Chloe Luo & Johnny Nguyen photo by KateFim
Dear Community, Friends,
We wish you many blessings, good health, and prosperity as we close the year. 2020 has been one of the most challenging times in our existence. We, however, remained deeply committed to advance our art as a creative and social practice, engaging in complex problem solving, community building, collaborative participation, providing inspiration for next generations – a voice for the underrepresented, a powerful vehicle for diverse, connected perspectives. It is our time to rise, and we are.
We endured many changes due to the pandemic, which include:
-
Letting go of our 945 ArtSpace, a Chinatown storefront space under the auspices of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), which was a project of Asian Improv aRts SF in collaboration with Lenora Lee Dance (LLD), API Cultural Center, and CCDC.
-
All five of LLD’s 2020 projects were postponed due to the catastrophic effects of the pandemic on our artists, collaborators, and organization. We postponed large group rehearsals due to city regulations and health risks facing our 11 dancers.
-
The pandemic hit LLD artists and administrators extremely hard, with the loss of some or all performing art, arts education, and non-art related jobs. We feel the devastating effects: loss of work, uncertainty about artistic livelihoods and health, being forced to reinvent ways to survive, and moving multiple times or away from the Bay Area temporarily. Much of LLD’s grant income is project-related, earmarked for when the projects start up again.
Hien Huynh & Johnny Nguyen photo by KateFim
Going forward into our 13th Season
LLD continues to work with CCDC on And the Community Will Rise, supported by Creative Work Fund, California Arts Council, Rainin, Zellerbach and Fleishhacker Foundations. It focuses on stories of advocacy and the fight for tenants’ rights by current and former residents of Ping Yuen housing complex and staff of CCDC. We are also being commissioned to create Convergent Waves for Pao Arts Center in Boston, with additional support from National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, and ArtsEmerson. It celebrates the contributions of activists and non-profit leaders in the fight for affordable housing, eliciting stories of community agency, resilience and transformation. For both, we are in the midst of research, interview and sound score editing, and are considering film versions or outdoor performances of these projects in 2021 / 2022. We will also continue editing the Within These Walls film by filmmaker Tatsu Aoki, inspired by those detained at the U.S. Immigration Station on Angel Island.
Gama Hsu photo by Robbie Sweeny
Your support is critical during this time of survival
We strive to inspire people to engage, to risk, to be touched by the generosity of others, with a fearlessness in knowing artists hold a key to building bridges and creating the foundation for transformation and transcendence. Contemporary segregation exists along color, class, geographic, economic, and material lines. We have to become part of decision-making teams to determine sustainable solutions and build paths to freedom via equality. We need to unobstruct the divide, the fear of indifference, and the resistance to change with risk-taking vulnerability. It is appreciation of diversity, and power in uplifting voices of collaboration into leadership roles that will bring facets of American society together, allow us to dissolve barriers of discrimination & control, and bear witness to our collective abilities to grow, unify, and transform.
We deeply appreciate your generosity and invite you to make a contribution today!
Your gift will directly support the above programs in addition to LLD’s upcoming virtual online programming featuring films, performances, interviews and discussions with collaborating artists, designers and filmmakers. With the intensity of this year, and the myriad of adjustments we’ve all had to make in our lives, we are ever so grateful for your continued support.
Wishing you grace and love,
Lenora Lee Hien Huynh Lucy Tafler
Artistic Director Marketing & Outreach Project Consultant
Derek Harris & Lynn Huang photo by Hoa Huynh
SanSan Kwan & Johnny Nguyen. Photo by Robbie Sweeny
Edward Wilkerson Jr., Francis Wong, William Roper, Tatsu Aoki, Mwata Bowden, Kioto Aoki, Melody Takata. Photo by Ken Carl
“I have lost 75% of my income because of this pandemic. My work as an artist is to make visible the invisible, to dance thoughts and images into fruition, to be a time machine, a medium, a mover of emotions, a gardener of energies, a storyteller and a light. I hope to continue to shine my light on important issues through dance. Now more than ever the world needs us.” 
“It’s been two weeks of sheltering in place, and all in-person rehearsals, teaching gigs, events, and shows have been cancelled. Though there is much to be concerned about and I miss seeing my friends and family and I am worried about their well being-from a personal perspective, I have much to be grateful for. And I am grateful for Lenora Lee Dance, who keeps all collaborators connected and continues to find creative work opportunities to support us financially, emotionally, and artistically.” 
“My whole sense of who I am as an artist, creator and collaborator has frozen mid-air. All of my artistic projects for 2020 have been postponed or cancelled-which has deeply challenged me to put my creativity towards imagining how I can still have an artistic practice in my home and in physical isolation. While most of my work as an administrator supporting other artists remains stable, I see my friends and peers completely at a loss – scrambling to adapt and learn how to make a living in this unprecedented time.”
“What COVID is teaching me is about the pivot as a choreography of resilience. I lost the majority of my income for the next four months, potentially further, a total of about $3000-4000 lost in a flash as if flood. This money directly would have covered rent, utilities, and food, simply put. However, my creative spirit has found some solace in dialogue, virtual collaboration and home videos. This is where the resilience lives, where seeds are planted again as spring returns.” 
