Lenora Lee Dance 7^th Anniversary Season

presented by Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center & Chinese Historical Society of America!

Join Lenora Lee Dance with Kei Lun Martial Arts & Enshin Karate, San Mateo Dojo for a two-week performance season of new and repertory works

Media design by Olivia Ting & Lenora Lee  /  Music score by Francis Wong with Tatsu Aoki, Jonathan Chen, Min Xiao Fen, Wayne Wallace, Genny Lim, Karen Stackpole, Kat Parra, and Corey Chan  /  Cinematography directed by Tatsu Aoki, filmed by Zhuoyun Chen, Joshua Chuck, Ben Estabrook, Eric Koziol, Heath Orchard, Joel Wanek. Edited by Olivia Ting and Tatsu Aoki  /  Text by Genny Lim  /  Lighting by Patty-Ann Farrell

Performed by Dale Chung, Larissa Fong, Raymond Fong, Marina Fukushima, Irene Hsiao, Chin-chin Hsu, Lynn Huang, Jon Iiyama, SanSan Kwan, Wei-Shan Lai, Lenora Lee, Yukihiko Noda, Kelly Del Rosario, Olivia Ting, Collin Wong, Ronald Wong

Program A:

Friday, 9/26, 8pm (a pre-show screening begins at 7:45pm)

Saturday, 9/27, 8pm (a pre-show screening begins at 7:45pm)

Sunday, 9/28, 3pm (a pre-show screening begins at 2:45pm)

 

Program B:

Friday, 10/3, 8pm (a pre-show screening begins at 7:45pm)

Saturday, 10/4, 8pm (a pre-show screening begins at 7:45pm)

Sunday, 10/5, 3pm (a pre-show screening begins at 2:45pm) – SOLD OUT

 

Program A: “Light” film-in-progress excerpts (2014-2015), “The Detached” (2014 premiere), “The Escape” (2013), “Reflections” (2011)

Program B: “Passages: For Lee Ping To” excerpts (2010), “The Detached” (2014 premiere), “Escape” film excerpts (2014-2015), “Rescued Memories: New York Stories” (2013)

Location: Dance Mission Theater – 3316 24^th Street (at Mission), SF, CA  94110, http://www.dancemission.com/

Tickets: $15 advance online, $20 at the door, $30-50 arts & visionary supporters (includes VIP seating and invitation to special event), discount available for students and groups of 8 or more people. PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY, ALLOWING ENOUGH TIME TO FIND PARKING.

For tickets & info: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/796371, www.LenoraLeeDance.com, email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com

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Supported in part by Asian Improv aRts, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, Donaldina Cameron House, San Francisco Arts Commission, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, New York Asian Women’s Center, Asian Women United of Minnesota, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, Asian Women’s Shelter, Generous Individuals, and New Stages for Dance II, administered by Dance / USA in partnership with Dancers’ Group. Leadership Support for the New Stages for Dance II Initiative is provided by MetLife Foundation. Lenora Lee Dance participates in Help Desk®, a Pentacle program providing infrastructure mentoring and support. (www.pentacle.org).

Special thanks to our:  Presenting Sponsor: Ruby’s Place, Corporate Sponsors: DAE, UTAP Printing , Community Partners: Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, Asian American Women Artists Association, Asian Women’s Shelter, Center for Asian American Media, Chinatown Community Development Center, Chinese Culture Center, Chinese Progressive Association, Donaldina Cameron House, Gum Moon Women’s Residence, Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Kai Ming Head Start, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Organization of Chinese Americas – San Mateo Chapter, Portsmouth Plaza Parking Corporation. Much appreciation to Asian Contemporary Arts Consortium for including us in Asian Contemporary Arts Week 2014.

“Towing the line between live performance and cinematic splendor…” – Nirmala Nataraj, SFGate 2014

“Lee’s kaleidoscopic dance views can be visually arresting but it’s provocative storytelling around universal themes that forms the heart of many of her works…” – Mary Ellen Hunt, San Francisco Chronicle 2012

“I can’t think of any choreographer who has taken an approach as simultaneously intimate and large scale as Lenora Lee. In her work, the personal and the political intertwine inextricably.” – Rita Felciano, SF Bay Guardian 2012

   

Photos in Dance Mission Theater by Robbie Sweeny. Click here for more photo images

Much appreciation to Robin Morgan who featured our upcoming 5/8 & 5/9 NYC performances on her show “Women’s Media Center Live with Robin Morgan” on CBS Radio. Click here to listen to the podcast.

The Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University and Asia Society present

THE ESCAPE AND RESCUED MEMORIES: NEW YORK STORIES
By Lenora Lee Dance with Kei Lun Martial Arts & Enshin Karate, San Mateo Dojo

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014 · FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014 · 8pm
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue

General Admission & Asia Society members: asiasociety.org/new-york/events/upcoming
A/P/A Institute members: www.apa.nyu.edu/events

Tickets: $15 general public, $10 Asia Society members, $12 students/seniors. Groups of 8 or more people can purchase at a discount. Email Lenora@asianimprov.org for group discount code. For tickets / info (212) 517-2742 or visit www.asiasociety.org/nyc

Directed by A/P/A Institute at NYU Visiting Scholar LENORA LEE, the interdisciplinary performance works The Escape & Rescued Memories: New York Stories are engaging and heartfelt pieces in which dance, martial arts, film, text and music collide in a visual and aural landscape, a meditation on women being propelled into the unknown by courage and faith to risk their lives and everything they have for freedom. Performed by an Asian American cast of 10 dancers and martial artists from San Francisco and New York City, these works utilize the interplay between live performance and film.

