voice” that travels through time and space to connect past and present, East and West. Since she came to this country in 1988, Chen has strived to give visual shape to that voice by blending Eastern and Western concepts in her critically acclaimed original choreography.

Thanks to the Carver Community Cultural Center, Chen and her New Jersey-based company will offer San Antonians a glimpse of their hybrid dance style Saturday with “Song of the Phoenix.”

“‘The Phoenix' is a good, symbolic title for me,” Chen said by phone from her home. “For one thing, I am a woman choreographer and my work reflects my own experience. Then, the phoenix is a timeless, mythical animal that's always changing — like my work.

“I do respect and love (Chinese) traditional forms and that's why I always go back to them for inspiration, but then I create new works from a modern-dance perspective. Modern dance gives you more freedom to create,” she said.

The catchy title is actually an umbrella name for seven pieces, six of which are Chen's creations. Many include props and costumes of distinctly Asian origin, such as huge, undulating ribbons, long bamboo sticks, fans and, in one case, “water sleeves.”

The latter will be worn by Chen herself in “Passage to the Silk River,” a piece that reflects her Peking Opera artistic heritage. No actual water is involved — the dancer manipulates very long silk sleeves to conjure up river flow. Musical accompaniment will be provided by theguquing, one of the oldest instruments known to mankind.

Other dances draw inspiration from regions of China, such as the all-female number “Bamboo Prayer” (central China); “Mirage” (the Uighur region of Western China) and “Dancing With a Yak” — the sole piece that was not choreographed by Chen — which “connects you to the Himalayan mountain setting.”

“I like to take the audience on a journey,” said Chen.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

What: The company performs “Song of the Phoenix.”
Where: Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry St.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $31 at Ticketmaster outlets and the Carver box office
Family program: A Passport to Culture Family Day program celebrating Chinese New Year will be presented at 10 a.m. Saturday. $11. Reservations, (210) 207-2719.

Upcoming Performances in San Antonio, TX

2010-01-27T08:25:00.000-08:00

Youth Matinee Show: Year of the Tiger

Friday, January 29, 2010
11:00 AM

Family Matinee Show: Year of the Tiger
Saturday, January 30, 2010
11:00 AM

Featured Performance: Song of the Phoenix

Saturday, January 30, 2010
8:00 PM

Jo Long Theatre for the Performing Arts
Carver Community Cultural Center
226 N. Hackberry
San Antonio, TX

Tickets: $31 ($15 Children)
Call: (210)207-2234 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company coming to San Antonio

2010-01-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

Victoria Advocate

22 January 2010

By Aprill Brandon

Acclaimed choreographer and founder of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Nai-Ni Chen has a new dance program that is currently touring the U.S. On Jan. 30, the dance company will be swinging through San Antonio to present that new work, titled Song of the Phoenix, according to a news release.

Since forming her dance company in 1988, Chen has created more than 50 dances and the company itself has received more than a dozen awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, according to the news release. Her latest work, Song of the Phoenix, blends ancient rituals and modern concepts and Chen is known for her mixing of the freedom of American dance with the discipline of Asian art, according to her bio.

The performance by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will be at 8 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Jo Long Theatre for the Performing Arts in San Antonio. Tickets are $31, available by calling 210-207-2234 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

For more information, go to www.nainichen.org.

Chinese New Year at NJPAC

2010-01-20T09:27:00.001-08:00

'Year of the Tiger' Chinese New Year celebration at NJPAC

By Martin Tsai

January 14, 2010, 12:01AM

Looking to celebrate the Chinese New Year here in the state? New Jersey-based choreographer Nai-Ni Chen’s dance company will perform “Year of the Tiger” 2 p.m. on both Feb. 13 and 14 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark. Tickets are $20 to $22. Chen will also lead a parent-child workshop for the participants to create their own lion-dance masks and learn basic dance movements. Lion dance is a 15-century-old Chinese tradition that symbolically scares off evil spirits. Involving two dancers holding up a painted lion mask and a long cape, the dance has over the years evolved into various regional styles. The workshop, which costs $6 per participant, is on Feb. 13 at 12:30 p.m. at NJPAC. For more information, visit njpac.org or call (888) 466-5722.

www.nj.com

School Performances at Hostos Community College Next Week

2010-01-18T08:04:00.001-08:00

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Kingsborough Community College

2010-01-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

Kingsborough Community College
Leon M. Goldstein Performing Arts Center
Brooklyn, NY

January 13 & 14, 2010 - 10:30 AM (School Shows)
More Information
For Reservations: call 718-368-5596 or email artsmart@kingsborough.edu

January 16, 2010 - 2:00 PM (Family Show)
Chinese New Year Celebration (Year of the Tiger)
More Information
For Tickets: call 718-368-5596 or order online

Chinese New Year Celbrations

2009-12-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Enjoy a cultural extravaganza for the whole family and kick off a roaring
Year of the Tiger!

www.nainichen.org/tiger

Join the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company for a vibrant celebration of the Chinese New Year at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Victoria Theater in Newark on Saturday, February 13, and Sunday, February 14, at 2 pm.

Our program will feature the traditional favorite Lion Dance along with other exciting and colorful works performed by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. We will also present new Chinese dances by guest choreographers Wei Chen and Min Zhou, and feature the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, the oldest, largest, and only full-scale Chinese orchestra in the United States and the Americas. To top it all off, renowned paper-cut master Ho-Tien Cheng will be on hand to provide you with his unique take-home art for the Chinese New Year.

After the performance, join us for a special Chinese New Year Banquet at the newly renovated Chinatown Restaurant, just two minutes away in nearby Harrison, NJ. Five-star, award-winning Chef Ni will create just for us spectacular Chinese New Year dishes not available on his regular menu. The feast will be an occasion not to be missed.

So don't wait. Call us at (800) 650-0246 to reserve your tickets today (details below). We'll see you soon! And don't forget to tell your friends.

TICKETS

Price includes one admission to the performance and post-performance Banquet
Adults $75
Children (age 12 and under) $25
Special discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.

Dance and Music Performance
2 pm
NJPAC's Victoria Theater
One Center Street
Newark, NJ
Click here to purchase performance tickets only

New Year's Banquet
4 pm
Chinatown Restaurant
218 Harrison Avenue
Harrison, NJ
Click here for gala banquet reservation form

Sponsorships

To learn about the benefits available to corporate sponsors or how your company can become a Corporate Sponsor of this event, please call 1-800-650-0246, email us or click here.

Happy Holidays,

Andy Chiang
Executive Director
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

andy@nainichen.org

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at APAP

2009-12-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

2010 APAP Showcases

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

DATE: January 9 & 10, 2010

TIME: 6:00-7:00 PM

LOCATION: NY City Center Studio #4
Entrance to Studios is at 130 West 56th Street. Between 6th and 7th Avenues

MORE: No reservations required
Visit us at Booth #820 in Americas Hall II
MANAGEMENT: Joanne Rile Artists Management
Booth #710 in Americas Hall II

-----

Gliding across the stage with color, lyricism and a subtle whisper of Chinese tradition, "Song of the Phoenix" features the original choreography of Nai-Ni Chen. Experience the majestic thunder of the Martial Arts and the mysterious whisper of poetry through the global language of dance. Nai-Ni Chen's innovative dances bring together the dynamic freedom of American modern dance and the splendor of Asian culture.

Click here for sample video

Another Review of Nai-Ni's "Three Riddles of Turandot" performed by NJ Ballet

2009-12-11T06:45:00.001-08:00

NJ Ballet Goes International in Mayo Center Appearance
By SHEILA ABRAMS
Dance Critic
Published: Dec 9th, 9:53 PM

Looking very sharp and up-to-date, New Jersey Ballet took a mini-world tour during a Nov. 7 appearance at the Community Theatre of the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown. This was the first of an annual three performance series the company offers at the theater, and it had something for everyone.

The centerpiece of the program, which was billed as “A World Tour of Dance,” was the world premiere of “The Three Riddles of Turandot,” a ballet created for the company by choreographer Nai-Ni Chen, who directs her own New Jersey-based modern dance troupe. Chen, who is from China, took both her inspiration and her musical accompaniment from Puccini’s opera, so you might say that, in that selection, New Jersey Ballet was hitting both China and Italy on its world tour.

Perhaps in the spirit of European grand opera, Chen chose to put the women on pointe. The movement language was largely neoclassical, but reflected the choreographer’s background in traditional Chinese dance and in modern movement as well.

In works for her own company, Chen has always used props like ribbons, flags and even bamboo rods to extend the lines and motions of her dancers. She did that to great effect in “Turandot,” with swaths of white gauze stretched across the stage by white-clad dancers, red silk flags manipulated by dancers in red silk, and banners with Chinese characters descended from the ceiling. These last apparently represented the three challenges the Princess Turandot presents to her would-be suitors.

