FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lenora Lee

Phone: (415) 913-8725

Email: LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com

www.LenoraLeeDance.com

Pao Arts Center and Lenora Lee Dance present

World Premiere of Convergent Waves: Boston

site-specific, multimedia, immersive dance performances by Lenora Lee Dance

At Pao Arts Center in celebration of its 5th Anniversary Season!

LOCATION

Pao Arts Center, 繁體字简化字

99 Albany Street

Boston, MA 02111

ADMISSION 

$20-50 – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/convergent-waves-boston-tickets-244507136427 

For more info: https://www.paoartscenter.org,  www.LenoraLeeDance.com

For questions or high resolution images, email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com, (415) 913-8725

Convergent Waves: Boston is a new site-responsive, multimedia experience by Lenora Lee Dance celebrating the contributions of activists and non-profit leaders, reclaiming space by eliciting stories of community agency, resilience, and transformation. Inspired by rich narrative, this work represents a powerful call for community oriented development in the face of rapid change, making a collective statement for the preservation of community as neighborhoods across the country inhabited for generations face cultural erosion, loss of businesses, and displacement through gentrification. Convergent Waves: Boston highlights successes in preserving the cultural fabric and accomplishments of these communities.

Conceived, Produced & Directed by Lenora Lee

Choreography by Lenora Lee in collaboration with the performers 

Performers / Dance Collaborators: Naoko Brown, IJ Chan, Peter Cheng, Flora Hyoin Kim Han, Lynn Huang, Johnny Huy Nguyen

Media Design by Lenora Lee 

Lynn Huang by Robbie Sweeny

LENORA LEE DANCE

Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, incarceration, global conflict, and its impacts, particularly on women and families. The company is directed by San Francisco native Lenora Lee, who has been a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for the past 23 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. She has been an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater, a 2019 United States Artists Fellow.

LLD creates works that are both set in public and private spaces, intimate and at the same time large-scale, inspired by individual stories as well as community strength, at times crafted for the proscenium, or underwater, or in the air, and at times are site-responsive, immersive and interactive. For the last 14 years, the company has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia, and immersive dance performance that connects various styles of movement and music to culture, history and human rights issues. Its work has grown to encompass the creation, presentation and screening of films, museum and gallery installations, civic engagement and educational programming. www.LenoraLeeDance.com

PAO ARTS CENTER

Pao Arts Center was established in 2017 as a visionary program collaboration between Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) and Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC). Located at 99 Albany Street in downtown Boston, Pao Arts Center is Chinatown’s first arts and cultural center. Pao Arts Center represents the belief that investing in arts, culture, and creativity are vital to the health and well-being of individuals, families, and vibrant communities. Through its innovative approach, Pao Arts Center empowers creativity, connection, learning, and support. paoartscenter.org

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Vijay Iyer (music compositions, recordings) Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” composer-pianist VIJAY IYER is one of the leading music-makers of his generation. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. His most recent album, a trio session with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh titled Uneasy (ECM Records, 2021), was named Best New Music in Pitchfork and was hailed by the New Yorker as “a triumph of small-group interplay and fertile invention.” https://vijay-iyer.com 

Tatsu Aoki (music) is a prolific composer, musician, filmmaker, and educator. Based in Chicago, Aoki works in a wide range of musical genres, ranging from traditional Japanese music, jazz, experimental and creative music. Aoki studied experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently an adjunct Full Professor at the Film, Video and New Media Department, teaching film production and history courses. To this date, Aoki has produced and appears in more than 90 recording projects and over 30 experimental films. www.tatsuaoki.com

Francis Wong (music) was dubbed one of “the great saxophonists of his generation” by the late jazz critic Phil elwood. Few musicians are as accomplished as Wong: for over two decades he has performed his innovative brand of jazz and creative music for audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe. A prolific recording artist, Wong is featured on more than forty titles. www.franciswong.net

Olivia Ting (media & graphic design) is interested in the role of digital technology in the fabric of contemporary lives and how our perception of recorded media (film, photography, audio) as “reality” has shifted as technology becomes more sophisticated. Olivia has done design work for Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Jose Children’s Museum, and collaborated with various dance companies in the Bay Area. Her work shifts between video projection and altered 360 VR film experiences. She holds an MFA in Art Practice from U.C. Berkeley. www.olivetinge.com

