The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
at the Akwaaba Gallery in Newark
for a Black Friday Graffiti Opening
Friday, Nov 29, 2019 at 6:00pm
Akwaaba Gallery, 509 S. Orange Ave, Newark, NJ
Space Limited. Please RSVP to 917-260-9122
Free and Open to the Public
Join the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company for a special event: Akwaaba at Night in Newark’s most exciting new gallery space, Akwaaba, for a new and unexpected experience in response to Akwaaba’s brand new Graffiti exhibit titled: Dirty Dozen. This is the first time for Nai-Ni Chen to return to Newark visual arts venues since her last appearance at Aljira in Newark in 2016.
In Akwaaba’s gallery setting, choreographer Nai-Ni Chen and the dancers will be navigating, reacting and dancing with the graffiti in the gallery and they will be showing fresh choreography based on the artworks exhibited. For one night only, come experience the creative process in this unique and intimate setting and witness how this ground-breaking choreographer creates new work for a gallery at night.
Also Upcoming in the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company 2019-20 Season:
In January and February 2019, to chase away the winter blues, the Company will celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rat and the first year of the cycle of metal with a vibrant, colorful extravaganza of the Company’s Lunar New Year Festival at Staten Island College, Queens College, The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Long Island, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Ocean County College in New Jersey. This New Year’s program highlights will include a diverse line up of top-tier Chinese artists as well as new dances by Nai-Ni Chen.
The season will continue in March with appearances by up-and-coming Asian American artists at the Company’s resident work at Flushing Town Hall. In its 6th year, the Company has been presenting new music and dance talents in the community.
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will be on Ellis Island in the Great Hall of Immigrant for the Asian American Heritage Month in May. The Company will be presenting the 6th Imagine Ellis Island Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Festival which will bring together a diverse array of artists focused on preserving and creating culturally specific work.
Followers and audience can gain an early glimpse of the Company’s new works during our open rehearsal sessions at Flushing Town Hall in New York, at NJPAC in Newark, as well as at pop-up locations around the NY/NJ area to be announced on our e-newsletter.
In addition to developing new dances, Nai-Ni Chen is equally committed to introduce the Chinese American heritage to children and family in diverse communities. Her K-12 assembly program, The Art of Chinese Dance, is performed throughout the year in schools and community centers in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Continuing its commitment to preserve and advance dance in the Chinese American community in New Jersey, the Company offers regularly scheduled community workshops at the Metuchen Dance Centre every Saturday with award-winning instructors from China, Taiwan, and the U.S.
Upcoming Performance Highlights:
CrossCurrent at New York Live Arts
219 W. 19th St.
New York, NY 10011
Friday, December 5 at 7:30
Saturday, December 6 at 7:30
Sunday, December 7 at 7:30
Ticket info: TBA
Chinese New Year Celebration: Year of the Golden Rat at NJPAC
Saturday, January 25, 2020 at 2:00pm and Sunday, January 26 at 2:00pm
One Center Street Newark, NJ 07102
See below for ticketing information:
https://www.njpac.org/events/detail/chinese-new-year-celebration-year-of-the-golden-rat
Penn State Harrisburg Concert and Residency
Tuesday, February 4th at 7:30pm
Mukund S. Kulkarni Theatre, Student Enrichment Center
777 West Harrisburg Pike
Middletown, PA 17057
More information:
https://harrisburg2.vmhost.psu.edu/calendar/event/nai-ni-chen-dance-company
South Orange Performing Arts Center Showcase
Friday, April 17 SOPAC WaySouth Orange, NJ 07079
Ticket info TBA
Song of the Phoenix at Westchester Community College
Saturday, May 9 at 8:00pm Academic Arts Theatre
75 Grasslands Road
Valhalla, NY 10595
See below for ticketing information:
https://www.sunywcc.edu/events/nai-ni-chen/
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Free and Open to the Public
Nai-Ni Chen has been making dances professionally for over thirty years since coming to the US. She has built a diverse repertoire of over 80 original works and toured to major venues in the US and international festivals in 12 countries around the world. A cross-cultural choreographer who aims to bring audience across the cultural boundaries, she has developed unique movement and choreographic styles that reflect the grace and splendor of the Chinese cultural traditions she studied in Taiwan since youth and the dynamic spirit of modern dance that she acquired in New York from luminaries such as Mary Anthony, Bertram Ross, Doris Rudko and Patricia Rowe.
Nai-Ni Chen has received multiple Choreographer Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She has been a principal affiliate of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and was a resident artist of the Harlem School of the Arts. Her contribution to the immigrant cultural experience has been honored by OCA and the International Institute. Commissions have come from the Joyce Theater Foundation, the Lincoln Center Institute, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Towson University, Dancing in the Streets, New Jersey Ballet, Ballet Met, and the Cleveland Dancing Wheels. Nai-Ni is currently in residence in New Jersey City University creating a new dance program for the university in collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet School as well as pioneering a program with the University’s Laboratory School for children with multiple disabilities.