Kerry Mara Cox projected a cold and powerful presence as the vengeful princess, and Andre Luis Teixeira, as the man who meets her challenge, handled Chen’s choreography adeptly, as did the others in the large cast. A nod should go to Karen Young for her beautiful costumes.

Click here for rest of article

Great Story from One of our Dancers!

2009-11-16T13:22:00.001-08:00

Last month I had the opportunity to tour with NNCDC in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. We performed two different programs--our educational Art of Chinese Dance program for local schools and a public performance of A Dragon's Tale at the Alhambra Theatre. This allowed us to share traditional Chinese culture, as well as Nai-Ni's contemporary works, with a town whose Asian population is less than 1%. After our Dragon's Tale performance we met a shy young lady who enjoyed our Art of Chinese Dance program at her middle school so much that she begged her mother to bring her to our performance that night. She told us that watching the company inspired her to take dance lessons herself. It was very heartwarming to learn that our performances were an impetus for this young lady to try something new. It reminded me of the first time I saw NNCDC in performance as a teenager in Atlanta, Georgia, as I too vividly remember being inspired by what I saw. I feel privileged to be performing with the company eight years later!
-Kerry Lee, dancer

"Three Riddles of Turandot" Review

2009-11-11T06:33:00.000-08:00

Nai-Ni Chen brings a different style to her collaboration with New Jersey Ballet

By Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger

November 09, 2009, 6:19PM

Artistic collaborations are never easy, but the payoff can be huge.
New Jersey Ballet and guest choreographer Nai-Ni Chen, for instance, took a whopping chance when they joined forces to create "The Three Riddles of Turandot."
This sumptuously theatrical production made its debut Saturday at the Community Theatre in Morristown as part of a delightful evening of fantasy excursions titled "A World Tour of Dance."

A contemporary artist based in Fort Lee, Chen had worked with a classical ballet company only once before, and New Jersey Ballet’s dancers were unfamiliar with her style. Telling a story in dance was also new for Chen, who prefers to create abstract works. Yet this experiment has produced a ballet of compelling mystery and emotional depth, marking a significant addition to N.J. Ballet’s repertoire.

"Turandot," employing music from Puccini’s famous opera, compresses the plot into one brief but intense act — exquisitely dressed in silks by designer Karen Young and set in the fairy-tale land of China’s Middle Kingdom. The scene is multilayered, with projections and fabric drapes suggesting the seemingly impassable distance between Princess Turandot (Kelly Mara Cox) and her hopeful suitor, Calaf (Andre Luis Teixeira). To win Turandot’s hand in marriage, prospective husbands like Calaf must divine the answers to three riddles or forfeit their lives.

After a tumultuous opening in which crowds of men and women crisscross the stage, Calaf’s unfortunate predecessor attempts to scale a human pyramid only to be brought low by the executioner’s ax. Then Calaf waits, gathered inward as he listens to each riddle, while Turandot guilefully picks out steps that trace a labyrinth on pointe.
The hero bursts into triumphant leaps when he unravels the riddles’ meaning. Chen finds attractive imagery to depict his answers: A clutch of women in white represent the birth of hope. When Turandot herself is revealed to be the answer to the third riddle, attendants remove her outer robes and carry her on display like a golden trophy.

The lover-antagonists, who have taken opposing positions first downstage and then at a distance, are united at last. Yet the choreographer’s imaginative use of space and lighting to create a luxurious yet deadly atmosphere is only part of her achievement. Although Chen does not make extensive use of the ballerinas’ pointe technique, she gives them elegantly sinuous gestures and a haughty allure, while the men hunker down and stretch in crafty, martial-arts poses, their energy winding up and then springing outward in surprise attacks. All of this is completely new for New Jersey Ballet’s dancers, yet they look terrific.

With any luck, Chen can be prevailed upon to work with them again.
The premiere of "Turandot" took place as part of an evening dedicated to a longtime New Jersey Ballet supporter, the late Republican Assemblyman Eric Munoz. In addition to visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing, this program, a "world tour of dance," made stops in Havana ("Guajira"), Rio de Janeiro ("Para Dois") and New York (the slight but endearing Broadway number "March"), not to mention a familiar island off the Levantine coast inhabited by pirates and their admirers (the "Le Corsaire" Pas de Deux). In addition to Cox and Teixeira, dancers Michelle de Fremery, David Tamaki and Mari Sugawa gave performances outstanding for their musicality and freedom.

2009-11-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

'Three Riddles of Turandot' presented by New Jersey Ballet

By Robert Johnson/The Star Ledger

November 05, 2009

Choreographer Nai-Ni Chen works with New Jersey Ballet dancers Kerry Mara Cox

and Andre Texeira to create "The Three Riddles of Turandot"

New Jersey Ballet Presents “The Three Riddles of Turandot”
Where: Community Theatre, Mayo Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South St., Morristown
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 7
How much: Tickets are $22-$42. Call (973) 539-8008 or visit mayoarts.org.

Dancers flash across the stage, flying or tumbling. Their movements can be so quick that a viewer’s eye barely has time to discern the pattern.

Yet if the dancing seems effortless, the task of choreographing it was anything but.
Just ask Nai-Ni Chen, the contemporary choreographer invited to create “The Three Riddles of Turandot” for the New Jersey Ballet. The work, inspired by Puccini’s famous opera, “Turandot,” will receive its premiere Saturday at the Community Theatre in Morristown as part of an adventurous mixed bill called “A World Tour of Dance.”

Chen says it took her five hours to create the first 90 seconds of “Turandot.” She spent half a day reaching for ideas and testing them, compressing her effort into a spare design. Now completed, the entire ballet is 18 minutes long, which, at five hours per 90 seconds,comes out to — well, you do the math.

“The process was slow for the first three days,” Chen says, although she laughs off the challenges of creating the new work and setting it on the performers.
The New Jersey Ballet’s classically trained dancers have never worked with Chen, and her style — full of spirals, back-rolls and unfamiliar gestures — needed to work its way into their muscles. For the first time, she invented steps for ballerinas on pointe.

“It’s a totally different body language,” Chen says, explaining that she didn’t even try to improvise in the studio, as she would have done if she were creating a dance for her own company. “I had to plan everything ahead of time.”

So as the opera’s lush orchestration gradually took possession of her consciousness, Chen found herself inventing phrases at odd moments. “I dream about the music. It’s a 24-hour thing,” she says.

She might have been cooking dinner, for instance. Suddenly an idea would come to her, and she had to try the movement right then and there. “I bump into things, bump into furniture,” Chen admits. Her 14-year-old daughter, Sylvia, though accustomed to her mother’s eccentricities, couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “She’ll say, ‘Okay, I didn’t see that,’ and she just walks away,” Chen says.

Meanwhile, the plot of the ballet unfolded in Chen’s imagination. A public execution is imminent. To avenge her ancestor, Princess Turandot has decreed that any man who seeks her hand in marriage must first answer three poetic riddles or face death. Yet another prospective suitor has failed the test, and as the disturbed crowd jostles for room, clemency is denied.

What kindles like a flame, but is not flame?
What is lily white, and dark?
What does the whole world implore?

Chen’s head was full of images. “A few years ago, I had a collaboration with the Westfield Symphony, and also with the Bohème Opera Company,” she says. “At that time, both companies were presenting ‘Turandot,’ and they asked me to choreograph for them. That’s when I started to get familiar with the story.

There’s a lot of meaning to it. It’s mysterious and very dramatic, and it has the potential to become a beautiful dance.”

NJ Ballet to Premier work by Nai-Ni Chen

2009-11-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

New Jersey Ballet

Presents the Premiere of
The Three Riddles of Turandot
Saturday, November 7, 2009 - 8:00 pm

Community Theatre
Mayo Center for the Performing Arts
100 South Street, Morristown, NJ

Acclaimed choreographer Nai-Ni Chen will bring her unique brand of Asian elegance to New Jersey Ballet's season opener An Evening of Dance From Around the World on November 7. The evening will be a tribute to the late Eric Munoz, assemblyman, trauma surgeon at UMDNJ and longtime member of New Jersey Ballet's Board.

The evening will feature the premiere of The Three Riddles of Turandot. Ms. Chen, whom Dance Magazine described as a "spiritual choreographer," will explore Puccini's tale of a beautiful but cruel princess, her would-be suitor and the riddles that hold the key to Turandot's heart.

Also on the program are:
The return of Guajira by Cuban-born choreographer Pedro Ruiz Contemporary ballet with Afro-Cuban and Latin music. The Star-Ledger cheered "Viva ballet Latino!" James Kinney's March, a colorful, upbeat all-American work about busy New Yorkers whose chance encounters transform a walk in the park into an adventure. Rounding out the world tour will be a return of Para Dois, a duet is based on traditional Brazilian street dances and and Le Corsaire pas de deux. It will be a wonderful evening of dramatic, energetic dance to remember. Don't miss it!