Naoko Brown (dance – Boston) is a native of Nagoya, Japan. At the age of six, she was introduced to the world of classical ballet by Michiko Matsumoto. She continued her training with Barbara Banaskowski Smith in Lansing, MI. While there, she performed with the students of the National Ballet School of Gdansk in Poland, as well as students from Vaganova Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Brown received her B.F.A. in Dance from The Boston Conservatory. While there, she performed works by Daniel Pelzig, Sean Curran, Lar Lubovitch and José Limón. She also attended the Boston Ballet School Summer Dance Program, Ballet Intensive from Moscow, and was a full scholarship recipient at Summer Stages Dance in 2012. She has performed with Michiko Matsumoto Ballet, Urban Nutcracker, Zoé Dance, Contrapose, Prometheus Dance and Jo-Mé Dance. She is currently a faculty member of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Walnut Hill School for the Arts Community Dance Academy as well as Boston Ballet. 

IJ Chan (陳加恩) is a dance artist and educator from Boston, MA. She has dedicated her life to training and performing intensively in multiple dance genres and under many choreographers. In her own choreographic work, IJ is interested in intersecting and exploring the Asian-American narrative. She is committed to bringing quality performing arts instruction to low-income and minority youth populations within Boston. She also works as a freelance graphic designer,  visual artist and seamstress. 

Lynn Huang (dance – San Francisco)Trained in modern dance, ballet, and Chinese dance, Lynn has performed with Lenora Lee, Erin Malley, & Philein Wang in San Francisco, and HT Dance Company, Dance China NY & Ella Ben-Aharon/Sahar Javedani in NYC. She studied at Minzu University Dance Conservatory in Beijing, China on a Fulbright fellowship and graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University.

Flora Hyoin Kim Han (dance – Boston) is a Korean-American dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. Since earning her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014, she has worked with The Click, Prometheus Dance, Jenna Pollack, Lenora Lee Dance, beheard.world, Jennifer Lin, Deborah Abel Dance Company, Lorraine Chapman, and Urbanity Dance. Flora is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, a Lecturer of Dance at Brandeis University in Fall 2021, a senior faculty at Urbanity Dance and Coastline Ballet Center. Flora’s artistic vision is to bring inclusivity, empowerment, and joy to individuals and communities through the power of dance.

Johnny Huy Nguyen (dance – San Francisco) is a second generation Vietnamese American multidisciplinary dance artist based in Yelamu (aka San Francisco). His practice is centered on the body, recognizing its power as a place of knowing, site of resistance, gateway to healing, and crucible of imagination. Drawing from fluency in multiple movement modalities rooted in a street dance foundation, he weaves together dance with text, ritual, performance art, and other mediums to navigate the intersections between the personal and the political. He has appeared in the works of Lenora Lee Dance, KULARTS, and Embodiment Project and has performed nationally in Oregon, Boston, and NYC. His work has been presented by APAture Festival, the United States of Asian America Festival, and SOMArts, and his most recent solo work, Minority Without A Model, premiered in 2021. www.johnnyhuynguyen.com IG: @johnny.huy.nguyen

Convergent Waves: Boston is supported by ArtsEmerson, Pao Arts Center, and by generous individuals. The creation, presentation of and production residency for Convergent Waves: Boston was also made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

Special Thanks to: Asian Community Development Corporation, Carmen Chan, Chinatown Community Land Trust, Chinese Historical Society of New England, Susan Chinsen, Ken Eng, Stephanie Fan, Amy Guen, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Harry Lee, Paul Lee, Tunney Lee, Angie Liou, Lydia Lowe, Cynthia Soo Hoo, Cynthia Woo, and Cynthia Yee.

Pao Arts Center is a program collaboration between Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center and Bunker Hill Community College.

Johnny Nguyễn by Robbie Sweeny

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lenora Lee

Phone: (415) 913-8725

Email: LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com

www.LenoraLeeDance.com

Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center and Lenora Lee Dance present 

World Premiere of In the Movement

by the award-winning company, Lenora Lee Dance

at ODC Theater

Thursday – Saturdays, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 9/8, 9/9, 9/10 at 8pm

And Sundays, 9/4, 9/11 at 2pm

Performances will begin on time, please arrive early.

Post-performance discussions after both Sunday 9/4 & 9/11, 2pm performances

“In the Movement” is a heartfelt and explosive dance piece focusing on separation of families and mass detention of immigrants as forms of incarceration. It serves as a meditation on reconciliation and restorative justice, speaking to the power of individuals and communities to transcend.