Through the cinematic recreations of actual experiences in key historic locations of San Francisco and New York City Chinatowns, overlaid with voiceover of first hand accounts, contracts and court documents found in the archives at Donaldina Cameron House and the Library of Congress, Lenora weaves together a powerful and evocative collage of stories highlighting the lives of women who were at the forefront of the early Chinatown communities, who through the resilience and triumph over unimaginable experiences, were grounding forces in the creation of these communities during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Rescued Memories: New York Stories retraces the life of Bessie M. Lee (Bessie You Toy-b. 1894), who, after migrating to New York City, spent two years in indentured servitude working for a wealthy Chinese family. The Escape is inspired by a girl who sought refuge from exploitation in San Francisco at Donaldina Cameron House, a faith-based social service agency that today continues to serve Asian communities living in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Click on the link below for video clips of both pieces:

These companion pieces detail stories of women who became vulnerable upon their arrival in the United States. They shed light on the experiences of these women in the context of the social history for Chinese in America as well as in the struggles and achievements of the 20th Century Women’s Movement. The works connect these experiences with today’s fabric of organizations and individuals that are on the front line of the contemporary struggle against the exploitation of women and children in our communities.

Featuring media design by Olivia Ting, videography directed by Tatsu Aoki, music score by Francis Wong, and text by Genny Lim. Performed by Juliet Ante, Kelly Del Rosario, Raymond Fong, Larissa Fong, Marina Fukushima, Chin-chin Hsu, Lynn Huang, Wei-Shan Lai, Lenora Lee, Olivia Ting.

Both evening’s performances will be followed by special conversations featuring the artists, community organizers, and scholars. On May 8, Karen Shimakawa (Chair, Performance Studies, NYU Tisch School of the Arts) moderates a post-performance conversation featuring Lenora Lee, Larry Lee (Executive Director, New York Asian Women’s Center), and Kaitlyn Keisel (Director, Polaris Project New Jersey).

On May 9, Dan Bacalzo (NYU Drama Department and Hunter College Asian American Studies Program) moderates a post-performance conversation featuring Lenora Lee, Purvi Shah (non-profit consultant, anti-violence advocate, and writer), Annie Fukushima (Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Associate, Women’s and Gender Studies and the Institute for Research on Women, Rutgers University), and Song Kim (Kirkland and Ellis Fellow, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund).

Lee’s kaleidoscopic dance views can be visually arresting but it’s provocative storytelling around universal themes that forms the heart of many of her works, including her latest. – Mary Ellen Hunt, San Francisco Chronicle 2012

I can’t think of any choreographer who has taken an approach as simultaneously intimate and large scale as Lenora Lee. In her work, the personal and the political intertwine inextricably.– Rita Felciano, SF Bay Guardian 2012

Cultural History Meets Multimedia: Stories of Chinese Women Immigrants by Emily Wilson, featuring Cindy Liou of API Legal Outreach, poet Genny Lim, Lenora Lee

These pieces were created and premiered with support from Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, Asia Society, Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center, Asian Women Giving Circle, California Arts Council, Cameron House, CA$H, a grants program administered by Theatre Bay ARea in partnership with Dancers’ Group, Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, de Young Museum, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Lighting Artists in Dance Award, Puffin Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, WKK Donor-Advised Fund of the San Francisco Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation and Generous Individuals. Special thanks to Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, Asian Women’s Shelter, and New York Asian Women’s Center. Photo by Robbie Sweeny

DEAR FRIENDS,

Wishing you a very happy new year of the horse! 2013 was an explosive year for Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) with new commissioned performance works, dance film premieres, and creative engagement programs for youth and college students. Thanks to your generosity, LLD has reached over 11,000 people, collaborated with over 30 artists, and produced new large-scale performance works every year for the last 6 years with increasing visibility and relevance within the arts, Asian American and human rights communities.

In May we will be flying our cast of 9 out to perform in the NYC premiere of The Escape and Rescued Memories: NY Stories, which excavate the lives of early 20th century Chinese women migrants through dance, martial arts, film, text and music. The Escape is inspired by women who sought refuge from exploitation in San Francisco at Donaldina Cameron House. Rescued Memories: NY Stories retraces the life of Bessie M. Lee (b. 1894), who spent two years in indentured servitude after migrating to New York City. These pieces were commissioned and performed at the de Young Museum in 2013 and will premiere in New York City this May 8th & 9th, at Asia Society, co-presented by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University.

In addition to taking these performance works on tour, we will shoot more film footage, edit & premiere our 3rd film, based on Rescued Memories: NY Stories. And this coming September 26 – October 5th, we bring to you our 7th Annual Home Season performances at Dance Mission Theater, which will feature new & older works, expanding our season to a 2-week run from our previous 1-week set of fall performances.

With this growth we are taking on new and significantly greater financial challenges. YOU CAN BE PART OF THE TEAM BY HELPING US TO RAISE $10,000 IN 30 DAYS! 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW 

Audiences have been deeply touched by both of these performance pieces. Please consider deepening your impact by increasing your contribution this year. Your gifts are instrumental in the vitality of this work.

A huge thanks to those who have donated this year so far!

Lenora

P.S. Please help spread the word! http://igg.me/p/710739/x/6659452  

For information about the 5/8-5/9 NYC performances, click here