Tickets are $42, $32, $22
Discounts available
For Tickets Call the Box Office at 973-539-8008 or
New Jersey Ballet at 973-597-9600

BUY TICKETS ONLINE!

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to Perform in Hopkinsville, KY

2009-10-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

Pennyroyal Arts Council

Live at the Alhambra Series
October 15, 2009 - 7:30 pm

Alhambra Theatre
507 South Main Street, Hopkinsville, KY
Tickets:
Adults: $20 + $3 (taxes and handling)
Students
Elementary & Middle School: $5 + $1 (taxes and handling)
High School & College: $10 + $1 (taxes and handling)
Group discounts available for 15 or more. Call the Pennyroyal Arts Council for details.

Printable Ticket Order Form
For Tickets: 270-887-4295 or 270-887-4079

Company headed to Troy, NY

2009-09-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hudson Valley Community College

presents

Friday, September 25, 2009 - 7:00 PM

Maureen Stapleton Theater
Siek Campus Center
80 Vandenburgh Ave, Troy, NY

Tickets: $10 general admission;
please call (518) 629-8071
(Hudson Valley students, faculty and staff receive one free ticket.)

For more information, click here

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Ball State University

2009-09-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Ball State University

September 18, 2009 - 7:30 pm

Emens Auditorium

Corner of Riverside Ave. & McKinley Ave., Muncie, IN 47306

General Admission: Adults $20 in advance/$25 at the door; Youth (18 & under) & BSU students $5; Artist Series Subscribers & Pick 4 $15 in advance/$25 at the door.

For Tickets: 765-285-1539
or
BUY Tickets Online!

2009-09-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

8.31.09

Asian-American Dance Company Returns to Sweet Briar Sept. 14

Tickets available Sept. 7

By Suzanne Ramsey

At 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 14, Sweet Briar College will welcome the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to Murchison Lane Auditorium for the first event of the 2009-2010 Babcock Season. Hailed by The Village Voice as "visual poetry," the Asian-American troupe combines modern and traditional Chinese dance in its new show, "Song of the Phoenix."

Named for its Taiwanese founder and art director, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company last visited Sweet Briar in 2004. Mark Magruder, a dance professor at the College, described that performance as "fantastic" and "visually stunning," but what seems to have stuck with him most were the "water sleeves."

"Nai-Ni did an amazing solo with water sleeves," Magruder said, describing the garment as a tunic with 6- or 8-foot-long sleeves. "It's really cool because you get this gorgeous, flowing effect that with the lighting makes a rippling pattern."

During the upcoming concert, the dance "Passage to Silk River" - an homage to Chen's ancestors - will feature water sleeves.

Other pieces on the program include "Bamboo Prayer," which uses rattan to "symbolize the strength and resilience of women"; "Incense," in which Chen looked to her religious roots for inspiration; "The Way of Five" referring to the five elements; "Raindrops," which draws on the choreographer's childhood memories; "Crosscurrent," a dialogue of passion and strength; and "Mirage," which was "inspired by the unique rhythms and dance movement of the Uyghur people of Xinjiang."

"I think people will be in for a very beautiful visual experience and some very exciting choreography," Magruder said.

Tickets and are $10 for adults, $7 for seniors and free for children younger than 12. For tickets, contact the SBC box office at (434) 381-6120 or boxoffice@sbc.edu , beginning Monday, Sept. 7. Credit card orders can be placed after Sept. 7 via www.lynchburgtickets.com.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is in Korea

2009-08-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has been invited to perform as part of the 15th Annual ChangMu International Arts Festival in Seoul, Korea.

ChangMu International Arts Festival
Uijeongbu Arts Center Small Theater
Seoul, Korea

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
8:00 PM

The ChangMu International Arts Festival, focused on "pursuing the globalization of traditional dances through modern forms," is one of the international cultural exchange programs organized by the ChangMu Arts Center. The festival, which has been held annually since 1993, aims to connect distinctive art forms of the Asia-Pacific region, introducing current dance trends across the world to international and Korean audiences, and contributing to the globalization of the Korean culture. The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company would like to thank the Spingold Foundation of New York for making this presentation possible in this economically challenging time.

New Dancers

2009-08-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company would like to welcome new dancers:

Chien-Hao Chang, from Taiwan, is a graduate of the Taipei National University of the Arts with a major in Modern Dance and is also professionally trained in Chinese Martial Arts and dance.

Jung Hm Jo, from Dae Gun, Korea, earned a BA in dance from SeJong University and has an extensive background in modern, ballet, and Korean traditional dance.

Kerry Lee, from Atlanta, Georgia, is trained in ballet, modern and Chinese Dance.

Nijawwon Matthews, of Newark, NJ, began his professional dance career at age 16 with Absolute Dance Company and recently worked with Philadanco in Philadelphia, PA.

We look forward to their active participation in re-creating our repertory and the making of new works.

2009-08-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Collaborations with the
Harlem Schoool of the Arts

For the past several months, Nai-Ni has been working with students in the Children's Dance Ensemble at the Harlem School of the Arts (HSA). She choreographed the dance In this Sky, where the Angels Fly for them to showcase in their year-end performance. They also had the opportunity to perform it again at the Harlem Arts Alliance event, Artz Rootz & Rhythm at The Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building's outdoor plaza in May and again in June at the Morris Jumel Mansion (Manhattan's oldest house and headquarters to General Washington in September and October of 1776).

The company also performed The Art of Chinese Dance for the students participating in the HSA's ARTScape Summer Camp, followed by a traditional Chinese dance workshop taught by Chu-Ying Ku. Both were very well received by the students.

The Harlem School of the Arts collaborated with The Joan Mitchell Foundation and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to do a workshop, where visual art students draw professional dancers. The Foundation brought over about 15 high school students and they did drawing for about 1-1/2 hours. It was a great success and we hope it leads to future collaborations of this type.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to Perform in Great Neck, NY

2009-07-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will be performing at the Steppingstone Waterside Theatre in Great Neck, NY, on Sunday, July 18, 2009 at 8:00 PM.

Program:
Festival
Peacock Dance
Fan Dance
Sword Dance
Way of Five - Fire
-Intermission-
Ribbon Dance
Passage to the Silk River
Mirage

The performance is Free and open to Great Neck Park Department resisdents only with a valid parks card.

For more information, click here.

Executive Director, Andy Chiang, interviewed about the economy for article in Back Stage

2009-06-26T07:11:00.001-07:00

Dancing On
How two boutique dance troupes are weathering the downturn.

By Lisa Jo Sagolla
June 25, 2009

(excerpts from article)

"Because we're a touring company, we noticed signs of the weakening economy early on, in the Midwest, and immediately started cutting back on senior-level administrative staff and marketing," says Andy Chiang, executive director of the New York–based Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, founded in 1988. Its bookings in the Midwest dropped about 50 percent from 2007 to 2008. "Even though our bookings in the Northeast hadn't yet dropped off, we started making changes in early 2008, so when things really got bad, around last September, we weren't hit by surprise."

Nai-Ni Chen presents contemporary choreography infused with Chinese dance sensibilities, as well as actual Chinese dances. "Fortunately, our company has a very good education assembly program," says Chiang, "and that really helps keep us going. Wherever we go to perform, we offer in-school programs. The funding for educational programs has not been cut back as severely as other funding sources, so we're currently focusing on doing more in that arena. We also plan to have our dancers teach more workshops here in New York, which is something we were never able to do as much of as we wanted when we were touring constantly. Nai-Ni Chen has created a unique movement style, and there's a great interest in it among dancers here. So we're viewing this as a chance to increase our local presence."

Click here for entire article

Project Poetry Live! Final Performance Tonight

2009-06-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

PROJECT POETRY LIVE!
Final Performance

Friday, June 5, 2009
Naugatuck Valley Community College
Waterbury, CT

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company was excited to be invited back to work with 1,100 middle and high school students in five Connecticut school districts. Students write poetry, attend writer's workshops, see their words become music, design sets and work with community artists translating their words into other art forms, including dance. The final results of the project will be performed on Friday with original music performed by the student jazz band. In addition, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will be featured, performing Bamboo Prayer, Crosscurrent and Mirage. For tickets or more information, click here.

SOPAC Residency Update

2009-05-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

SOPAC Residency Update
from Chun-Yu Lin

I have been having a great time teaching and sharing my dance experience with the kids at SOPAC. Although we only have one hour each week, they always have so much fun dancing until the last minute and don't want to finish. I start my class with breathing exercises to concentrate and gather their energy. We follow with some feet, torso and hand exercises in the center and cross-floor movement such as running, turning and jumping. The dance technique I have been teaching them is based on Chinese modern dance, and it's a fusion of both western modern dance and eastern Chinese dance. I also give them some movement phrases from Nai-Ni's repertories as examples, such as Raindrops and Unfolding, so that they can experience what Chinese modern dance is. Recently, I gave them a small movement phrase which I made up for them. It's pretty modern and involves some floor work. I have been adding more and more each week, so they can slowly build up their memory and the strength of their bodies.