LOCATION

ODC Theater

3153 17th Street (between South Van Ness & Folsom) 

San Francisco, CA 94110

https://odc.dance/theaterseason 

Street parking or local garages are available. Please plan ahead regarding parking.

ADMISSION 

Link to ticket site

$25 – $50

For more info: www.LenoraLeeDance.com, https://odc.dance/theaterseason 

For questions or high resolution images, email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com, (415) 913-8725

LINK TO ARTIST PHOTOS

Audience Responses from LLD’s award-winning Within These Walls production:

“I thought about ICE jails, people who fear deportation, and refugees overseas. It was heavy….and so beautiful.”

“It was a truly unique and powerful experience, and I feel fortunate to have witnessed it. It snuck into my dreams last night.”

“Moving and beautifully rendered, so timely given the global dialogue around immigration. I was there with my seven year old son, and the piece made a big impression on him.”

“I was deeply affected and moved by the performance. I left in tears, and literally cried every time I replayed the performance in my head for 4 days afterward.”

“It was brilliant and emotionally powerful.”

Johnny Nguyễn by Robbie Sweeny

Conceived, Produced & Directed by Lenora Lee

Choreography by Lenora Lee in collaboration with the performers / dance collaborators

Performers / Dance Collaborators: Keanu Brady, Felicitas Fischer, YiTing (Gama) Hsu, Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, SanSan Kwan, Johnny Huy Nguyen

Music directed by Francis Wong & Tatsu Aoki

Media Design by Lenora Lee & Olivia Ting

Resource Partners: Asian Prisoner Support Committee, 67 Sueños

Interviewees: Borey Ai, Melanie Kim, and others TBA

LENORA LEE DANCE

Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, incarceration, global conflict, and its impacts, particularly on women and families. The company creates works that are both set in public and private spaces, intimate and at the same time large-scale, inspired by individual stories as well as community strength, at times crafted for the proscenium, or underwater, or in the air, and at times are site-responsive, immersive and interactive. For the last 14 years LLD has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia, and immersive dance performance that connects various styles of movement and music to culture, history and human rights issues. Its work has grown to encompass the creation, presentation and screening of films, museum and gallery installations, civic engagement and educational programming. www.LenoraLeeDance.com

ODC THEATER

ODC Theater exists to empower and develop innovative artists. It participates in the creation of new works through commissioning, presenting, mentorship and space access; it develops informed, engaged and committed audiences; and advocates for the performing arts as an essential component to the economic and cultural development of our community. Since 1976, ODC Theater, founded by Brenda Way, has been the mobilizing force behind countless San Francisco artists and the foothold for national and international touring artists seeking debut in the Bay Area. ODC Theater is currently under the creative direction of Chloë L. Zimberg.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Francis Wong (music) was dubbed one of “the great saxophonists of his generation” by the late jazz critic Phil elwood. Few musicians are as accomplished as Wong: for over two decades he has performed his innovative brand of jazz and creative music for audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe. A prolific recording artist, Wong is featured on more than forty titles. www.franciswong.net

Tatsu Aoki (music) is a prolific composer, musician, filmmaker, and educator. Based in Chicago, Aoki works in a wide range of musical genres, ranging from traditional Japanese music, jazz, experimental and creative music. Aoki studied experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently an adjunct Full Professor at the Film, Video and New Media Department, teaching film production and history courses. To this date, Aoki has produced and appears in more than 90 recording projects and over 30 experimental films. www.tatsuaoki.com

Olivia Ting (media & graphic design) is interested in the role of digital technology in the fabric of contemporary lives and how our perception of recorded media (film, photography, audio) as “reality” has shifted as technology becomes more sophisticated. Olivia has done design work for Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Jose Children’s Museum, and collaborated with various dance companies in the Bay Area. Her work shifts between video projection and altered 360 VR film experiences. She holds an MFA in Art Practice from U.C. Berkeley. www.olivetinge.com

Keanu Brady (dance) Keanu hails from Salt Lake City, Utah, and enjoyed a nomadic upbringing with his mother and siblings. Finding dance at 15, he nurtured his own relationship to the art form through hip-hop and his improvisational body. He then received a BFA from the University of Utah, leading to dancing  in California, New York, Vermont, England, and Paris.. Movement is his lens to negotiate his role in this world, find questions to answers, and answers to questions. He is currently a company member of FACT/SF and is very excited to be a part of this program. www.keanu.dance IG:@keanu.dance

Felicitas Fischer (dance) Felicitas is a Seattle-born contemporary dance artist interested in diverse dance practices from around the world that reflect her own polyethnic-cultural background. She graduated with a B.A in Performing Arts & Social Justice in Dance (2019) from the University of San Francisco, where she performed with various choreographers and interdisciplinary artists throughout the Bay Area. Currently, Felicitas works actively in the city for ODC and HMD/The Bridge Project, contributes to the online dance journal Stance on Dance, and is the founder of Artists for Justice, an artistic collective dedicated to supporting diverse emerging artists and local social-justice initiatives.

