News: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Free Online Company Classes Weekdays at Noon

Photo courtesy Michelle Tabnick PR
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company keeps its dancers in shape by conducting regular Company Classes online from Nai-Ni and Company dancers' living rooms using Zoom. After a few weeks, Company members and Nai-Ni invited former dancers of the Company and friends to join through Zoom. At the same time, company dancers translated their online dance teaching skills to serve K-12 students and students with disabilities in underserved communities, in an attempt to bring them hope and joy in their confined environment.

With a company rooted deeply in diversity and committed to the dancer's artistic journey, Nai-Ni Chen began inviting her friends, both the world renowned and the up-and-coming dancers and choreographers, to teach the Company class. The response has been extremely positive, especially in a time when the Asian American community is experiencing racism and hate.

Now, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has invited dancers around the world to join the Company each weekday at noon for a free one-hour Company Class. Interested dancers can join the class by registering on Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's website.

Classes the week of 4/6/2020:
Monday:          Greta Campo
Tuesday:          PeiJu Chien-Pott
Wednesday:     Akhila Chetan
Thursday:        Nai-Ni Chen
Friday:             Greta Campo

Classes the week of 4/13/2020:
Monday:  Greta Campo
Tuesday:  Yuka Notsuka
Wednesday:  Barkha Patel
Thursday: Miki Orihara
Friday: Greta Campo

 Artist Bios:

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.

PeiJu Chien-Pott joined the Graham Company in 2011. She received the Positano Premia La Danza 2014 award for Best Contemporary Dancer, was named one of the year's "Best Performers" in 2014 and 2017 by Dance Magazine, was named an honoree of the "Women's History Month" by Hudson County, and received a 2017 Bessie award for Outstanding Performer. Chien-Pott has created lead roles by many of the world's most celebrated choreographers including Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, and Andonis Foniadakis. She graduated with a BFA from Taipei National University of the Arts and has since been honored with its Outstanding Alumni Award. She recently received an Outstanding Dance Artist Award from the government of Taiwan.

Guru. Smt. Akhilaneshwari Akhila Chetan is a skilled artist in Nritta - Pure Dance Form, and rasabhinaya - aesthetic communication with creative interpretation of the lyrics and the music. She has had decades of practice under great gurus and legends in Bharathanatya. She is the recipient of prestigious "Purandara Anugraha" Award - 2014 for her services in the dance field, given by TTD, Trust, Tirupati, Government of AP, India, and has received various titles and awards from reputed organizations in recognition of her work in India and the USA.

Greta Campo is the Associate 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.

Miki Orihara is known for her Bessie Award-winning career with the Martha Graham Dance Company. She has performed on Broadway, and with Elisa Monte, SITI Company, PierGroupDance, Lotuslotus, and in productions by Rioult Dance, Twyla Tharp, Anne Bogart, and Robert Wilson. She is a sought-after teacher and coach working with the Kirov Ballet, Japan's New National Theater Ballet School, the Ailey School, New York University, The Hartt School, and L'ete de la Danse (Paris) and is Dance Director for Mishmash*Miki Orihara and Martha Graham Dance technique DVD(2018). Orihara is currently the curator /director of NuVu Festival.

Barkha Patel is an Indian classical Kathak dancer, choreographer, and educator. As a preservationist of Kathak dance, Barkha believes in sharing stories through abhinaya, deep facial expressions, and nritta, traditional and innovative movement. Recently, Barkha completed her choreographic fellowship with Jersey Moves and received the prestigious Choreographer Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. As an educator, Barkha conducts dance classes and master workshops in New York and New Jersey.

Yuki Ishiguro is an up-and-coming choreographer who has had diverse training from ballet to breakdance in Japan. He moved to NY in 2009 to study contemporary dance. From his experiences, he created his own dance style and signature movements, which have been praised by several dance reviews. Yuki has worked and toured with Roxey Ballet, Catapult entertainment, Emery LeCrone dance, and more. In 2018, Yuki started his own company, Yu.S.Artistry. His energetic and athletic work has been presented at several contemporary dance festivals around the US and abroad.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Immersive "American Blues: 5 Short Plays by Tennessee Williams" Takes Audiences on a Marvelously Crafted Journey

Image
American Blues: 5 Short Plays by Tennessee Williams Written by Tennessee Williams Directed by Jim Niesen Presented by the Irondale Ensemble Project at The Space at Irondale 85 South Oxford St., Brooklyn, NYC October 27-November 26, 2023 Shadenia Savid in Moony's Kids Don't Cry . Photo by Natasha Rotondaro In 1948, Tennessee Williams published American Blues , a collection of five one-act plays, and a remarkable new production of this collection by Brooklyn's Irondale shows that these works have lost none of their power to both entertain and challenge audiences in the intervening three-quarters of a century. Comprising plays written in the decade between 1936 and 1946 - Moony's Kids Don't Cry (1936); The Dark Room (1939); The Case of the Crushed Petunias (1941); The Long Stay Cut Short, or, the Unsatisfactory Supper (1946); and Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1946) - American Blues represents the second part of Irondale's American Century, the first install
Read more

Review: "How To Eat an Orange" Cuts into the Life of an Argentine Artist and Activist

Image
How To Eat an Orange Written by Catherine Filloux Based on the writing of Claudia Bernardi Directed by Elena Araoz Presented by La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club at The Downstairs at La MaMa 66 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYC May 30-June 16, 2024 Paula Pizzi. Photo by Steven Pisano How To Eat an Orange , making its world premiere at La MaMa, does in fact include a real orange as a prop, and its multifarious symbolizations–evoking at different points cultural specificity, family history, matriarchal inheritance, and even a skull–are representative of the play's boundary-blurring, non-linear presentation of memory. The memories in question belong to visual artist, educator, and activist Claudia Bernardi , who lived through several years of her native Argentina's military junta, which held power from 1976 to 1983, before departing her country and eventually settling in the United States. How To Eat an Orange , from Catherine Filloux, a French Algerian American award-winning playwright,
Read more

Review: From Child Pose to Stand(ing) Up: "Yoga with Jillian" and "Penguin in Your Ear" at the Women in Theatre Festival

Image
Yoga with Jillian Written by Lia Romeo Directed by Andrew W. Smith Presented by Project Y Theatre and Richard Jordan Productions in association with The Pleasance June 2-17, 2023 Penguin in Your Ear Written and performed by Eliza Bent Directed by Jess Barbagallo June 10, 2023 Part of the Women in Theatre Festival , presented by Project Y Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres Michole Biancosino. Photo courtesy of Project Y Theatre This June, Project Y Theatre Company presents the eighth annual installment of its Women in Theatre Festival (WIT), which showcases new work by women and maintains "more than 50% female representation of all artists involved." This year, the festival includes a lobby installation project, titled In the Betweens , from scenic designer Chen-Wei Liao, through which audience members pass on their way into the theater proper. One first chooses first between "light" and "dark" rooms and then moves into "the gardens" before re
Read more