Poetry in Motion at Union County Academy for Performing Arts

2009-05-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

I started Poetry in Motion at Scotch Vo Tech at the end of December. From the moment I began working with the students, I found them to be very open and determined. This was surprising to me considering they were in ninth grade (I really had no idea what to expect). The ideas for movement and dance were created from their own poetry that was guided by the poet Arthur Wilson. Actually the most challenging part of the project was choosing which of their poems to create to; to really narrow in on a few ideas from a huge pile of others words. We then divided the students into different groups, one with me and one with Arthur (the poet, who created a great script for the students).

Through out the next couple of months I met with the students about eight times. Each time I would warm them up and then give them different improv exercises. I wanted them to feel that the movement was coming naturally from themselves. In fact a lot of them had never danced before and I felt inspired watching how organic their created movement was. And for some of the trained dancers, I could see that it was a bit more challenging for them not to stylize their movements. Though in time and with constant reminders of what they were supposed to be imagining or feeling, each and everyone of them was dancing and creating from the inside out.

The most rewarding part of teaching dance to me is seeing how much your students grow. I feel very blessed to have seen this every time I worked with them. It was amazing to watch them trust themselves and each other more. After eight long rehearsal of constant searching and creating, through their willingness and determination, they shared a very powerful performance and grew tremendously as artists.

-Teri Miller (company dancer)

Week-long Residency in Pemaquid, Maine

2009-04-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

March 30-April 3
We had the chance to work with the whole school (K-8th grades) creating and choreographing a 40-minute show called "China's diverse legacy." We based the story on Chinese Culture 5000 years ago using many of the traditional Chinese ribbons, fans, lanterns, lion masks, etc. We had six classes everyday followed by Questions and Answers meetings three times that week, where we also taught students a few greeting phrases in the Chinese language. The day was full of activities interacting with everyone in the school. They have been doing this type of residency for over 10 years now and this year they had the biggest number of students participating in their diversity week show. It was very well received. I do say the place was beautiful and mysterious, with an amazing landscape and delicious food. It was the best place to relax and the people were terrific.

-Noibis Licea (company dancer)

Auditions for Dancers to be held on June 9 & 10

2009-04-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

AUDITIONS

Professional Male AND Female Dancers

Full-Time Position

For 2009-2010 Season

Excellent Pay

June 9th, 2009 and June 10th, 2009 from 12-4 pm
Call Back on June 12th

Call for appointment - (800)650-0246

Location: Harlem School of the Arts
645 Saint Nicholas Ave, NYC

resume and picture required for audition

Practical Training / P-3 Opportunity available

Equal Opportunity

hr@nainichen.org

(800)650-0246

Nai-Ni Chen to Perform in Morristown on Saturday

2009-04-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

Nai-Ni Chen melds East and West to suit her creativity

by Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger
Thursday April 23, 2009, 2:43 PM

REBECCA LETZ
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company presents "Silk and Bamboo" Saturday at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown.

Nai-ni Chen Dance Company. Where: Community Theatre, Mayo Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South St., Morristown. When: 8 p.m. Saturday. How much: $20-$40. Call (973) 539-8008 or visit mayoarts.org.

Nai-Ni Chen has grown accustomed to living in two worlds.

The contemporary choreographer, whose Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company presents "Silk and Bamboo" Saturday at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown, brought centuries' worth of Chinese culture with her when she came to the United States from her native Taiwan in 1982. She now lives with her family in Fort Lee.

At first, Chen says, she tried to embrace American ways of thinking.

"I was trying to create something very abstract," she says, describing her search for a completely new movement vocabulary. "I put what I had learned in the past into my pocket and didn't go there."

Yet Chen discovered that her rich Chinese heritage was not easy to ignore. Now the two perspectives, Chinese and American, balance each other in her work. The Morristown performance will include the New Jersey premiere of "Crosscurrent," a duet in which the physical tension between the dancers reflects a cultural clash. This tension abates as rival currents begin to mingle.

The other novelty on the program is actually a revival. Chen describes "Calligraphy II," which she created in 1995, as pivotal. It was the first dance in which she allowed herself to dip into the pocket where she kept her Chinese identity.

"I saw the calligraphy hanging in my living room, and I thought, 'Oh, gosh, the inspiration is right here in front of me. I walk past it every day,'" Chen says. "I found that I could look deeper and see movements and ideas. I realized it was time for me to go back to my roots and dig."

"Calligraphy II" turned into an ambitious collaboration with a commissioned score by American composer Joan La Barbara and a set designed by Myun Hee Cho. Under Chen's influence, La Barbara incorporated instruments and vocal effects from Beijing Opera. Yet she also employed chance procedures to write the score, adapting an avant-garde technique pioneered by John Cage. Cho created a backdrop and hanging panels decorated with a style of calligraphy called wild cursive.

Chen explains that most Chinese characters are written with several strokes of the ink brush, but in wild cursive each character is formed with a single stroke, bringing the act of writing closer to dancing. "It's more passionate and without restrictions," Chen says.

She adds that, like fine calligraphy, her choreography channels energy to achieve a harmonious balance between positive and negative space. Although "Calligraphy II" is an abstract work in which the dancers' relationships to one another remain as guarded and oblique as the metaphors in classical Chinese poetry, the performers' awareness of the space around them imbues the dance with strength and vitality.

Sharing the evening with "Crosscurrent" and "Calligraphy II" will be three dynamic group works inspired by various aspects of Chinese culture: "Bamboo Prayer;" "The Way of Five -- Fire," incorporating elements of martial arts; and "Mirage," which draws upon the folk dance traditions of Xinjiang Province in Western China.

"I focus on exploring what I think is the essence of Chinese tradition," Chen says. "Then I use those ideas as inspiration to create contemporary work."

Nai-Ni Chen to Perform at Liberty Health Gala

2009-04-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Liberty Health's May 8 Gala to Support Trauma Center and EMS
by Denise D. Gibson / The Jersey Journal
Thursday, April 16, 2009

Liberty Health will hold its annual Spring Gala on Friday, May 8, with proceeds to benefit the Port Authority Heroes of September 11th Trauma Center at the Jersey City Medical Center and the Jersey City Medical Center Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The events will take place at the Westin Jersey City, at 479 Washington Boulevard, from 6 to 11 p.m.

"The Gala affords us a good time to reflect on the past year, to take pride in our accomplishments and to confront the challenges that lay ahead." said Joseph F. Scott, FACHE, Liberty Health's president and CEO.

The Gala will recognize the role the Jersey City Medical Center EMS and Trauma Center played in serving as a triage for survivors from the World Trade Center's terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, and taking passengers from rescue boats and speeding them to safety in the miraculous airplane landing on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009.

Their responses to these emergencies, as well as hundreds of smaller life-saving efforts, have earned the Center and EMS citations and national commendations. Today, JCMS's Trauma Center and EMS employ the most up-to-date technology, with a response time that has been reduced to 6 minutes and 2 seconds, one of the best in the country.

The Gala will have an Asian theme, which will include a performance by the internationally acclaimed Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. Asian fusion cuisine will be featured, with attendees dancing to the beat of the renowned Peter Duchin Orchestra. To purchase tickets or for additional information for the Gala, call (201)377-6057, or go to www.libertyhealth.org.

Join us at the Harlem School of the Arts this Saturday

2009-04-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Join the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Saturday, April 18
12:00 Noon

Harlem School of the Arts - Gathering Space
645 Nicholas Ave
(Take the A,C,D trains to 145th St.)

An informal showing of Nai-Ni Chen's most recent works,
including excerpts of "Mirage," "Quest" and "Crosscurrent."

There will be a Meet-the-Dancers/Q & A session
following the performance.

Admission is free and open to the public

Nai-Ni Chen to Teach at Peridance in May

2009-04-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

Nai-Ni Chen has been invited this year to teach an Intensive Summer Workshop at the Peridance Center, with an emphasis on Modern Technique and Repertory.

The workshop will take place May 25 - 29,
Monday - Friday 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Workshop Costs:
Monday - Friday:$90
Single Class: $20

For more information or to register for the workshop, click here.

2009-03-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

Rutgers' Confucius Institute Celebrates First-Year Anniversary

Performing Arts show planned for April 11

March 11, 2009

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Confucius Institute at Rutgers University (CIRU) will celebrate its first-year anniversary with “The Splendor of Chinese Performing Arts,” which will showcase Chinese opera, dance and music.