YiTing (Gama) Hsu (dance) Trained in contemporary, ballet, modern, Chinese martial art, Chinese folk dance, Tai-chi initiation, composition, choreography and improvisation. Yi-Ting is a graduate of Tsoying High School, and received her BFA from University of Taipei of the Arts. She has danced with Hsu Chen Wei Production, Les Petites Choses Production, David Harrera Performance Company Alyssandra Katherine Dance Project, Kinetech Arts and Epiphany Dance Theater. www.gamahsu.com 

Lynn Huang (dance)  Trained in modern dance, ballet, and Chinese dance, Lynn has performed with Lenora Lee, Erin Malley, & Philein Wang in San Francisco, and HT Dance Company, Dance China NY & Ella Ben-Aharon/Sahar Javedani in NYC. She studied at Minzu University Dance Conservatory in Beijing, China on a Fulbright fellowship and graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University.

Hien Huynh (dance) was born in Da Nang, Vietnam. Through the sacrifices, courage, and resiliency of his parents’ refugee passage, Hien dedicates his artistic and living practices to share, move, and dance in honor of their story alongside the oceanic journeys of ancestors. His movement practices stem from the spirit of improvisation. He recognizes improvisation as an ancestral form of survival, navigation, clarity, and expression. He is honored to have performed in the works of Lenora Lee Dance, Kim Epifano, Robert Moses’ Kin, Kinetech Arts, Christy Funch & Nol Simonse, PUSH, DSDT, and punkkiCO. www.hien-huynh.com 

SanSan Kwan (dance) teaches dance and dance studies at UC Berkeley.  She has danced with Jonathon Appels, Joanna Mendl Shaw, Chen and Dancers, and Maura Nguyen Donohue/In Mixed Company, among others.

Johnny Huy Nguyen (dance) is a second generation Vietnamese American multidisciplinary dance artist based in Yelamu (aka San Francisco). Centering his practice on the body as place of knowing, he weaves together dance, theatre, spoken word, ritual, installation, and performance art to navigate explorations of home, lineage, resistance, healing, and shared humanity. He has performed in the Bay Area, Oregon, Boston, and NYC. His work has been presented by APAture Festival and the United States of Asian America Festival and his most recent solo work, Minority Without A Model, premiered in 2021. www.johnnyhuynguyen.com IG: @johnny.huy.nguyen

In the Movement  is supported by Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center, ODC Theater, Cal Humanities, California Arts Council, Fleishhacker Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Phyllis Wattis Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, and by Generous Individuals. Special thanks to Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, Asian Prisoner Support Committee, 67 Sueños.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lenora Lee

Phone: (415) 913-8725

Email: Lenora@asianimprov.org 

https://www.asianimprov.org 

Asian Art Museum in collaboration with 

Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center & Lenora Lee Dance present 

Asian Improv aRts’ 35th Anniversary Celebration

Expansions // Horizons

For 35 years, Asian Improv aRts (AIR) has been at the forefront of the Asian and Asian American movement – advancing artists, activism, and culture on a national level. Come join us for two unique programs of music, dance, and film, bringing together multiple generations of AIR artists, as we celebrate this historic milestone and look forward to the future with radical imagination.

Featuring performances and work by:

• Kioto Aoki (taiko / percussion), Chicago
• Tatsu Aoki (taiko / shamisen), Chicago
• Karl Evangelista (guitar), Bay Area 
• Marina Fukushima (dance), Bay Area 
• Ben Goldberg (clarinet), Bay Area 
• YiTing (Gama) Hsu (dance), Taiwan / Bay Area 
• Hien Huynh (dance), Bay Area
• Christopher Lam (Vietnamese Monochord – Đàn Bầu), Bay Area 
• Jacqueline Lam (Vietnamese zither – Đàn Tranh), Bay Area 
• William Roper (tuba), Los Angeles 
• Karen Stackpole (multiple percussion), Bay Area
• Melody Takata (taiko), Bay Area  
• Francis Wong (saxophone), Bay Area
• And additional artists TBA

At Asian Art Museum

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Program A: 6-7pm, and 

Program B: 7:30-8:30pm

Performances will begin on time, please arrive early.

