![Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9](https://www.newjerseystage.com/events2021/Nai-Feb6a.jpg "Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9")
(FORT LEE, NJ) -- 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.
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.
In this trying time of change and uncertainty, the arts is a source of healing and unity, we would like to encourage everyone to support dance as dance is an essential medicine for the society to recover from the pandemic that has caused injury to our bodies and our hearts. Support for The Bridge can be made online.
The Bridge Class schedule for Week of 4/5/2021
Monday Yuka Notsuka (Kinetic Spiral)
Tuesday Zhongmei Li (Chinese Classical Dance) at 11:00am
Wednesday Nai-Ni Chen (Kinetic Spiral) at 11:00am
Thursday Rei Akazawa-Smith (Modern – Taylor-inspired) at 11:00am
Friday Greta Campo (Kinetic Spiral) at 11:00am
About Nai-Ni Chen's Kinetic Spiral: Tap into the creative energy of the universe through Kinetic Spiral. Nai-Ni Chen’s signature technique is based on the principle of ever-changing universal forces of Yin and Yang. Dance phrases from Nai-Ni Chen’s repertory will be taught.
About Zhongmei Li’s Chinese Classical Dance: Zhongmei Li will teach one of the most well known Chinese classical dance technique, the Duanghuang technique based on contemporary interpretation of the movement of the painted figures in the ancient caves of Duanhuang Grotto. The fantastic paintings in the caves were created in the Tang Dynasty by Buddhist monks travelling on the Silk Road.
About Rei Akazawa-Smith’s Modern (Taylor-Inspired): Join Rei Akazawa-Smith for an exciting modern dance class. Rei has danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company as well as working with Mihi Orihara, HT Chen and others.
![Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9](https://www.newjerseystage.com/events2021/ReiAkazawa-Smith.jpg "Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9")
Rei Akazawa-Smith was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, where she began her ballet training in the technique of Royal Academy of Dance under the direction of Yuko Kojima. She graduated cum laude with a B.F.A. in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College, receiving the Gold Key for Excellence in 2009. While a student there, she assisted in teaching and demonstrating Graham Technique Master Classes for Miki Orihara and Alessandra Prosperi. She has danced with H.T. Chen and Dancers, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, and played the role of Eliza in The King and I at Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. She participated in The Taylor School Summer Intensive in 2012 and was asked to join Taylor 2 immediately afterward. Since joining the company, she has also appeared with Paul Taylor Dance Company.
![Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9](https://www.newjerseystage.com/events2021/Nai-Feb6c.jpg "Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9")
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.
![Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9](https://www.newjerseystage.com/events2021/ZhongmeiLi.jpg "Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9")
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.
![Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9](https://www.newjerseystage.com/events2021/Yuka-Notsuka.jpg "Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company Announces Dancers For "The Bridge" April 5-9")
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.
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.
