2021 CROSSCURRENT
CONTEMPORARY DANCE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL
SEVENTH SEASON

Flushing Town Hall

Produced by NAI-NI CHEN

June 11, 2021 7:30 p.m.

https://www.flushingtownhall.org/2021-crosscurrent

NAI-NI CHEN is a wonder. She has brought together a massively talented group of the most imaginative contemporary Asian-American choreographers for this enjoyable festival. The first evening features six varied and enticing works.

In V/\NISH by Maya Lam, she is outside in the autumn leaves, then on a rooftop, then invisible in her stretchy, amorphous amniotic sac. She depicts an experience of life as one moment, the “now”. You need do nothing but exist. LÚTALICA | WANDERER by Taiwanese-American Peter Cheng lets us see the New York skyline, dance in the bamboo garden, break free from the definition thrust upon us at birth.

INCOMPLETE JOURNEY by Korean Seyong Kim is a ballet-style duet. Graceful in their black attire, the dancers evoke the violin concerto that accompanies their elegant movement. 母老虎 TIGRESS by Julia Foti, an adopted Chinese American woman, explores her journey through cultural identity. LOST IN TRANSLATION by Taiwanese Chieh Hsiung surprises the viewer with a couple in silk pajamas dancing to 1940’s jazz.

Fiona Tsang’s UNNOTICED exposes the lack of representation of Asian-Americans in American history, media, and conversation. This piece retells the tragic story of Vincent Jen Chin, a Chinese American who was beaten to death the night before his wedding in 1982. The racially motivated attack was committed by two white men who thought he was of Japanese descent.

The dancing is not only a pleasure to watch, it takes the viewer on a journey of ideas and imagination in a wonderful way. NAI-NI CHEN and these young choreographers are truly a “dream team”.

-Karen D’Onofrio-