Re-Staging of Within These Walls & Premiere of sequel Dreams of Flight

Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center & Chinese Historical Society of America present

The Re-Staging of the Critically Acclaimed Award Winning multimedia immersive dance experience

Within These Walls and the World Premiere of its sequel Dreams of Flight

by Lenora Lee Dance

At the Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco Bay

Saturdays & Sundays, May 4th, 5th, 11th, 12th, 18th & 19th, 2019

11am-12:30pm & 1-2:30pm

Performances will begin on time, please arrive early.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

www.LenoraLeeDance.com For questions, email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com, (415) 913-8725

Within These Walls (WTW) received a Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Production by the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee. Hien Huynh, one of the main cast members who played a character inspired by the life of Wong Gong Jue, is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Performance by an Individual for his incredibly moving performance in the piece.

Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) celebrates its 12th Anniversary Season with the Re-Staging of the Award Winning Within These Walls (2017), and the World Premiere of its sequel Dreams of Flight, both site-responsive, immersive, multimedia dance works created for the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay, for three weekends 5/4 – 5/19/19. These works for 12 performers, integrating contemporary dance, video projection, recorded original music, and poetry, serve as a meditation on healing, resilience, and compassion.

Inspired by experiences of those detained and processed at the Station, Within These Walls & its sequel Dreams of Flight will transform and animate the historic Barracks and Hospital into sites for remembrance, as part of a community-wide celebrations for the grand re-opening of the Public Health Hospital as the Angel Island State Park Pacific Coast Immigration Center, which is being preserved and converted for reuse as an interpretive center, as well as in commemoration of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, speaking to the power of individuals and communities to transcend.

The pieces are dedicated to the 170,000 Chinese who were detained, interrogated and processed at the Station between 1910 – 1940 as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which tore families apart and resulted in a mass incarceration experience that forever stamps the experience of Chinese in America.

Audiences will journey within a labyrinth of rooms throughout the historic two story building experiencing intimate interactive environments, a tapestry of movement, sound, poetry and film integrated on the surfaces inside and outside of the building, and within the walls.

Audience Feedback from WTW:

“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, and of course, 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.”

PRESS

Immigrants Tormented as Angel Island Detainees Recreated in Dance – By Beth Spotswood, SF Chronicle, 9/14/17

Angel Island a historical setting for Lenora Lee’s ‘Walls’ – By Leslie Katz, San Francisco Examiner, 9/7/17

Conceived, Produced & Directed by Lenora Lee

Choreography by Lenora Lee in collaboration with performers George Cheng, Derek Harris, Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, Carl Irons, SanSan Kwan, Wei-Shan Lai, Chloe Luo, Johnny Nguyen, Dalmacio Payomo, Shannon Preto, Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu, and contributions from some of the original 2017 cast: Yao Dang, Timothy Huey, Eric Koziol, Wayne Tai Lee, Kevin Lo, Stacey Yuen

Music Score by Francis Wong and Tatsu Aoki, with Kioto Aoki, JoVia Armstrong, Rami Atassi, Jonathan Chen, Suwan Choi, Deszon X. Claiborne, Coco Elysses, Jason Kao Hwang, Michael Jamanis, Jamie Kempkers, Chad Taylor, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Michael Zerang

Poetry & Text by Genny Lim and Wong Gung Jue

Voiceover by Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, Todd Nakagawa, Johnny Nguyen, Shannon Preto

Media Design by Olivia Ting

Videography Directed by Lenora Lee

Filmed by Lenora Lee, Shannon Preto, Olivia Ting

Edited by Tatsu Aoki, Lenora Lee, Olivia Ting

ADMISSION + TRANSPORTATION

Join us for the excursion and adventure!

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Then click on the orange “SELECT A DATE” button, then on the green “TICKETS” button to see PERFORMANCE ADMISSION + TRANSPORTATION DETAILS. Group rate available. Email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com to inquire.

SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTURES: Company: Blue and Gold Fleet

SUGGESTED TRANSPORTATION TIMES:

Outbound Angel Island Ferry Options

           *Departs Pier 41 at 9:45am, arrives on Angel Island at 10:10am

                    *Ride the 10:30am shuttle to the Station

                    *See either the 11am or 1pm performance

            *Departs Pier 41 at 11:15am, arrives on Angel Island at 11:45am

                     *No shuttle available. You must walk 25-30 minutes or bike to the Station

                     *See the 1pm performance after making your own way to the Station

Please check this website for updated ferry schedule http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/ferry/angel-island/

Return to Pier 41 Ferry Options

               *Departs Angel Island at 2:05pm, arrives at Pier 41 at 2:55pm

               *Departs Angel Island at 4:25pm, arrives at Pier 41 at 5:30pm

Please check this website for updated ferry schedule http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/ferry/angel-island/

TIBURON DEPARTURES: Company: Angel Island Tiburon Ferry

              *Departs Tiburon hourly from 10am until 5pm

              *Departs Angel Island hourly from 10:20am until 5:20pm

Those wanting to leave from Tiburon must purchase the GENERAL ADMISSION ONLY, ARTS PATRON ADMISSION ONLY, or STUDENT ADMISSION ONLY ticket options. Ferry tickets available for purchase at the facility as you board the ferry with cash or check ONLY. No advanced ferry ticket purchases. See those options and this link http://angelislandferry.com/schedule/ for more details.

ANGEL ISLAND SHUTTLE (can be purchased on this Eventbrite site, see TICKETS – LIMITED AVAILABILITY)

             *Departs promptly from the Angel Island Cafe at 10:30am

             *Departs Immigration Station 12:45pm and 3pm

Visit http://angelisland.com/usis/ for more info.

If a shuttle is not available at your desired time, walking to and from the Immigration Station takes 25-30 minutes each way. Maps are available at the Angel Island dock.

PARKING OPTIONS at Pier 41, San Francisco

            *Academy of Art parking lot on Beach & Stockton Streets ($30 all day)

            *2210 Stockton St between Northpoint & Bay ($25 all day)

Taking public transportation, taxi or Lyft are good options as well.

PARKING OPTIONS by Tiburon dock

Tiburon Parking information can be found online here:http://angelislandferry.com/parking-information/. Parking is between $5 and $15 for the day.

For more info: www.LenoraLeeDance.com, email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com, or call (415) 913-8725

PLEASE NOTE:

The performance admission + ferry ticket packages we offer only leave from Pier 41 in San Francisco on the Blue & Gold Fleet.

If you plan to take the Angel Island Tiburon Ferry, purchase the Admission Only tickets on our ticket site. Then purchase Tiburon ferry tickets on board the ferry with cash or check.

The last day to purchase the Admission + Roundtrip ferry package for the 5/4 & 5/5 performances on our ticket site is 4/29!

The last day to purchase the Admission + Roundtrip ferry package for the 5/11 & 5/12 performances on our ticket site is Tuesday, 5/6!

The last day to purchase the Admission + Roundtrip ferry package for the 5/18 & 5/19 performances on our ticket site is Tuesday, 5/13!

After that you must purchase Admission Only tickets on our ticket site and stand in line at the Pier 39 / 41 Blue & Gold Fleet Box Office, or board the Tiburon Ferry to purchase ferry tickets separately. You may be able to purchase Shuttle tickets from the Angel Island dock Group Leader if they are still available.

On the day of the performance, those who purchased online the Admission + Roundtrip ferry tickets or Shuttle tickets – arrive early to meet our Pier 41 Group Leader wearing the Fluorescent Yellow vest here by the topographical map between Pier 39 & 41 to pick up your tickets.

If you need to buy ferry tickets on the day of the performance, arrive early to stand in line at the Blue & Gold Fleet Ticket Booth between Pier 39 & 41.

Once you have your ferry tickets go to Gate 1 or 2 at the Pier 41 dock to board for Angel Island.

See above for information about the Tiburon Ferry.

If you purchased Admission Only tickets and Shuttle tickets, and ride the Tiburon ferry, you can pick up your Shuttle tickets from the Angel Island dock Group Leader in the Fluorescent Yellow vest once the ferry arrives on the Island.

Please Note:

–           Comfortable footwear is encouraged.

–           Guests may encounter situations in close proximity with performers.

