INTERVIEW: Nai-Ni Chen to tell story of first Chinese Lunar New Year at NJ performance
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, headed by Nai-Ni Chen, molds together several cultural influences into exciting, engaging programs of contemporary dance. The respected company will soon set up for a series of performances at Centenary Stage Company in Hackettstown, New Jersey. On March 31 and April 1, Chen and her company will offer a family-friendly performance of Red Firecracker, which tells the story of the first Chinese Lunar New Year. The following weekend, on April 9, the dancers will offer a full contemporary program for all audiences.
“These two programs are very different,” Chen said recently in a phone interview. “We are doing a program for the family audience, and it is a play, kind of like dance drama, so designed to tell the story of the Chinese New Year and how the Chinese New Year came about. So the title is the Red Firecracker, the story of the first Chinese New Year, so that’s our program. And in this program, we will showcase a few folk dances.”
The family matinees detail the efforts of a group of villagers, who, according to legend, defeated the monster of the ages and started the custom of decorating and wearing red. They offer gifts and light up the sky with firecrackers to keep the monster at bay.
“It kind of gives the audience insight of how the New Year came about,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun. That program will bring the family audience into the theater and [give them] a great memory by the time they leave the theater.”
The April 9 program, entitled CrossCurrent, will feature Chen’s original choreography with several pieces from her company’s extensive repertoire. The 2 p.m. performance will include Space Oddity, set to the music of David Bowie; Calligraffiti Variations, with music by Huang Ruo; and The Way of Five — Earth, one fifth of Chen’s element series.
Chen, a native of Taiwan, has been dancing since she was 4 years old. She eventually joined Cloud Gate Dance Theater in Taiwan and graduated from the Chinese Cultural University in 1982. After relocating to the United States, she began Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, and her success has lasted almost 30 years.
Besides having an outlet for her creative endeavors, she has won numerous accolades, including commissions from the Joyce Theater Foundation, Lincoln Center Institute, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Dancing in the Streets, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
“I was trained in traditional Chinese dance since I was 4 years old in Taiwan, and later on, I learned so much western type of dance, modern dance or ballet,” she said. “The eastern culture and the western culture they were like in my body. … Naturally it’s a cross-cultural experience, and that’s reflected in the repertoire.”
Since the beginning, Chen has dedicated herself and the company to designing programs that were appropriate for younger audiences. “We think it’s very important to cultivate the awareness of art and dance by starting with children to open up their minds, their eyes and then to inspire them,” she said. “Once you are get in touch with it, you’ll be inspired and want to know more. … I would say that everybody can dance ever since you were a baby.”
Chen sees dance as another way to deliver important educational lessons about different cultures, and these movement-based lessons come with no pressure. “Constantly we are doing education to educate the public how important art is to our life,” she said. “I think I wouldn’t say that I have accomplished it all. I think we set up our goal high, and once you reach a milestone, then you set up another one higher than that. The ultimate goal is very simple: We want to use our dance as a tool to communicate with the wide world. … So I wouldn’t say I have reached the ultimate goal already, but we certainly have reached many milestones.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will present programs at the Sitnik Theater at Centenary Stage Company in Hackettstown, New Jersey, March 31, April 1 and April 9. Click here for more information and tickets.