The show will take place at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 11, at the Nicholas Music Center, 85 George Street, on Rutgers’ Douglass Campus in New Brunswick. Tickets are $20 general admission, $10 for students and children over the age of 8 years old.

The show will feature performances by two Kunqu opera masters from Shanghai, China, Maestro Zhengren Cai and Maestro Xunpeng Zhang. Other featured performers will be Nai-Nee Chen, award-winning dance/choreographer and director of the Chen Nai-Nee Dancing Company; Yi Yang, world-renowned master guzheng virtuoso; Tao Chen, internationally acclaimed Chinese flutist and director of the Melody of Dragon; Beijing opera artist Xinlai Zhou; and Peng Li, a face mask magic performer.

The first and only Confucius institution in New Jersey, CIRU had its opening ceremony in November 2007 and began operation in May 2008. The institute was established in partnership with Jilin University in China and with support from both Rutgers and the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) to promote quality Chinese language and culture education, and to serve as a resource center for Chinese studies in the state.

For more information on the Confucius Institute, go online to www.ciru.rutgers.edu.

NY Season Review on iDanz

2009-03-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

Dance Review: Nai-Ni Chen’s Company Rides Magnificently on Cloud Nine at Baruch PAC

Celebrating twenty years of Chinese traditional and contemporary dance magic, Nai-Ni Chen's company enchants and amazes this past Saturday at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. A former member of Cloud Gate and a native of Taiwan, Chen has the stunning ability to fuse her Chinese heritage with her experience as an American immigrant, a fusion that creates her unique voice in dance. Nai-Ni Chen's diligently composed art is vividly alive in her dancers’ bodies. The two repertory works, Calligraphy II (1995) and Bamboo Prayer (1998), mesh well with the three premiers of Crosscurrent, Q (Quest) and the breathtaking Mirage. The dancers, who perform at forty venues a year, have crystal clear movement and are perfectly in tune with Nai-Ni’s vision.

Her movement style is not only deeply visceral, but also possesses a rare combination of impressive dancer physicality, choreographic vision and universal chi (energy). The backbone of Nai-Ni’s company is her impeccable artistry and storytelling genius. Her pieces softly grab you as they elevate Chinese culture and illustrate the beauty of the modern dance vernacular. This lucky audience continues to experience the ingenious art from start to finish as the talented company executes her mastery.

In Calligraphy II (1995), the stage is draped in black muslin strips with white Chinese calligraphy. The piece has been reworked several times according to sources, and the evolution has fruited fine results. The work opens with a single dancer tracing a choreographic sequence that is reminiscent of tai-chi. More dancers appear, and the same strength is seen in their bodies as they define space with clear intentions. The work builds slowly, as if teaching the audience the patience that is required to practice calligraphy. Eventually, one settles in and takes in the energy or “chi”, which is evident in all the movements.

Nai-Ni appears on stage in this piece with long silk sleeves and performs a striking solo. She is a captivatingly beautiful to watch as she puts her stunning technique on display. Her performance breathes life into the Asian dance styles while showing her love of dancing them.

The ribbon dance is the highlight of Calligraphy II as color after color cuts through the space, flying through air and encircling the dancers’ bodies. Ribbon dancers say, "to watch the end of the ribbon, to see the clarity of the performer." There are no weak strokes on stage in Nai-Ni’ Chen's company.

Bamboo Prayer (1998) is a seminal work about the resilience of women and the nobility of bamboo, each symbolic of the other. The long twelve foot poles stand erect in the beginning as the dancers just makes them quiver. Each section builds and is more beautiful than the last as the poles divide the space and compliment the bodies of the women. Each pole is bent, beaten and lain on top of the other. The dance highlights the versatility of bamboo and the subtle power of the female frame. If women are like the bamboo as Nai-Ni describes through movement, then more power to us!

Another standout work is the premiere of Q for “Quest”. Singling out one dancer is difficult as all the company members are worth the ticket. However, Noibis Licea from Cuba takes the audience to another level when he starts his solo. Blessed with full bodied flexibility and amazing focus, he captivates with every movement. The work expresses primal angst as he beats his bare chest. His lines are beautiful, especially in the movements that pitch sideways before flawlessly returning to center. It is unclear why, with a piece entitled ‘quest’, Nai-Ni keeps the dancer confined to such a small space. Yet, Noibis breaks through the limited space with his moments of intense passion before resolving the piece on a quieter note as he walks slowly in a circle around himself.

Chen's latest work, Mirage, takes a journey on the Silk Road through the eastern-most part of China’s Xinjiang province. The piece is reminiscent of a time spent in Egypt where the road ahead constantly blurs, and the dusty heat creates dancing visions. The trace imagery of Indian dance styles is seen as the dancers beat their heels on the floor and snake their heads from side to side. The dancers, grouped together in three rows, move hypnotically closer and then further away. They sway and then join bodies in order to become multi-limbed spirits.

Nai-Ni uses the color of parched earth to introduce visions of sweltering heat. Clever invention shows itself in the layering of costumes, which includes a transition from velvet textured browns to overlaid skirts of deeper blue and watery purple. Nai-Ni returns to the stage to dance the dance that represents the curious state of not knowing if the vision is real, but not caring. Her watery presence marks the transition into fantasy.

Each section holds something up before your eyes that is joyous and mesmerizing. The driving score from Glen Valez has so many layers, and the dancers animate each one beautifully. The trios are hypnotic as each dancer moves together, but individually catches different highlights in the music. This gives their performance an improvisational and illusive rhythmic feel. I love this!

Some people in the audience loved it a little too much and started snapping ‘unauthorized’ pictures of the work. But, the iDanz police stepped in to squash that nonsense by tapping his shoulder. He looked back at me (with press kit and sharpened pencil in hand) before quietly turning off his camera.

Don’t steal art! Nai-Ni Chen worked extremely hard to create this new work, and a great success at that. This is a company that I will be following for many years to come.

Photography by Michael Cuno

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Sasha Deveaux
Performance: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Choreographer: Nai-Ni Chen
Venue: Baruch Performing Arts Center
Performance Date: March 14, 2009
www.iDANZOnline.com

City Parks Foundation Presents Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

2009-02-21T08:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday, July 27, 2008
From 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Jackie Robinson Bandshel

With the allure of a singular brush stroke, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company gently glides across the stage with color, lyricism and the subtle whisper of Chinese tradition. Ms. Chen’s unique repertoire is a seamless blend of ancient rituals and modern concepts, which has earned her multiple accolades over the years. While they have appeared at international festivals in Poland, Korea, and China, the company, in residency at the Harlem School of the Arts, has also been presented by some of the most prestigious concert halls across the United States, from the Joyce Theater in New York to the Cerritos Center in California.

Celebrating the Chinese New Year of the Ox

2008-11-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release

November 11, 2008

Contact: Nancy Nicolelis

718.898.7002

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Celebrates the Year of the Ox at
South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC)
January 24 and 25, 2009

Golden Phoenix Award to be presented to Dr. Jane Aronson,
Founder of Worldwide Orphans Foundation,
at Chinese New Year Banquet Gala on Sat. January 24th, 2009

Fort Lee, NJ - The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will celebrate the Year of the Ox at the South Orange Performing Arts Center in South Orange, NJ with a colorful and diverse program of music and dance that includes new and innovative works, as well as the traditional Chinese music and dance favorites.

The Company's celebration will include its annual Chinese New Year Banquet and Performance. This year, at the Banquet on Saturday, January 24, the Company will honor renowned adoption medicine specialist Dr. Jane Aronson, Founder and Executive Medical Director of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO), which is headquartered in Maplewood, NJ.

This year there will be two performances to celebrate the Year of the Ox at SOPAC: Saturday, January 24, at 2PM, and Sunday, January 25, at 2 PM. Continuing one of its most colorful traditions, at 4 PM on both Saturday and Sunday, the Company will host a festive New Year Banquet and Gala on the premises of SOPAC. A12-course Chinese New Year Banquet will be prepared by award-winning chef Ni of the Chinatown Restaurant in Harrison, NJ, which was awarded a five star rating from the New York Daily News food critic.

Ticket prices for both the banquet and performance are $95 per Adult and $39 per Child. Tickets for the performance only are $35 per Adult and $19 per Child. For those who have already purchased tickets for the performance from SOPAC, the additional cost of the banquet is $60 per Adult and $20 per Child

About The Celebration of Year of the Ox

On the Chinese lunar calendar, each year is symbolized by a different animal, and each cycle is represented by one of the five fundamental elements that the ancient Chinese believed made up the universe: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

This auspicious 4707th Chinese New Year is the Year of the Wood Ox. To celebrate this great occasion, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will perform some of the most treasured traditional dances performed at the Chinese New Year—the Lion Dance and the Dragon Dance. Originated during the Tang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago, these dances celebrate the coming of the spring and the harmony between nature and humankind. Showcasing the diversity of the traditional and contemporary Chinese performing arts, the company will perform a colorful folk dance from the Xingjian Province, an area near Central Asia on the Silk Road.