LOCATION

Asian Art Museum

200 Larkin Street (at McAllister St)

San Francisco, CA  94102

https://asianart.org or (415) 581-3500

Click here for parking & transportation

ADMISSION 

$10 plus museum admission

All attendees are required to wear masks following current CDC, city and state guidelines.

For more info: https://www.asianimprov.org, https://asianart.org  

For questions or high resolution images, email Lenora@asianimprov.org , (415) 913-8725

The Asian Art Museum strives to be welcoming and accessible to all. Please visit our Accessibility page to see a full list of accommodations, including complimentary assistive listening devices, ASL interpretation, and wheelchairs. Please note that for some accommodations, we require at least two weeks advance notice. 

Asian Improv aRts

Since 1987, Asian Improv aRts (AIR) has built a national cross-cultural, interdisciplinary community rooted in social justice and equity, advancing artists who create innovative works representing Asian and Asian American experiences. AIR’s impact has been far-reaching; building the strength, sustainability and national visibility of Asian American arts and culture, embedded in community-based work with an authentic Asian American voice and grounded in a social justice approach that has deep connections to BIPOC communities. Over its 35 years, AIR has produced more than 100 recordings of Asian American artists, chronicling a legacy of Asian artistic excellence in the U.S. and mentored many artists in their early stages, some of whom are now luminaries in their field, such as Vijay Iyer and Jen Shyu.

(Work in network, co-commission, fellow, record label)

__________________________________

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Kioto Aoki // 青木希音

Kioto Aoki is an artist, educator and musician who descends from the Toyoakimoto performing arts family in Tokyo with roots dating back to the Edo period. Studying under her Tokyo-born father, she carries on the artistic family lineage as a taiko artist in Chicago, also playing shamisen and tsuzumi. Musical projects include Yoko Ono’s SKYLANDING, Tatsu Aoki’s The MIYUMI Project, Experimental Sound Studio’s Sonic Pavilion Festival, and Soundtrack at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. https://kiotoaoki.com 

Tatsu Aoki 

Tatsu Aoki is a community advocate, filmmaker, educator, and prolific composer and performer of traditional and experimental music forms. As Executive Director of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW), Aoki has initiated several programs to advance the understanding of traditional arts. He is also a founder of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. In 2019, he received the Community Service award from the Asian American Coalition of Chicago and was recently awarded the 2020 United States Artist Fellowship and Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for his work as a musician, composer, and educator. https://tatsuaoki.com 

Ben Goldberg

Clarinetist / composer Ben Goldberg grew up in Denver. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo and studied with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano. Since 1992, when his group New Klezmer Trio “kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music” (SF Chronicle), Ben has shaped a career through curiosity and experimentation. The New York Times says Ben’s music “conveys a feeling of joyous research into the basics of polyphony and collective improvising, the constant usefulness of musicians intuitively coming together and pulling apart.” http://www.bengoldberg.net

Karl Evangelista

Filipino-American guitarist/composer Karl Evangelista (b.1986) ranks among a new wave of musicians pushing the traditions of jazz, experimentalism, and political music into the 21st century. Evangelista has performed with the likes of Andrew Cyrille, Fred Frith, Oliver Lake, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Bobby Bradford, Ben Goldberg, and Francis Wong. Signal to Noise magazine hails Evangelista as “one of the most original instrumentalists and composers of his generation,” and as the creative force behind boundary-breaking group Grex, Evangelista’s music has been called an “otherworldly experience” (Eugene Weekly). https://www.karlevangelista.com

Marina Fukushima

Marina Fukushima is a dancer and choreographer based in San Francisco. Born in Tokyo, Japan, she immigrated to the US in 1992. From a cross-cultural perspective, her creative focus is on the themes of silence, family, and intergenerational relationships. Amongst her projects, she created “Family Seasons” and “Zoom Dinner” in collaboration with her parents (both visual artists). Also, in collaboration with Isak Immanuel, a series of intergenerational dance works like “Festival of Shadows” was developed. Additionally, she has performed with numerous dance companies including KUNST-STOFF, ODC, Lenora Lee Dance, and Tableau Stations and toured across the US and internationally.  

