Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Summer 2023 In-Person Dance Classes
Company:
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces
Summer 2023 In-Person Dance Classes
Open to All Dancers at Intermediate and Advanced Levels
with Dancer/Choreographers Aloe Ao Liu and Greta Campo
At the New Center for Creativity and Dance
August 8 - August 17
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company announces their 2023 summer institute for dancers seeking a deep exploration of culture and self-expression, beyond dance movement and technique. The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company classes aim to bring together dancers, choreographers and directors from around the world to create dance that transforms personal, environmental and metaphysical spaces. Classes will be held at New York’s New Center for Creativity and Dance at 287 E. 10th St., from August 8 – 17. Interested dancers may register here.
Advanced/Intermediate level professional or pre-professional dancers looking to push their boundaries with new dance experiences are encouraged to participate. The core program is based on Nai-Ni Chen’s Kinetic Spiral, a cross-cultural dance vocabulary that integrates the Chinese martial arts philosophy in TaiChi, QiGong with contemporary dance practices and ballet. In this series, guest artist Aloe Ao Liu will teach the Peacock Dance from Yunnan Province in China. Yunnan borders China and Laos, Burma and Thailand, a region with rich indigenous cultures and history. Ms. Liu has performed internationally with some of the most prestigious dance companies in the world.
Class Schedule:
- August 8 - 11: Daily classes 1-4pm in Kinetic Spiral and Peacock Dance
- August 14 - 17: Daily classes 3-6pm in Kinetic Spiral and Peacock Dance
- Tuesday, August 8 1- 2:30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 2:30- 4pm Peacock Dance
- Wednesday, August 9 1- 2:30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 2:30- 4pm Peacock Dance Thursday, August 10 1- 2:30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 2:30- 4pm Peacock Dance Friday, August 11 1- 2:30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 2:30- 4pm Peacock Dance Monday, August 14 3- 4.30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 4.30- 6pm Peacock Dance
- Tuesday, August 15 3- 4.30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 4.30- 6pm Peacock Dance
- Wednesday, August 16 3- 4.30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 4.30- 6pm Peacock Dance
- Thursday, August 17 3- 4.30 pm Kinetic Spiral, 4.30- 6pm Peacock Dance
About the Artists:
Aloe Ao Liu is a performance artist, dancer and choreographer. She is currently the Performance Director with CAAM Chinese Dance Theater in St. Paul. Aloe performed extensively throughout China, Asia and Europe including the Shanghai World Expo and the Beijing Olympics. She was a principal and soloist for 8 years with China’s most renowned dancer/director Liping Yang, otherwise known as the “Peacock Princess.” During this period, Liu performed in world famous Chinese dance productions including “Dynamic Yunnan,” “A Shangri-La Spectacular,” and ”The Beautiful South.” A graduate of the Yunnan Arts Institute, her contemporary dance performances have been shown in Kunmng, Macau and most recently at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN.
Greta Campo is the Artistic Director of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. She began her dance training in her native Milan at the Carcano Theater, where she was first introduced to Martha Graham’s work. She performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company in their 2012 New York Season and later on their international tour. Greta is a recipient of the 2016 Rising Star Award from the Fini Dance Festival.
About Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company:
“Chen's phrases, part exoskeletal rigidity, part boneless grace, embodied an epic dignity.” — Village Voice
Choreographer/Dancer Nai-Ni Chen was a unique artist whose work crossed cultural boundaries. Each of her dances reflected her personal vision as an immigrant and an American female artist with deep roots in the Asian culture. From this very personal perspective, she created new works that reflect current issues with global influences. Some of her works have been developed in collaboration with renowned artists such as the Ahn Trio, Glen Velez, Joan La Barbara, and the members of the New Asia Chamber Music Society.
Bridging the grace of Asian elegance and American dynamism, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is a premier provider of innovative cultural experiences that reflect the inspiring hope and energy of the immigrant's journey. The company's ground-breaking works have focused on themes from ancient legends that reflect issues of the present time to purely abstract, contemporary dances influenced by a mix of cultures Nai-Ni Chen experienced in New York. An Asian American company that celebrates cross-cultural experience, the Company's productions naturally bring forth issues of identity, authenticity, and equality.
The Company has presented at some of the most prestigious concert halls such as the Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center in New York, and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida. The Company appears annually at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Queens College, the College of Staten Island and on Ellis Island. Internationally, the Company has presented at international festivals including Open Look Festival in Russia, the Silesian International Contemporary Dance Festival, the Konfrontations International Festival in Poland, the Chang Mu International Dance Festival in Korea, the Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival in China, and the Tamaulipas International Arts Festival in Mexico.
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has received more than 20 awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous Citations of Excellence and grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Advancing Dance Education, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is currently in residence in New Jersey City University pioneering a program with the University's A Harry Moore Laboratory School teaching dance to urban children with disabilities. For additional Company information, visit their website, www.nainichen.org; write to Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, P.O. Box 1121, Fort Lee, NJ 07024; or call (800) 650- 0246.
Programs of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company are made possible by the generous support of our Board members, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, The Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF), the New Jersey Cultural Trust, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, The New Jersey Arts and Culture Recovery Fund administered by the Princeton Area Community Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Hyde and Watson Foundation, E.J. Grassman Trust, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, New Music USA, the Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund, the Rapid Response Program of American Dance Abroad, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ Cultural Exchange Fund, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, PSEG, Proskauer, WAC Lighting, and the Glow Foundation and the Dragon and Phoenix Foundation.
