March 29, 2013

Dear Friends,

It is with my deepest appreciation that I thank you for your gracious support.  We are writing to ask you to consider contributing to our 6th Anniversary Spring and Fall Seasons at the de Young Museum as we reach new and broader audiences with our work!

“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, San Francisco Bay Guardian 2012

This year in San Francisco we will share two large-scale interdisciplinary works created with Kei Lun Martial Arts and Enshin Karate, South San Francisco Dojo, “The Escape”and “Rescued Memories: New York Stories”. Both are companion pieces inspired by stories of women who had become vulnerable upon arrival into the U.S. during the early 20th Century.

These projects seek to shed light on the experiences of these women in the context of the social history of the period for Chinese in America as well as for women in the society as a whole with the struggles and achievements of the 20th Century Women’s Movement, which took on such issues as child labor and human trafficking. They are commissioned works to be performed at the de Young Museum May 17th (“The Escape” & a new work by Francis Wong) and November 8th & 9th (both pieces) as part of their 2013 Artist Fellows program.

I have been conducting both historical and current day research for these works through the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, Cameron House, Asian Women’s Shelter, API Legal Outreach, the A/P/A Institute at NYU, and New York Asian Women’s Center, among other organizations. Stories of determination and courage in addition to the generosity of staff and advocates have been truly inspiring and humbling.

“Lee’s kaleidoscopic dance views on the Asian American experience can be visually arresting – her 2010 “Passages: For Lee Ping To” was nominated for an Izzie Award for its design – 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

Your support is invaluable and plays a critical role in realizing the development and sharing of this work in presentations and performances! You allow for people to witness history coming to life, in honoring the past and understanding how it impacts the present, so that we may have an empowered perspective in shaping our future.

Please consider contributing to the growth and expansion of this work and of our year round programming.  We are ever so grateful for your support and generosity.

With much appreciation,

Lenora

GETTING INVOLVED

Lenora Lee Dance is fiscally sponsored by Asian Improv aRts, a non-profit tax-exempt organization. All donations are fully deductible to the extent allowed by law.

(“Donate”, Designate Purpose – “For Lenora Lee Dance”)

A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS FOR THEIR SUPPORT!

Jeanette & Low Chan, Mark Chung, Mildred Hall, Laura Hays, Michael Holscher, Jeanette Huie, Pamela Jang & Keith Jew, Victor Clark Joe, Derek Lang, Alson & JoAnn Lee, Karina Lee & Perry Howe, Larry Lee, Linda Lee & Harry Chuck, Lianne & Terry Leong, Mary & Dayton Leong, Christina & Leonard Lew, Joan & George Louie, Jean Liu & Terry Chea, May & Larry Lui, Jean & Richard Lym, Victoria Marks, Jill Shiraki & Wilbur Obata, Phyllis Huey Tom, Joanne & Jerrick Woo, Joyce Ashizawa-Yee & Bradley Yee, Sandra Yuen

Photos by Robbie Sweeny and courtesy of Cameron House

Miyoshi Sketches is a new work by composer Francis Wong created with the support of Individual Artist Commissions of Cultural Equity Grants. This work features Tatsu Aoki and Chizuru Kineya, shamisen (Japanese 3 string lute), Yangqin Zhao on yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer), Jim Norton and Francis Wong on woodwinds, Wayne Wallace on trombone, Melody Takata on taiko, and Deszon Claiborne on multiple percussion. It memorializes the friendship that developed between Wong’s parents, immigrants from China, and John Miyoshi, a Japanese American World War II veteran in the post-World War II era in San Francisco. In addition to Miyoshi Sketches the ensemble will also perform two older compositions by Wong entitled La Chine Africaine (for my mother), and Dream. www.franciswong.net

The Escape by Lenora Lee Dance

with Kei Lun Martial Arts & Enshin Karate, South San Francisco Dojo.

featuring media design by Olivia Ting, music by Francis Wong, text by Genny Lim, lighting by Patty-Ann Farrell, and videography directed by Tatsu Aoki, filmed by Ben Estabrook & Eric Koziol

The Escape is an interdisciplinary performance piece inspired by stories of women who had become vulnerable upon arrival into the U.S. during the early 20^th Century. The pieces seek to shed light on the experiences of these women in the context of the social history of the period for Chinese in America as well as for women in the society as a whole with the struggles and achievements of the 20^th Century Women’s Movement, which took on such issues as child labor and human trafficking.  www.LenoraLeeDance.com

Friday, May 17, 7pm, FREE

Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum

Golden Gate Park

50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive • San Francisco, CA 94118

For more info http://deyoung.famsf.org/deyoung/calendar/miyoshi-sketches-and-escape-lenora-lee-dance

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Asian Improv aRts, and API Cultural Center present

Celebrating 25 Years of Asian Improv aRts!

The Francis Wong Unit featuring saxophonist Francis Wong, bassist John-Carlos Perea, multiple percussionist Karen Stackpole, and guitarist Karl Evangelista with guests taiko (Japanese drums) artist Melody Takata, dancer/choreographer Lenora Lee, poet/performer Genny Lim, and other special guests TBA.

Saturday, May 11^th, 1pm, FREE

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

760 Howard Street (between 3^rd & 4^th Streets)

San Francisco, CA  94103

For more info: http://www.ybgf.org/, www.asianimprov.org

Photo by John O’Donnell