–           We encourage guests with special needs to contact us prior to arrival at: LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com      or (415) 913-8725

BACKGROUND

From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island was the site of an Immigration Station that functioned as the West Coast equivalent of Ellis Island, although the Angel Island facility also enforced policies designed to exclude, rather than welcome, many Pacific Coast immigrants coming from eighty two countries. The processing time for most in the Station was two-three days, however for Chinese, the average was 3 weeks to 3 months of detention. One individual spent 22 months in the station.

In 1970, the site was slated for demolition because of its deteriorated condition; but the discovery of Chinese poetry that had been carved into the walls of the detention barracks saved it from destruction and led to renewed interest in the Angel Island Immigration Station. It increased awareness of the need to access the vivid lessons of sacrifice and triumph in the history of immigration. As a result of a broad advocacy campaign, funding was secured to preserve the site and to open the barracks to the public in 1983. Out of the community campaign the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) was founded to continue preservation and educational efforts for the site, and to increase awareness of the contributions Pacific Coast immigrants make.

The mission of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) is to promote a greater understanding of Pacific Coast immigration and its role in shaping America’s past, present and future. In partnership with the California State Parks, AIISF educates the public about the complex story and rich cultural heritage of Pacific Coast immigrants and their descendants.

LENORA LEE DANCE

LLD’s work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, 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 21 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. In 2013 she was an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, and was a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater and has been recently awarded a Creative Work Fund with the Chinatown Community Development Center to collaborate on an immersive performance piece in 2020.

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. For the last 12 years, LLD has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia 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

Within These Walls is supported in part by California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Portsmouth Plaza Parking Corporation, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Dance Mission Theater and to Generous Individuals. Special thanks to Casey Dexter-Lee & California State Parks, Grant Din and Penelope Wong.

Photos by Robbie Sweeny

1) Kevin Lo, Johnny Nguyen, Hien Huynh, Wayne Tai Lee. 2) Chloe Luo & Johnny Nguyen. 3) Shannon Preto & Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu. 4) Chloe Luo. 5) Lynn Huang. 6) Hien Huynh, Wayne Tai Lee, Kevin Lo, Chloe Luo

January 1, 2019 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

LLD is seeking your support!

Within These Walls & Dreams of Flight Indiegogo

DEAR FRIENDS,

September of last year we exchanged sorrow and travesty of justices at the Immigration Station on Angel Island. Tears and hearts aligned in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Am so honored to announce of the re-staging and launch of Within These Walls, alongside its sequel Dreams of Flight. Now we are at a critical juncture and wholeheartedly ask for your love and support in re-staging this momentous and heartfelt work. We deeply hope you can join us in sharing the love and light of voice in this coming year. Join Lenora Lee Dance in the re-staging of its award winning immersive, multimedia dance piece, Within These Walls, alongside the creation of its sequel Dreams of Flight, and its full length da​nce film. In honor, these works are dedicated to those detained, interrogated and processed at the Angel Island Immigration Station.

WTW premiered in a two-week run 9/9-9/17/17 at the Angel Island Immigration Station Barracks and is receiving incredible acclaim, through a Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Production by the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee. Hien Huynh, one of the main cast members who played a character inspired by the life of Wong Gong Jue, is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Performance by an Individual for his incredibly moving performance in the piece. LLD has been touring excerpts of the work in Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, with the possible re-staging of the full work on tour in Boston and other cities in 2019 and 2020.

WTW is dedicated to the 170,000 Chinese who were detained, interrogated and processed at the Station between 1910 – 1940 as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Exclusion Act tore families apart and resulted in a mass incarceration experience that forever stamps the experience of Chinese in America. It was the first piece of legislation to restrict anyone from another country from immigrating to the U.S. It was enforced until 1943, with quotas until 1965, an 83 year period of Exclusion, which set precedent for anti-immigration laws to follow.

We are again at a particular crossroad in our nation’s journey with the current administration. The rights of immigrants, women, children, the impoverished, and communities of color are being heavily threatened. In the context of today’s mass detention of immigrants and the national debate taken to a new level, there is an acute sense of urgency in promoting efforts to engage the public in the process of reconciliation and restorative justice embodied in the effort to share the story of the Angel Island Immigration Station. The public’s engagement with this historic site is not only one of education or curiosity, but an affirmative, deeply felt, effort at healing.

