CrossCurrent

In celebration of Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s 30th year anniversary, the company will present a retrospective production CrossCurrent showcasing Chen’s distinctive cross cultural style and diverse influences that has informed her work. The program will open with one of Chen’s earliest signature work Calligraphy II which explores the spirituality, the flow of energy and the dynamics of the brush strokes in the art of Chinese writing with an original music score by Joan La Barbra and set designed by Myunghee Cho.
“When all seven performers swirl through individual patterns simultaneously, you imagine a scroll dancing.”
Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice

Looking forward, she will share her recent work Truthbound developed in a residency in Trier, Germany in reaction to the crisis of faith and trust today.

“In their body and visual language sensitively created fantasy and poetry. Tradition and experiment are combined with dance-like precision and dynamics.”
Eva-Maria Reuther, Volksfreund.

Truthbound will be followed by Bamboo Rap an experimental piece created in collaboration with hip-hop artists and DJs exploring the sound of Chinese language with contemporary urban dance vocabulary, both rooted in storytelling and the desire for equality and justice.

The concert will conclude with Whirlwind, a dance inspired by Chen’s journey to the Silk Road with music by Glen Velez. The dance explores trance, rhythmic breathing, sound and spiral motion.