In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is keeping its dancers in shape by conducting regular Company Classes and rehearsals online from Nai-Ni and Company dancer's living rooms using Zoom.  At the same time, company dancers translated their newly acquired remote teaching skills to serve K-12 students in Elizabeth, New Jersey and students with disabilities in the A Harry Moore School of Jersey City, most of whom living in underserved communities and suffering from isolation and missing the usual support from the school.  Dance has brought them rays of hope and joy in their confined environment.  Nai-Ni Chen continue to create new works through remote rehearsals, structured group and solo improvisations and she has added the video editor as her choreographic tool in this process.  See her latest work on youtube.com using #nainichendancecompany or by following the link:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23nainichendancecompany&sp=QhcSFW5haW5pY2hlbmRhbmNlY29tcGFueQ%253D%253D

 

In addition, company members have joined together to create a new Dance for Social Justice program, and they are inviting the public for a series of three days of free virtual dance classes.  The dancers hope class participants will be inspired to donate to non-political, community advocacy organizations. Such donations are voluntary and at the participants' discretion.  Future actions will be announced in the summer as New York and New Jersey open for public gathering. Registration is available at https://nainichen.org/dance-for-social-justice/.

 

As a Company rooted deeply in diversity and committed to the dancer's artistic journey, Nai-Ni Chen began inviting her friends who are world renowned as well as up and coming dancers and choreographer to come teach the Company class.  The response has been extremely positive, especially in this time when Asian Americans community is facing rising hate crime across the country.  The number of registered have risen to over 350.

 

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company invites dancers from around the world to join the Company at noon for a free one-hour Company Class every weekday.  Interested dancers can join the class by registering on Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's website:  http://nainichen.org/company-class.

 

Classes are as follows: 

Week of 6/15/2020

Monday           Greta Campo (Ballet)

Tuesday          Rei Akazawa (Modern)

Wednesday     Nai-Ni Chen (Kinetic Spiral)

 

Rei Akazawa-Smith was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, where she began her ballet training in the technique of Royal Academy of Dance under the direction of Yuko Kojima. She graduated cum laude with a B.F.A. in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College, receiving the Gold Key for Excellence in 2009. While a student there, she assisted in teaching and demonstrating Graham Technique Master Classes for Miki Orihara and Alessandra Prosperi. She has danced with H.T. Chen and Dancers, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, and played the role of Eliza in The King and I at Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. She participated in The Taylor School Summer Intensive in 2012 and was asked to join Taylor 2 immediately afterward. Since joining the company, she has also appeared with Paul Taylor Dance Company.

 

Greta Campo is the Associate Artistic Director of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, 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. Greta also teaches modern dance at Peridance.

 

About Nai-Ni Chen

Hailed as a Spiritual Choreographer by Dance Magazine and recipient of multiple choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Nai-Ni Chen has been creating dances professionally for over thirty years in the United States. She has built a diverse repertory of over 80 original works and toured to major venues in the US and international contemporary dance festivals in 12 countries. She will be teaching her signature technique KINETIC SPIRAL which is a blend of the dynamic, ever-evolving spirit of contemporary dance and the grace and splendor of the Chinese artistic traditions.

 

Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

A blossom of color, energy and motion, "like endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy," says the New York Times.

 

About the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Bringing the dynamic freedom of American modern dance together with the elegant splendor of Asian art, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is one of the most visible Asian American dance companies in America. Ms. Chen's unique choreography transports audiences beyond cultural boundaries to the common ground between tradition and innovation, discipline and freedom, and form and spirit.

 

Since its inception in 1988, the company has earned a broad base of public support and has toured extensively to major performing arts centers throughout more than thirty states. 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 and the Cerritos Center in California, the Company has mounted more than twenty national tours and nine tours abroad. Ms. Chen's work has been presented by such acclaimed international 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 Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival. The Company was also 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. Also, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has the unique honor of having received more than fifteen 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 addition to its extensive season of touring and performing, the company has developed Arts in Education residency programs in school districts to bring culture and arts into educational settings. It's colorful and engaging in-school assembly program "The Art of Chinese Dance" has been presented in hundreds of schools in NJ, NY, CT and PA, reaching hundreds of thousands of youth. The Company is currently in-residence at New Jersey City University and assisting NJCU in the development of a new BFA in Dance.

 

For additional Company information, visit www.nainichen.org; write to Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, P.O. Box 1121, Fort Lee, NJ 07024; or call (800) 650-0246.