GOING FORWARD INTO OUR 12TH SEASON

WTW remains one of LLD’s strongest and most ambitious works. It was an exhilarating experience that brought many to tears, including us. With immense displays of love and support from numerous communities across the country, we feel extremely thrilled and honored to announce the re-staging of WTW and its sequel Dreams of Flight at the Angel Island Immigration Station for three weekends in May, 5/4 – 5/19/19! This will be our longest performance run to date, a necessary and bold next step in making this pivotal work more accessible to the public.

Your support will also contribute to the creation of a dance film based on our WTW (2017) production, directed by award winning filmmaker/musician/composer Tatsu Aoki. Our last collaborative film with Tatsu, LIGHT, won Best Experimental Film at the Canada International Film festival in 2017. The WTW film will premier in Fall 2019, and will be made available to the broader public through the creation and sale of a DVD box set of this major signature piece.

ADDITIONAL WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE

– If your company has a Matching Gifts Program, your donation can go twice as far. Please contact me at LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com to inquire about the details

– If you have airline miles you can donate, we would greatly appreciate the contribution!! Please email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com

YOU CAN HELP SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, AND NETWORKS ABOUT THIS PROJECT AND OUR REQUEST FOR SUPPORT!

The timing is critical.

We seek to share a sense of gratitude for life and our lived experiences. The power in sharing these truths is boundless and with your support, we will continue to bring the possibilities to life.

With much appreciation, love, light & gratitude,

Lenora Lee Dance

Within These Walls & Dreams of Flight Indiegogo

December 29, 2018 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Lenora Lee Dance receives Isadora Duncan Award & Nomination

Lenora Lee Dance is esteemed to be the honorary recipient of the Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Production by the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee. Alongside Hien Huynh, one of the main cast members who played a character inspired by the life of Wong Gong Jue, is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Performance by an Individual for his incredibly moving performance in the piece. We fully embrace the commemoration, support, and love from the community and all those involved in voicing forward justice, ancestry, and compassion. With inspiration, and forging fires of motivation, we strive to seek and share a sense of gratitude for life and our lived experiences. The power in sharing these truths is boundless and with your support, we will continue to bring the possibilities to life.

links:
Izzies Press Release
Isadora Duncan Awards, SF Chronicle, Claudia Bauer

photos by Robbie Sweeny featuring:

1. Hien Huynh, Wayne Tai Lee, Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu, Stacey Yuen, Lynn Huang, Johnny Nguyen, Chloe Luo, Yao Dang
2. Hien Huynh, Wayne Tai Lee, Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu, Stacey Yuen, Lynn Huang, Timothy Huey, Shannon Preto, Carl Irons, Kevin Lo, Eric Koziol, Chloe Luo, Yao Dang

December 29, 2018 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Lenora Lee Dance tours to New York City, December 2018!

12/12/2018 : Museum of Chinese in America

215 Centre St, New York, New York 10013

Wednesday, 6:30pm – 7:30pm MOCAtalks

Within These Walls by Lenora Lee Dance
artist talk & performance excerpts featuring Lenora Lee & Hien Huynh

In 2017, Lenora Lee Dance launched a world premier of Within These Walls an immersive, multimedia performance work integrating dance, film, music, and research, which premiered in a two-week run 9/9-9/17/17 at the Angel Island Immigration Station. Inspired by experiences of those detained and processed at the Station, Within These Walls transformed and animated these historic spaces into sites for remembrance, as part of a community-wide commemoration of the 135th Anniversary of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, speaking to the power of individuals and communities to transcend. The Exclusion Act tore families apart and resulted in a mass incarceration experience that forever stamps the experience of Chinese in America. The piece will be re-mounted at the Immigration Station along with a sequel in May 2019.

Join us on this special evening at the Museum of Chinese in America, for an in depth conversation and live performance by Lenora Lee and Hien Huynh. 

