The University at
Albany Performing Arts Center, operating under the auspices of the College of Arts and Sciences, is
pleased to host a residency by Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. In conjunction with the University’s themed
year focusing on China, the group will
conduct activities at the Performing Arts Center from Thursday, November 1, 2007 through Saturday, November 3, 2007.
Led by
choreographer and artistic director Nai-Ni Chen, the company’s work fuses the
dynamic freedom of American modern dance with the grace and splendor of Asian
art. The company's productions take their audiences beyond cultural boundaries
to where tradition meets innovation and freedom arises from discipline.
Presented by some
of the most prestigious concert halls in the United States from the Joyce Theater in New York to the Ordway Center in Minnesota to the Cerritos Center in California, the Nai-Ni Chen
Dance Company is embarking on its twentieth national tour and its seventh
abroad this year. 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 in a seven-city
tour arranged by the Tamaulipas International Arts Festival in Mexico. In addition
to its nearly 40-week season of touring and performing, the company’s outreach
ensemble program "The Art of Chinese Dance" has been reaching more
than 40,000 young people each year. The
company is in residence at the Harlem School of the Arts.
On Thursday,
November 1 at 6pm in the Recital
Hall, Nai-Ni Chen will give a free Artist Talk
focusing on her background, her work and her insights on the Chinese-American
experience. Chen comes from a rich dance tradition.
She was a renowned traditional dancer in the Republic of China and served on
several ambassadorial culture missions to nineteen countries. An early
member of the Cloud Gate Dance Theater in Taiwan, she graduated from
the Chinese Cultural University in 1982 and then
came to America to seek her own
voice in the world of contemporary dance. Since the inception of her
company in 1988, Chen has created a wide-ranging repertory that includes both
dances that originated thousands of years ago and highly abstract, modern
creations. Her works are often inspired by the poetic motion of the
Chinese painting brush, by folk rituals and ceremonies and by phenomena of
nature. They have been presented by such acclaimed festivals as the Silesian
International Contemporary Dance Festival and the Konfrontations
International Dance Festival (both in Poland), the Chang Mu
International Arts Festival in Korea and the China International Dance Festival
and have been commissioned by the Joyce Theater Foundation, the Lincoln Center
Institute, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Dancing in the Streets and the
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
The company will
present three performances during their stay – one for local school groups and
two for the general public. At 10am on Friday, November 2, the company will offer a matinee
performance for middle and high school groups.
The program will focus on the company’s traditional work. Admission is $5 per student with chaperones
attending free of charge. Reservations
for student groups may be made by calling (518) 442-5738.
On Friday evening
at 8pm, the program will
be one of traditional Chinese dance.
Included will be the Lion Dance (originated in the Tang Dynasty and one
of the most popular dances performed in the Chinese New Year Celebration); the
Fan Dance (used by the Han people and inspired by the beautiful scenery in
southern China); the Peacock Dance (from the Dai People in the Yunnan Province); Lu Wen-Long,
The Warrior (from the Chinese Kunque Opera); and
Festival (a dance from the Dragon Boat Festival).
Saturday evening’s
program will be Dragons on the Wall,
a full length contemporary work that is a collaboration
between choreographer Chen, poet Bei Dao, composer
Joan LaBarbara and visual artist Chen Shen. The work was
commissioned for the Year of the Dragon by the New Jersey Performing Arts
Center and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and premiered in 2001. The title was derived from ancient and
contemporary legends which explain why dragon paintings were originally done
without their eyes so as to prevent the dragons from flying away. In this work, the collaborators are looking
to convey the yearning for freedom that reflects their own personal journey.
Tickets for each of
the evening performances are $15 for the general public and $10 for students or
both performances may be purchased for $25 for the general public and $15 for
students. For further information about all the artist talk and the
performances, contact the Box Office at (518) 442-3997 or visit the Performing
Arts Center website at www.albany.edu/pac.
This residency is presented by the UAlbany Performing
Arts Center with funding support provided by the College of Arts and Sciences,
Office of the
Provost, Office of
International Education, Chinese Community
Center of the Capital District, Alumni Association through the Grandma
Moses Fund, University Auxiliary Services Inc.,
Holiday Inn Express and NYS DanceForce which
receives funding from the New York State
Council on the Arts Dance Program and Altria Group, Inc. This residency is also made possible in part
through COMMUNITY ART$GRANTS, a program funded through the State and Local
Partnership Program of the New York State Council on the Arts and The Arts Center
of the Capital Region.
PAC
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