YiTing (Gama) Hsu

Trained in contemporary, ballet, modern, Chinese martial art, Chinese folk dance, Tai-chi initiation, composition, choreography and improvisation, Yi-Ting is a graduate of Tsoying High School, and received her BFA from University of Taipei of the Arts. She has danced with Hsu Chen Wei Productions, Les Petites Choses Productions, David Herrera Performance Company, Alyssandra Katherine Dance Project, Kinetech Arts, and Epiphany Dance Theater. www.gamahsu.com 

Hien Huynh

Hien Huynh was born in Da Nang, Vietnam. Through the sacrifices, courage, and resiliency of his parents’ refugee passage, Hien dedicates his artistic and living practices to share, move, and dance in honor of their story alongside the oceanic journeys of ancestors. His movement practices stem from the spirit of improvisation. He recognizes improvisation as an ancestral form of survival, navigation, clarity, and expression. As a performing artist, Hien was nominated and received an Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Individual Performance (Within These Walls, Lenora Lee Dance 2019). He is a 2020 San Francisco Arts Commission IAC recipient. He is honored to have performed in the works of Lenora Lee Dance, Kim Epifano, Robert Moses’ Kin, Kinetech Arts, Christy Funch & Nol Simonse, PUSH, DSDT, and punkkiCO. www.hien-huynh.com 

Christopher Lam

Studying Vietnamese Monochord (Dan Bau) for over a decade under Emmy Award winning master Vanessa Van Anh Vo, he has performed with Asian Improv aRts, Lenora Lee Dance, and Jimi Nakagawa. at venues such as the Legion of Honors, Asian Art Museum, and Kennedy Center. He takes his influences from both traditional and contemporary Vietnamese music alongside improvisational methods. Within Au Co Center, he is a teacher apprentice for beginner students and stage logistics coordinator for performances within the Vietnamese community’s arts and culture. 

Jacqueline Lam

For over a decade, Jacqueline has learned and performed the Vietnamese zither (Dan Tranh) and has been trained by Emmy Award winner master artist, Vanessa Van Anh Vo. Over time, Jacqueline has developed her musical knowledge and skills, from traditional and contemporary Vietnamese music to improvisation. She has collaborated and performed with various ensembles/artists – Asian Improv aRts, Lenora Lee Dance – and has performed for various venues – Asian Art Museum, Legion of Honors, and the Kennedy Center. She is currently a teacher apprentice for beginner students and the Su Viet Ensemble coordinator at the Au Co Center. 

William Roper

William Roper is a Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist concentrating his efforts in music composition/performance, painting, digital and video art. His primary instrument is the tuba. He also specializes in primitive and ethnic aerophones extemporaneous and spoken word performance. He has appeared as soloist and ensemble member in the Americas, Europe and Japan. His visual work has been exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. Roper heads the record label and arts organization Tomato Sage Consortium. Though he has lived in the same place for three decades, he is always looking for home. 

Karen Stackpole

Drummer/percussionist Karen Stackpole has a long-standing passion for gongs. In her exploration of metals, she has cultivated some distinctive techniques for drawing harmonics out of tam tams with various implements. She specializes in dynamic soundscapes and textures and has contributed gong sounds to more conventional musical genres as well as contributing source material for film soundtracks. In addition to solo work, she performs and records with various projects including Machine Shop: Live Amplified Gong Experience (a duo with electronics master, Drew Webster), Sabbaticus Rex, Ghost in the House, Vorticella, the Francis Wong Unit, and the rock band Steel Hotcakes. https://www.facebook.com/Machine-Shop-Live-Amplified-Gong-Experience-137078913044811 

Melody Takata

Founder and artistic director of GenRyu Arts, Melody Takata is a Japanese Diaspora artist. Takata is a taiko (Japanese drums) composer/arranger, and dancer/choreographer. Takata is trained in classical Japanese dance, and from the Kineya School of shamisen. In her 25+ year career she has engaged in creating new works in these traditions. She has been a recipient of Creative Work Fund, Alliance of California Traditional Arts: Living Culture, Master/Apprentice program, California Arts Council Local Impact, and National Endowment for the Arts to name a few. https://www.melodytakata.com 

Francis Wong

Francis Wong co-founded Asian Improv aRts with Jon Jang in 1987. Wong is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and community worker, with roots in the Asian American Consciousness Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. https://www.franciswong.net  

Supported in part by Asian Art Museum, Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Lenora Lee Dance, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and by Generous Individuals

Lynn Huang & Johnny Nguyễn by Robbie Sweeny

Johnny Nguyễn and Lynn Huang photo by Robbie Sweeny