Tickets are $10 and include Museum general admission. MOCA members receive complimentary tickets. Not a Member? Join today here: MOCAmembership

Photography: Robbie Sweeny

Dancers: Lynn Huang & Hien Huynh

12/17/2018 : Chen Dance Center New York City

70 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10013

Monday, 6:30pm – 8:30pm

LIGHT (2017), 57 minutes
by Lenora Lee and Tatsu Aoki

film screening, artist talk with Lenora Lee, Tatsu Aoki & Larry Lee

performance excerpts featuring Hien Huynh, Lenora Lee & Wayne Tai Lee

Awarded Best Experimental Film at the Canada International Film Festival

Inspired by the life of Bessie M. Lee, who, after migrating to New York City, spent two years in indentured servitude, LIGHT is a film in which dance, memory, music and poetry 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. In LIGHT, Aoki and Lee highlight the lives of women, including Bessie M. Lee, who through the resilience and triumph over unimaginable experiences, were grounding forces in the creation of the New York Chinatown community in the early 1900s.

Join us for a free special dance film screening, talk back, & performance excerpts from LIGHT (2017)

In association with Lenora Lee Productions, Innocent Eyes and Lenses Films, and Asian Improv aRts, powered by Asian Improv Nation

In memory of Bessie M. Lee 
(1894 – 1955)

Photography: Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang

Dancer: Wei-Shan Lai

BIOGRAPHIES

Tatsu Aoki (director and filmmaker) is a prolific artist, a filmmaker, composer, musician, felloweducator, and a consummate bassist and shamisen lute player. Based in Chicago, Aoki works in a wide range of musical genres, ranging from traditional Japanese music, jazz, experimental, and creative music and producing experimental films. Aoki studied experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is now adjunct associate professor in the Film, Video, and New Media Department, teaching film production and history. He has produced more than 30 experimental films and is one of the most in-demand performers of bass, shamisen, and taiko, appearing in over 90 recording projects. www.tatsuaoki.com

Hien Huynh (dance) was born in Da Nang, Vietnam. Through embodied practice, Hien endeavors to access channels with the inner and outer to circulate awareness and human compassion. He is honored to have performed in the works of Lenora Lee Dance, Kim Epifano, Robert Moses’ Kin, Kinetech Arts, PUSH Dance Company, The MoveMessenger(s), Christy Funsch & Nol Simonse and punkkiCo.

Larry Lee, MSW, recently stepped down as the Executive Director of Womankind, formerly the New York Asian Women’s Center. Womankind is the largest domestic violence agency in the country focused on Asian Americans. It is a premier agency serving survivors of human trafficking and a national model for culturally-centered sexual assault services. Womankind is one of a few victim service agencies funded nationally to dedicate services to survivors of DV age 50 and above. Womankind provides a 24/7 helpline, counseling, case management, advocacy and shelter to survivors and their children. It offers employment, financial literacy, ESL and immigration and family legal services. Larry wrote MAP (Moving Ahead Positively), perhaps the only practice model organized to help survivors of violence in their recovery from trauma. Among other features, MAP utilizes the relationship between the survivor and counselor as the nexus for change and employs Asian wellness techniques – including acupuncture, tai chi, yoga and meditation. In October 2015 NYAWC received the Social Work Image Award from the National Association of Social Workers – NYC for the design and implementation of MAP. Larry successfully proposed and led a collaborative of Asian DV agencies to change Asian community attitudes toward domestic violence. He inspired an art therapy program that successfully engages and creates a community for teen children of DV survivors and a wellness program for highly probable human trafficking survivors. Womankind has collaborated with health, legal and child abuse prevention programs on many funded programs. Larry is a distinguished social work administrator, community leader and civic advocate. He is the founder of the first Mandarin and English dual language and dual culture public school in the Nation. Larry has been honored as a leading New Yorker; a top social worker; and outstanding alumnus of Hunter College.

Lenora Lee (producer, choreography director) Lenora Lee has been a dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and producer for the past 20 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. She has been an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater, and was a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016. She is a 2018 recipient, along with the Chinatown Community Development Center, of the Creative Work Fund award. Her work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, global conflict, and its impacts, particularly on women and families. www.LenoraLeeDance.com

Wayne Tai Lee (dance) received a minor in dance from UC Berkeley and works as a professional statistician.  Wayne enjoys learning all matters related to statistics and dancing.

November 7, 2018 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

World Premiere of “Beneath The Surface” 10/6 – 10/14/18!