Besides the traditional favorites, choreographer Nai-Ni Chen will also premiere a new dance she has choreographed, New Frontier, which will be accompanied by live music performed by four-time Grammy Award-winning musician Glen Velez (www.GlenVelez.com).

This special Chinese New Year Celebration also will present some of the most skillful craft artists in New Jersey’s Chinese-American community in SOPAC’s lobby on the day of the performance. More Info about the performance and the Company can be found online at: www.nainichen.org

About World Wide Orphan Foundation (WWO) and Dr. Aronson

Founded in 1997, WWO’s mission is to transform the lives of orphaned children around the world by addressing their unique needs through medical, developmental, psychosocial and educational programs. WWO programs are designed to take children out of anonymity and help them to become healthy, productive members of their communities and the world. Among WWO’s worldwide endeavors is a humanitarian program in China. Dr. Aronson also has served as a medical consultant and provider to numerous American families who have adopted children from China, many of whom regularly attend the performances of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company throughout the U.S. For more info on Dr. Aronson and WWO, please visit: www.wwo.org.

# # #

What: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Chinese New Year celebration
Where: South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC)
One SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ 07079
When: Saturday, January 24th, 2 PM and Sunday, January 25th, 2 PM
(each performance followed by a New Year Banquet at 4 PM)
Tickets: Performance and Banquet: $95 per Adult; $39 per Child
Performance Only: $35 per Adult; $19 per Child
Group discounts and special packages are available.

To Order Tickets
Call: 973. 313.ARTS (2787)
Online: www.sopacnow.org

Special sponsorship packages are also available:

Individual Contributor Package, $120: Includes one Performance and Banquet ticket and a DVD signed by the dancers.

Corporate Table Package, $2,000: Includes Performance and Banquet tickets for 12 Adults and 2 Children, a half page ad in the event program and a DVD signed by the dancers.

Review by Joel Benjamin for TheatreScene.net

2008-06-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

TheatreScene.net

The NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY offers six works combining an Asian sensibility with western modern dance styles danced by eight terrific, talented performers.

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY
at the Ailey Citigroup Theater

by

Joel Benjamin

Nai-Ni Chen, a Taiwan native, brought her attractive company to the Ailey Citigroup Theater for two performances on May 23rd & 24th (at 8 p.m.). She showed six works all inspired by events, sites and legends of her native China.

"Raindrops" for four women dressed in pale, long, tunics over brighter-colored pants, was an homage to her hometown, Keelong, known as Rain Harbor. To the sounds of bells and bongs the four dancers--Julie Fiorenza, Chu-Ying Ku, Teri Miller & Lindsay Parker--rose out of a group pose into little worlds of their own in different sections of the stage. They came together in pairs and threes, skittering and lunging and finally, carrying lovely parasols, playfully interacted in elegant, picturesque ways. They ended in a tight group, posing quietly. "Raindrops" had an almost picture postcard feel, tempered by the light sensuality of the free-flowing modern dance steps.

"Incense," danced by Ms. Firorenza, Ms. Miller and two men, Noibis Licea & Qiao Zeng, has meant to recall the lightness of a rising incense haze, but came ac=oss as much heavier in tone. The dancers, all in white, the men barechested, kept grouping and regrouping, swooping about the stage using un=ulating gestures and some light lifts. Sometimes three dancers danced against a faster moving soloist and sometimes they formed two couples but most often they danced alone, coming together in a sculptural pole in which three dancers crouched together while one hovered above them, raised arms lightly moving as in a benediction. The incense imagery simply didn't come across, not helped by a score by Joan La Barbara which featured humming over harsher, machinelike sounds.

"On the River of Dreams" showed the closest thing to an emotional relationship in the entire program. To a boinging score of percussion and strings by Forr=st Fang, Lindsey Parker and Ziao Zeng portrayed a ferryman and his fare who= according to the Ms. Chen's program note, was the "spirit of the water."&n=sp; Mr. Zeng, barechested, in loose black pants, hoisted a long bamboo pole pulling Ms. Parker, in rose & gray along with him. (Costumes by Karen Young.) Using swift, flatfooted steps, they travelled about the stage, often entwining. The ferryman's pole was used to lift his passenger and became, in turn, a bridge over the water, his oar and a symbol of high connection to his spirit. She leapt at him and hung off the pole, movements interrupted by more peaceful periods of movements
tranversing the stage. Ms. Chin created a lovely picture here with just the hint of sexuality.

"The Way of Five, No. 2 - Fire" was a part of a longer work dealing with the five elements of Chinese mythology: wood, fire, water, metal and earth. Dressed in tights. Chen's bright red costumes and moving to a score of cello against drums by Tan Dun), the five dancers followed the pattern set by earlier work and kept coming together and then apart, with the lone man, Mr. Licea, lifting some of the women. The movements had a slightly sharper quality and the ending in which all fall into slides on their stomachs along a good portion of the playing was exciting.

"The Way of Fire, No. 3 - Water" opened the second half of the program. The six dancers wore lovely, translucent white robes designed by Anna-Alisa Belou and danced to a multi-dimensional and subtle percussion score commissioned from Gerald Chenoweth. The featured movement motif here was softly treading whirling, perhaps to indicate the water theme. Again, the dancers worked in groups against each other and combined undulating upper body movements with curlicue arm gestures and, again, the work ended in a sculptural pose with one lovely dancer on top gesturing out to the audience.

The final work was, by far, the most interesting movement-wise. "Unfolding" was ori=inally performed out of doors at Wave Hill in the Bronx and this expansiveness showed even on the smallish stage of the Ailey Center. The three men (now including Wei Yao), barechested and in dark pants were discovered curled up on the stage as the four women in layered, diagonally patterned costumes in red, gold and blue entered and variously touched and rearranged them. The men variously carried and lifted the women and moved amongst them creating many combinations of partners. This was the first work to have large jumps and some movements that resembled martial arts jabs and falls. The music by Harry Lee featured voices humming and shouting above percussive sounds and it created a lively environment in which the dancers related combatively in almost a battle of the se=es in which both sexes pretty much moved the same way. "Unfolding" built to a solid climax of jumps.

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY has eight terrific dancers who are completely immersed in Ms. Chen's style of movement which combines a kind of Martha Graham-lite with Asian gestures and philosophy. They are all beautiful to look at and very much involved in whatever they are asked to do.

However, Ms. Chen needs to introduce some humor into her work. The works were almost too beautiful, lacking any deep emotion and sexuality. Mind you, the ballets weren't dreary or even too dark, just too meditative with say too many slow motion movements, as if the dancers were moving through water. The moods of these six works were made to seem different through the brilliant lighting Susan Summers and A.C. Hickox. Ms. Chen's over-achieving program notes didn't help, either. She clearly wanted u= to understand what inspired her to choreograph each piece, but fewer words and clearer choreography would paint the pictures better. Each of the program notes could have been reduced to ten words and have a stronger effort, letting the audience decide what each work meant.

In the end, the NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY displayed an original artist=c vision, fine performances by eight beautifully trained dancers, great cos=umes and lighting and a yearning for depth not quite found. The works were never uninteresting to the eye, but more variation would have spiced up the show.

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY
Nai-Ni Chen, Artistic Director and Choreographer
Dancers: Selena Chau, Julie Fiorenza, Chu-Ying Ku, Noibis Licea, Teri Miller, Lindsey Parker, Wei Yao & Qiao Zeng

at the Ailey Citigroup Theater
405 West 55th St.
New York, NY 10019

NY Season Release in Chinese

2008-05-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

陳乃霓舞團
週五，六 (五月廿三日及廿四)
于艾力劇場公演
水火

本週五，六 (五月廿三日及廿四) ，華裔現代舞蹈家陳乃霓將率領她的精華
舞者于 405 W 55 ST ( 9th Ave) 艾力劇場 (Ailey Citigroup Theater) 演出她
的最新作品(五行之二) 水，(五行之一) 火，以及她近年發展的數支代表性的作
品。

陳乃霓舞蹈團是紐約哈林區著名哈林藝術學校的駐校藝術團體。她個人在新州潛心
發展以天地的自然為師的舞蹈語言，並在主流社區中發揚中華文化的真精神。以她
在文化大學中所受到的中國古典文化的熏陶，加上她從美國各現代舞蹈宗師的課堂
作品中，領悟到的兼容並包、寬大自由的情懷，自創一派。她的風格獨特，與一般
時下的前衛風格完全不同。在紐約舞蹈節中演出時，紐約時報主要舞評珍妮佛‧鄧
寧曾說：[ 陳乃霓慧眼獨具，妙法自然，她的編舞手法極具自信，如海中的暗濤洶
湧，使舞蹈進入一個個新的高潮 ]。由於她的努力不懈，她的舞蹈團已發展為美國
舞蹈界中極少見的純表演性質的職業舞蹈團。她的藝術成就，並得美國國家藝術基
金會的認同，年年的巡迴演出，在美國各大劇院佳評如潮。在歐洲及亞洲也到極高
的評價。去年，她得到美國總統藝術協會的獎金，巡迴墨西哥七大城。

