Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Bridge Classes October 12-16

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY Announces The Bridge Virtual Dance Institute  of boundary-breaking dance experiences Free One-Hour Company Class on Zoom Open to All Dancers at an Intermediate to Advanced Level Featuring Guest Artists: Juana Cala and ZhongMei Li October 12-16, 2020. https://nainichen.org/.

The Bridge Class schedule are as follows: 
Week of 10/12/2020
Monday        Yuka Notsuka (Kinetic Spiral) at 11am
Tuesday       Juana Cala (Flamenco: Rhythm and Movement) at 7pm
Wednesday   Nai-Ni Chen (Kinetic Spiral), at 11am
Thursday      ZhongMei Li (Chinese Classical Dance), at 7pm
Friday           Greta Canpo (Kinetic Spiral) at 11am

Master artist Juana Cala from acclaimed Flamenco Vivo will be teaching  Flamenco class,  The class will begin with brief facts about the origin of Flamenco, and then proceed to Flamenco posture, Warmup, Flamenco arm work (Braceo), Flamenco footwork (Taconeo), Flamenco rhythm (compas), and culminate in a choreographic sequence.

Renowned dancer ZhongMei Li will conduct Classical Chinese Dance Dunhuang.  Dunhuang Dance is a form of Chinese neo-classical dance that draws inspiration from the famous Dunhuang cave artworks on silk road. The particular body gestures, forms and shapes of the dancers depict the figures of gods and goddess found in artifacts found in Dunhuang Mogao Caves. The emphases of breath, hands and eyes coordinations convey the spirituality and the transcendent experience.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has established a new dance institute through Zoom, The Bridge.  The Institute’s aim is to bring together dancers, choreographers and directors around the world to experience the master teachers of color whose practices are embedded in the community and are focused on advancing the art of dance that transform the personal, environmental and metaphysical spaces.  Interested dancers can join the class by registering on Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s website:  http://nainichen.org/company-class.

As a virtual dance institute,The Bridge will invite world renowned as well as up and coming dancers and choreographer to come to guest teach the class.  Advanced/Intermediate level professional or pre-professional dancers who are looking to explore beyond their own boundaries and looking for new dance experiences are encouraged to participate.  The core program is based on Nai-Ni Chen’s
Kinetic Spiral, which is a cross-cultural dance vocabulary that integrates the Chinese martial arts philosophy in TaiChi with contemporary dance practices she studied in America.  Guest artists will cover a wide range of folk and classical dance styles. For the week of 10/12, The Bridge will feature two new experiences for the participants: Flamenco and Chinese Classical Dance.
Juana Cala, Flamenco dancer, and choreographer has been performing and teaching Flamenco in the United States and Europe for more than 20 years. She performed as a soloist in the María Benitez Dance Company under the direction of Mario Maya, and then went on to form her own company, “Ensemble Flamenco Juana Cala”, touring some of Europe’s most prestigious theatres for 16 years, with much critical acclaim. In 1999 Juana was a professor of Flamenco in a Professional Arts Program for the European Union (a European equivalent to “The High School of Performing Arts”). She has been a resident Spanish Dance Professor in various universities across the United States. Juana has been a lead teaching artist for Flamenco Vivo for 10 years.

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.

ZhongMei Li began her dance training at the Beijing Dance Academy, China’s foremost dance institution, and continued in the U. S. winning full scholarships to study at both the Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham schools. She performed on Broadway in the long-running musical “The King and I,” and she earned a master’s degree in fine arts at the Tisch School at New York University. In 1994, she created the Zhongmei Dance Company, with which she performed all over the United States. In addition, she has performed in many other countries, including Singapore, France, Israel, and Brazil. She is a regular guest performer with the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Zhongmei’s story is available in a non-fiction book, “A Girl Named Faithful Plum,” by Richard Bernstein.

Yuka Notsuka was born in Fukuoka, Japan, is a member of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. She began her Ballet training in her hometown at age four. Later she broadened her training to include Jazz and Tap. Later Yuka moved to New York City to further pursue her career as a dancer. In 2015 she entered the Ailey School as a scholarship student. She performed in Ailey Spirit Gala Concert at Lincoln Center choreographed by Tracy Inman (Co-Director, The Ailey School) and Robert Battle (Artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater). Yuka joined the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in 2017. She also has been in training and served as Teaching Assistant at the Luigi Jazz Dance Center under Francis J. Roach.

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 Asian 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 the United States. 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.