Asian Improv aRts and API Cultural Center present

The World Premiere of

 
Beneath The Surface

A new underwater, multimedia experience by Lenora Lee Dance

Saturday, 10/6 – 8:30pm

Sunday, 10/7 – 6:30pm & 8:30pm

Saturday, 10/13 – 8:30pm

Sunday, 10/14 – 6:30pm & 8:30pm

Performances will begin on time, please arrive early.

Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) celebrates its 11th Anniversary Season with the World Premiere of Beneath The Surface, LLD’s first underwater, multimedia experience premiering in a two-week run 10/6 – 10/14/18. Beneath The Surface serves a meditation on forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption, speaking to the power of individuals to transcend.

Audiences are reoriented for a unique perspective that merges memory, contemporary reality, and social commentary, experiencing epic storytelling inside an underwater world.

Conceived, Produced & Directed by Lenora Lee

Choreography by Lenora Lee in collaboration with performers Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu, Hien Huynh, SanSan Kwan, Johnny Nguyen

Music Score by Tatsu Aoki, with Kioto Aoki, JoVia Armstrong, Rami Atassi, Suwan Choi, Coco Elysses, Jamie Kempkers, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Avreeayl Ra

Media Design by Olivia Ting & Lenora Lee

Videography Directed by Lenora Lee

      Filmed by Lenora Lee, Shannon Preto, Joel Wanek

Text by Carl Irons

Voiceover by Hien Huynh

In Water Consulting by Edward Goo

LOCATION:
YMCA of San Francisco Chinatown Branch
855 Sacramento (between Stockton & Grant)

SUGGESTED PARKING:
Portsmouth Square Parking Garage
733 Kearny (between Clay & Washington)

ADMISSION:

There are a VERY LIMITED number of tickets available. Purchase your tickets early!

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Arts Patron – $60 (reserved seating & invitation to VIP celebration with the cast on 10/22/18)

General Admission – $40

Seniors 65+, Students with Valid ID – $30

Standing Room Ticket – $25

You can sign up online on the Waitlist if General admission tickets are sold out, however we are filled to seating capacity for almost all shows.

If a show is completely SOLD OUT, there may be a limited number of tickets for sale at the door, depending on availability. Those arriving without a ticket can put themselves on the Waitlist at the venue. The tickets will be released by Waitlist order and ONLY if space allows.

If there are Standing Room tickets, but no seated tickets available online for a show, we recommend purchasing the Standing Room tickets, rather than arriving with no ticket at all. We cannot guarantee admission if you arrive without the purchase of a ticket beforehand.

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

We encourage guests with special needs or questions to contact us in advance.

Press Coverage for “Within These Walls”

“‘Beneath the Surface’ may be the hottest ticket in town…The world premiere is another bold undertaking for San Francisco choreographer Lenora Lee…”
– Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle Datebook, August 22, 2018

“As it unfolded, I spun my own narrative from the fragments of spoken text and the poetic grappling of the dancers—on video, live on the pool deck, and underwater.”
– Carla Escoda, KQED Arts, October 2, 2018

“What struck me most was how Lee managed to embed the narrative into the installation’s structure. It shows how carefully Lee wove the narrative into everyone’s experience, including the viewer’s.” – Heather Desaulniers, Dance Commentary, 2015

“It starts with one dancer and eventually blooms to six and looks as if the dancers are exploding out of the film and into the world.” – John Wilkins, KQED, 2016

Audience Feedback for “Within These Walls” (2017) by Lenora Lee Dance

“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.”

“I was deeply affected and moved by the performance.”

“It was brilliant and emotionally powerful.”

BIOGRAPHIES

LENORA LEE DANCE
LLD’s work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, 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 20 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. In 2013 she was an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, and was a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater. 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. For the last ten years, LLD has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia 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

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 San Francisco dance Center, San Francisco Performances, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. www.olivetinge.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.org

Carl Irons (text) is a writer, poet, and actor who performs public readings and is occasionally privileged to collaborate with some very talented people. Carl also holds a BA in Political Science and has completed significant post graduate work in the field of Public Administration.

Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu (dance), was born and raised in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and loves to create and share. She has trained in various techniques in dance such as 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 moved to San Francisco in 2015 and has danced with Hsu Chen Wei Production, Les Petites Choses Production, David Harrera Performance Company, Lenora Lee Dance, Alyssandra Katherine Dance Project, Epiphany Dance Theater and Kinetech Arts. She’s choreographed “Shi-Ben-Jao-Tu”, “Goodnight Mom”, “Allow”, “coinciDance” and “Arcane keys”. Yi-Ting has produced shows during her studies in Taiwan.  www.gamahsu.com

Hien Huynh (dance) was born in Da Nang, Vietnam. Through embodied practice, Hien endeavors to access channels with the inner and outer to circulate awareness and human compassion. He is honored to have performed in the works of Lenora Lee Dance, Kim Epifano, Robert Moses’ Kin, Kinetech Arts, PUSH Dance Company, The MoveMessenger(s) and punkkiCo. 

SanSan Kwan (dance) teaches dance and dance studies at UC Berkeley.  She has performed with Jonathon Appels, Joanna Mendl Shaw, Chen and Dancers, Maura Nguyen Donohue/In Mixed Company, and composer Scott Rubin, among others. This is her seventh year with Lenora Lee Dance.  

Johnny Huy Nguyen (dance) is a dancer, performance artist, and hip hop educator. In 2007, he was on course to complete a graduate degree in mechanical engineering, but dance completely changed the direction of his life. In addition to Lenora Lee Dance Company, Johnny is a member of Embodiment Project, and has completed productions with Kularts and the Global Street Dance Masquerade. In all of his work, Johnny’s vision is to use his craft and creativity to activate dialogue, healing, and action in ways that are raw, vulnerable, and honest.

Beneath The Surface is supported in part by San Francisco Arts Commission, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Asian Improv aRts, Asian Improv aRts Midwest, Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Portsmouth Plaza Parking Corporation, DAE Advertising, Donaldina Cameron House, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, and Generous Individuals. Special thanks to Alson & JoAnn Lee, Andy Chu & Aquatics Staff at the YMCA of San Francisco Chinatown Branch.

Sponsored by the YMCA of San Francisco Chinatown Branch. Our mission is to build strong kids, strong families and strong communities by enriching the lives of all people in spirit, mind and body. The Chinatown Y serves over 4,900 individuals a year of all ages with offerings in after school, health and wellness, teen, enrichment, aquatics, and community services. We are committed to building equity through our diversity, inclusion and global engagement efforts. We work to ensure that everyone, regardless of ability, age, cultural background, ethnicity, faith, gender, gender identity, ideology, income, national origin, race or sexual orientation has the opportunity to reach their fullest potential.

PHOTOS by Robbie Sweeny & courtesy of Lenora Lee Dance, featuring:

1. SanSan Kwan
2. Yi-Ting Hsu
3. Hien Huynh
4. Hien Huynh & Johnny Nguyen
5. Yi-Ting Hsu, Hien Huynh & SanSan Kwan
6. Johnny Nguyen & Hien Huynh
7. SanSan Kwan

April 13, 2018 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Spring 2018 Performances!

April 13, 2018 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

December 2017 Performances

November 25, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

In Gratitude

From the Director:

“It is not enough to live our lives in the safety of our own experiences, as what we’ve known as our foundation can be taken away in the blink of an eye if we are not exercising our voices for justice, equality and compassion.”  – Lenora Lee

 

 

Lenora Lee Dance is sponsored by API Cultural Center: a non-profit tax-exempt organization – EIN: 94-3295968. Contributions can be made by credit card at www.LenoraLeeDance.com/donate or sent by check. All donations are fully deductible to the extent allowed by law.

November 25, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Within These Walls premieres 9/9 – 9/17/17 on Angel Island!

____________________

Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center, Chinese Historical Society of America, and
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation present

The World Premiere of

Within These Walls
A new multimedia immersive dance experience by Lenora Lee Dance
At the Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco Bay

Saturdays & Sundays, 9/9, 9/10, 9/16 & 9/17
11am-12pm & 12:30-1:30pm

Performances will begin on time, please arrive early.

Due to the nature of this performance with multiple dances and character narratives unfolding simultaneously throughout the Immigration Station, we recommend you see the performance more than once. It will never be the same experience twice! See ticket options for details on discounted tickets to see the performance twice in one day.