最近，星條報(Star Ledger) 專業舞評強森(Robert Johnson) 指出她的舞蹈[
優雅具活力，充滿了無形的氣勢]，波士頓鳳凰報權威舞評希高(Marcia Siegel)
說 [ 她的舞蹈將中華文化的養料帶入了現代舞的世界]。

這次演出，除了她的最新作品(五行之二) 水以及(五行之一) 火之外，
陳乃霓將演出她的兩首得意作品-- 香及衍。香以希臘神壇雕塑為主題，由作
曲家瓊芭柏拉(Joan La Barbara) 作曲。衍是數年前，陳乃霓得到中大西洋藝術
基金會(Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation) 藝術獎金與韓國丈鼓(Chang-Go)名家李
伍碩聯手合作，發展以易經中天行健為題的越界現代舞(Cross-Cultural Contemporary
Dance)。

觀眾若想看陳乃霓舞蹈團的演出，請早訂票 ( 成人$30 / 學生$15 )，訂票電話(800)650-
0246 (留言)，網址: www.nainichen.org
劇院地址是 405 West 55 Street (9th Ave), New York, NY 10011. 門口售
票。

2008-05-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

Combat and rain
Nai-Ni Chen at John Hancock Hall
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL
The Phoenix
May 13, 2008 11:58:40 AM

Taiwanese choreographer Nai-Ni Chen danced with Cloud Gate Dance Theater before moving to New York in 1982, and her work, like theirs, is a suave amalgam of traditional Chinese elements and modern dance. Chen’s company of 10 dancers appeared Saturday night at John Hancock Hall, sponsored by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts. The program demonstrated how the traditions can nourish contemporary dance, with practical tools like movement and symbolic objects as well as philosophical and literary themes.

Chen’s movement style was showcased in the opening piece, Raindrops, for four women. Wearing pastel silk halter-top jumpsuits with flying panels of silk front and back, the women clustered together at first, revolving and lifting their arms with palms upraised. They skimmed across the floor in tiny sidesteps and tilted swirls, their torsos undulating in elegant zigzags and curves. With small sudden jumps or abrupt tumbles to the ground, they’d interrupt their swift trajectories, then recover.

The music, by three composers (Henry Wolff, Robert Rich, and Sainkho Namtchylak), changed from high, resonant bells to deep gamelan gongs to rhythmic drumming with Jew’s harp and electronics. After the meditative beginning, the women danced with rice-paper umbrellas, possibly celebrating the rain they’d been praying for. Then they returned to their quick running and jumping patterns for a lively celebration.

Following Chinese dance conventions, Chen’s men and women almost always dance separately, or at least in separate styles. But though the women looked decorative and moved in small spheres most of the time, they never looked cute or doll-like to me. In fact, with the incorporation of martial-arts skills, they could oppose the men in contests of attack and evasion — a duet or a duel with fans in The Way of Five — No. 2, an escalating group counterpoint of dominance, submission, and recuperation in Unfolding.

To show the classical roots of these encounters, Chen included a dance for an acrobatic warrior from China’s Kunqu opera, as adapted and performed by Yao-Zhong Zhang. A former actor with the Shanghai Kuan Opera troupe, Zhang stomped on his platform shoes, stroked the long feathers streaming out of his headdress, and twirled two spear-like batons while doing helicopter turns.

In Chinese opera, you overcome your opponent with athletic prowess and intimidate him by means of resplendent costumes, headgear, and make-up rather than brute force. Weapons evolved into fans, to deceive and surprise. Similarly, long sleeves attached to a robe could conceal and, when flung out around the character’s body, dazzle and distract. Nai-Ni Chen described gorgeous white halos and ripples around herself in Passage to the Silk River. But she wasn’t only manipulating the sleeves, she was dancing herself, in clever chaîné turns and flourishes that animated the silk.

Six women carried eight-foot-long rods in Bamboo Prayer, making the flexible props into extensions of their bodies. Held vertical as the dancers ran in circles, the sticks swayed like saplings. Thrust along the floor or placed in certain patterns, they could link the dancers, provide grids for stepping games, or perhaps even invoke magic spells.

Chen’s program notes told us about the legends and metaphysical images that underlay all these dances. Lindsey Parker represented the spirit of the river and Qiao Zeng the fisherman getting his sustenance from her spring floods. But watching the dance, I thought they could have been lovers or even lifelong companions on a fateful journey, as he poled an invisible boat and she hovered around him.

For the finale, Festival, the whole company joined in a procession of dancing, tumbling, flag dances and a calligraphic extravaganza of long silk scarves in bright colors, foaming and spurting above the stage.

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company New York City Season 2008!

2008-05-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Book tickets now by calling 800-650-0246 or visit www.nainichen.org

Nai-Ni Chen Teaches Technique and Repertory Workshop at Peridance

2008-05-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

Nai-Ni Chen will be conducting an intensive workshop at Peridance

June 9-13
11:30 am

Call Peridance at 212-505-0886
or visit Peridance

Peridance Center
International Dance School
890 Broadway
6th Floor
New York, NY

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY SEEKS DANCERS FOR OUR 2008-09 SEASON

2008-05-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is seeking full-time male and female dancers for
our 2008-09 season.
Strong dance technique and
performance background are required.

All ethnic backgrounds are welcome.

Appropriate attire required; leotard preferred.
Please bring current résumé and photo to the audition.

National touring and
educational programs year round

Work begins in July 2008
Call the Company to make an audition appointment at 800-650-0246

or email matthew@nainichen.org

Auditions
June 12 & 13, 2-6 pm

Callback
June 16, 12-4 pm

at
Harlem School of the Arts
645 St. Nicholas Ave. (between 141 & 145 Sts)
New York

Subways
A/B/C/D to 145 St

To find out more about the Company,
visit our website
www.nainichen.org

REMINDER!
Join us for our 2008

New York Season!
Ailey Citygroup Theater
May 23 & 24 at 8 pm

Call for tickets: 800-650-0246
or visit
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Adult
$30
Student/Senior/Child
$15

Ailey Citigroup Theater
405 W. 55 St.
New York, NY

Review: Graceful and dynamic, Nai-Ni Chen troupe summons potent flow of Chinese energy

2008-04-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Monday, April 21, 2008
BY ROBERT JOHNSON
Star-Ledger Staff

DANCE

Although she spends most of her time now sculpting movements that other people will perform, choreographer Nai-Ni Chen remains a wonderful dancer. Whenever she returns to the stage, in a solo like "Passage to the Silk River," Chen's grace and agility elevate performances by her Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to a higher plane.

Chen danced "Passage to the Silk River" again, on Friday, probably so her company could recover between two athletic, full-throttle dances. Yet once again Chen's unassuming presence, draped in a white robe with long sleeves that descended below her hands, immediately brought the evening into sharper focus. The troupe, which is based in Fort Lee, appeared at the Theater of Raritan Valley Community College, in North Branch.

Curiously in this quiet, inward-looking solo the gushing images that the performer creates with the traditional "water sleeves" of her costume seem to emerge from her reverie. Despite the fleeting definition of sharply cut shapes, the dance has a restless quality and it can surprise -- for example, in a passage where Chen drops suddenly for a roll on the ground that exposes her feet. While "Passage to the Silk River" seems to hold opposing tendencies in balance, Chen's gentle expression lends the work poetry. She seems as spontaneous and free as a cloud passing overhead.

The group numbers on this satisfying program of (mostly) contemporary dance evinced a broad, dynamic range, from the delicacy of "Raindrops," where hands extended to catch the spattering rain or mimicked the torrent's course along the ground, to the impassioned duel between Selena Chau and Noibis Licea that comes at the center of "The Way of Five -- Fire." Yet in all these pieces, the transfer of energy seems to complete a cycle.

Rooted in traditional Chinese philosophy, Chen's work has a holistic quality that relates to the guided flow of "chi" energy through the body and across the stage. In "Raindrops," the dancers relay a movement impulse across space without touching, as if exchanging an air kiss. In "Unfolding," the dancers' wrists connect as if to pass an electric current. The performers draw deep breaths and empty their lungs, yet their motion remains calm, effortless and sustained. This use of breath may remind some viewers of the way a swimmer turns his head to gulp a mouthful of air, without interrupting his body's efficient slice through the water.

Chen sometimes uses simple props, as well as bodies, to define the stage space. Qiao Zeng was a fisherman punting upstream in "The River of Dreams," where his pole became a line dividing up and downstage areas, back and front. The pole also connects Zeng to the river spirit (Lindsey Parker) who is his constant companion; and it supports their intermingling.

In contrast, the batons that guest artist Lu Wen-Long deployed in his solo "The Legend of the Double Spear Warrior," were for virtuosic effect, making this spectacularly costumed but slightly off-balance excerpt from Kunque Opera resemble a kind of halftime show.

With its masked folkloric characters and towering giantess, the concluding "Festival" offered more than just a reduced version of the beloved Chinese New Year celebration that is a highlight of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's dance season. Yet here, too, intensely hued ribbons dazzled as the dancers tossed the ribbons in vivid streams, and wrapped themselves in whorls of bright fabric.

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

NEW YORK CITY SEASON 2008

2008-04-16T10:24:00.001-07:00

NEW YORK CITY SEASON
May 23 & 24, 2008
Limited Engagement - Book your seats now!

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY
New York City Season 2008
at the
AILEY CITIGROUP THEATER
A diverse program of contemporary dance
celebrating the extraordinary work of
Nai-Ni Chen

"Three-dimensional poetry" - The Village Voice

Friday, May 23
Saturday, May 24
8 pm

Featuring
The Way of Five, No. 3 - Water
The Way of Five, No. 2 - Fire
(New York City premieres)
Raindrops
Incense
Unfolding
The River of Dreams

Artistic Director/Choreographer
Nai-Ni Chen

Dancers
Selena Chau, Julie Fiorenza,
Chu-Ying Ku, Noibis Licea, Teri Miller,
Lindsey Parker, Wei Yao, Qiao Zeng

THE AILEY STUDIOS
405 W. 55 Street
New York, NY

Tickets
$30 Adults
$15 Students/Seniors/Children

"Like endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy"
-The New York Times

To make reservations, call the Company at
(800) 650-0246
or visit
www.nainichen.org

Spring News!

2008-04-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

Spring Newsletter

March 2008

The 2007-08 season is proving to be one of our busiest and most successful to date. With performances at home in New York and New Jersey and a busy touring schedule, as well as extensive dance-in-education involvement across the tri-state area, Nai-Ni and her talented dancers continue to be in high demand for performances, master classes, and workshops throughout the year.

"Chen... brings wide-ranging experience and sophistication."
-Robert Johnson
Star-Ledger

If you are a presenter, school or university interested in booking the Company or would like further information about our programs, please contact us at:

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
PO Box 1121
Fort Lee, NJ
07024

info@nainichen.org
www.nainichen.org

(800) 650-0246

The Year of the Rat Celebrating the
Chinese New Year!
The Company recently presented its tenth annual Chinese New Year celebration at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Victoria Theater in Newark.

During a week-long series of performances, the Company entertained both school and family audiences with a diverse program, from the traditional Lion and Triple Peacock dances to the premiere of Nai-Ni's latest contemporary work, The Way of Five, No. 3 - Water, with a commissioned score by Gerald Chenoweth performed live onstage by The Rutgers Percussion Ensemble live onstage.

"...a dynamic work that crackled and burned with passionate energy."

-Robert Johnson
Star-Ledger
(on The Way of Five, No. 2 - Fire)

Winter Tour

Continuing their winter engagements, Nai-Ni and the dancers recently traveled to cities in Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Jersey and New York, exposing new audiences to the Company's unique style.

A highlight of this tour was the performance at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit, home of the prestigious Detroit Symphony Orchestra. From an audience of over 1,500 people, thedancers received a standing ovation for their program of works celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Moving into Spring, in addition to performances in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Texas, the Company performed on March 9 as part of the Dance New Jersey Show Up & Dance Showcase at the Two Rivers Theater, Red Bank, New Jersey.
A Leader in Dance Education!

Education remains a strong focus for the Company. Programs at Shuang Wen School in Manhattan's Chinatown, the Asian Studies program at Symphony Space, also in Manhattan, and Project Poetry Live! in partnership with Litchfield Performing Arts, Connecticut, continue to enhance the Company's strong reputation in the field of dance and cultural education.

Company dancer Noibis Licea is currently guest teaching at Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) in New York. His dynamic and challenging Afro-Cuban class is proving very popular among the Lower Manhattan dance community!

Visit DNA for class times and prices!

NNCDC Performs at Two Rivers Theater, Red Bank, NJ

2008-04-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

See Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company perform the exhilirating
Way of Five, No. 2 - Fire
at
Dance New Jersey's
Show Up & Dance event this Sunday, March 9!

Performance at 4 pm

Two River Theatre
21 Bridge Avenue
Red Bank, NJ

Dance New Jersey
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
PO Box 1121
Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024
1-800-650-0246

www.nainichen.org
info@nainichen.org
Forward email

2008-01-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

Presenting the cross-cultural works
of Nai-Ni Chen at the
American Performing Arts Presenters Conference 2008

"... dripping with powerful emotion, wet and raw with new life."
Tresca Weinstein, Times Union, Albany, NY

The Company will present a diverse and entertaining selection of Nai-Ni's choreography, from traditional Chinese dances to challenging and thought-provoking contemporary works. Demonstrating the versatility of the Company's repertory and the performance and residency options available, the program will include Festival, a traditionally inspired work based on dragon boat races in China; The Way of Five, No. 2, a contemporary work with martial arts influences; and an excerpt from the multimedia piece Tianji/ Dragons on the Wall. Please visit our representative, Joanne Rile Artists Management, during the conference, and we look forward to seeing you at one of the showcase performances listed below.

City Center Studios
130 West 56th Street
New York, NY

Saturday, January 12
8:00 pm
Studio 5

Sunday, January 13
10:00 am
Studio 4

8:00 pm
Studio 5

Residency and education programs available
Represented by Joanne Rile Artists Management
215-885-6400/ info@rilearts.com
Booth: Americas Hall 2, #708

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company performs this weekend!

2007-12-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-28T10:21:00.003-08:00

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

2007-11-08T09:28:00.001-08:00

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

2007-10-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-10-11T11:36:00.001-07:00

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

2007-10-11T11:30:00.002-07:00

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

2007-10-11T11:30:00.001-07:00

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

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Force of Nature

On The River of Dreams

In the Studio with Nai-Ni Chen

Dance Review

'Year of the Rabbit' review: Dancing to bring luck, fortune to the New Year

Published: Wednesday, February 09, 2011, 8:00 AM

CALIFORNIAN: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company celebrates nature

Dance review: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company brings studies of movement to Kutztown University

Dance review: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company brings studies of movement to Kutztown University

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

Nai-Ni Chen/Ahn Trio Collaboration

Oberon's Grove gets sneak peek of this weeks premieres

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company: Rehearsal

Oberon's Grove Review of Moon Festival in Harlem

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in Harlem

Moon Festival in Harlem

Season reflection from Artistic Director Nai-Ni Chen

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

Auditions for Dancers to be held on June 2 & 3

Ballet, tap dancing and theatrical magic April 24 at bergenPAC

Exciting dance performance to showcase at HLSCC

Nai-Ni Chen Dancers Shine

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

New Jersey ballet kicks up its heels for gala

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

Daily Sundial

March 10, 2010

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

Review: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Center for Refugees brings dance troupe to annual fundraiser

By LISA KAPPS

Observer-Dispatch

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Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Mohawk Valley Community College

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Mohawk Valley Community College

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

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company rings in Chinese New Year

By Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger

February 11, 2010, 6:46PM

See the lion dance

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

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company on SundayArts

Opening Doors with New and Old

Video from this morning's Great Day San Antonio

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Co. merge East, West

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Upcoming Performances in San Antonio, TX

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company coming to San Antonio

Chinese New Year at NJPAC

By Martin Tsai

January 14, 2010, 12:01AM

School Performances at Hostos Community College Next Week

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Kingsborough Community College

Chinese New Year Celbrations

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at APAP

Another Review of Nai-Ni's "Three Riddles of Turandot" performed by NJ Ballet

Great Story from One of our Dancers!

"Three Riddles of Turandot" Review

NJ Ballet to Premier work by Nai-Ni Chen

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to Perform in Hopkinsville, KY

Company headed to Troy, NY

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company at Ball State University

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is in Korea

New Dancers

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to Perform in Great Neck, NY

Executive Director, Andy Chiang, interviewed about the economy for article in Back Stage

Project Poetry Live! Final Performance Tonight

SOPAC Residency Update

Poetry in Motion at Union County Academy for Performing Arts

Week-long Residency in Pemaquid, Maine

Auditions for Dancers to be held on June 9 & 10

Nai-Ni Chen to Perform in Morristown on Saturday

by Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger
Thursday April 23, 2009, 2:43 PM