What The Press Is Saying About Within These Walls:

SF Chronicle: Immigrants’ torment as Angel Island detainees re-created in dance   SF Chronicle: A look back at immigration, exclusion at Angel Island

SF Examiner: Angel Island a historical setting for Lenora Lee’s ‘Walls’   KQED Arts: Fall Dance Season Will Bring Political Fury to Bay Area Stages

 
There will also be free screenings of LLD’s recent dance films in the Immigration Station Mess Hall held simultaneously at 11am and 12:30pm for ticket holders. These films were created in collaboration with acclaimed filmmaker Tatsu Aoki. Come early or stay after the performance to see the films!

Those attending one of the 9/16 or 9/17 performances may be captured on film and are asked to sign a Release Form, as we are building an experimental dance film of the Within These Walls performance piece. If you prefer to not be captured on film, please attend one of the 9/9 or 9/10 performances.

Click here for Tickets, Transportation & Details

For more info: www.LenoraLeeDance.com

For questions or high resolution images, email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com, 415-816-9376

Please Note:
– Comfortable footwear is encouraged.
– Guests may encounter situations in close proximity with performers.
– We encourage guests with special needs to contact us prior to arrival at: LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com or (415) 816-9376

____________________________

Join us for the excursion and adventure!

CLICK on the blue “SELECT A DATE” button, then on the green “TICKETS” button to see PERFORMANCE ADMISSION + TRANSPORTATION DETAILS. Group rate available. Email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com to inquire.

SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTURES: Company: Blue and Gold Fleet

SUGGESTED TRANSPORTATION TIMES:

Outbound Angel Island Ferry Options

• Departs Pier 41 at 9:45am, arrives on Angel Island at 10:10am
  • Ride the 10:30am shuttle to the Station
  • See either the 11am or 12:30pm performance
  • See the 11am or 12:30pm films in the Station Mess Hall

• Departs Pier 41 at 11:15am, arrives on Angel Island at 11:45am
  • No shuttle available. You must walk 25-30 minutes or bike to the Station
  • See the 12:30pm performance after making your own way to the Station

Please check this website in August for updated ferry schedulehttp://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/ferry/angel-island/

Return to Pier 41 Ferry Options

• Departs Angel Island at 2:05pm, arrives at Pier 41 at 2:55pm
• Departs Angel Island at 4:25pm, arrives at Pier 41 at 5:30pm

Please check this website in August for updated ferry schedulehttp://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/ferry/angel-island/

TIBURON DEPARTURES: Company: Angel Island Tiburon Ferry

• Departs Tiburon hourly from 10am until 5pm
• Departs Angel Island hourly from 10:20am until 5:20pm

Those wanting to leave from Tiburon must purchase theGENERAL ADMISSION ONLY, ARTS PATRON ADMISSION ONLY, or STUDENT ADMISSION ONLY ticket options. Ferry tickets available for purchase at the facility as you board the ferry with cash or check ONLY. No advanced ferry ticket purchases. See those options and this linkhttp://angelislandferry.com/schedule/ for more details.

ANGEL ISLAND SHUTTLE (can be purchased on this Eventbrite site, see TICKETS – LIMITED AVAILABILITY)

• Departs promptly from the Angel Island Cafe at 10:30am
• Departs Immigration Station 12:45pm and 3pm

Visit http://angelisland.com/usis/ for more info.

If a shuttle is not available at your desired time, walking to and from the Immigration Station takes 25-30 minutes each way. Maps are available at the Angel Island dock.

PARKING OPTIONS at Pier 41, San Francisco

• Academy of Art parking lot on Beach & Stockton Streets ($30 all day)
• 2210 Stockton St between Northpoint & Bay ($25 all day)

Taking public transportation, taxi or Lyft are good options as well.

PARKING OPTIONS by Tiburon dock

Tiburon Parking information can be found online here:http://angelislandferry.com/parking-information/. Parking is between $5 and $15 for the day.

For more info: www.LenoraLeeDance.com, emailLenoraLeeDance@gmail.com, or call (415) 816-9376

Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) celebrates its 10th Anniversary Season with the World Premiere of Within These Walls, a new site-specific immersive multimedia dance experience premiering in a two-week run 9/9 – 9/17/17 on the Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco Bay. This work for 14 performers, integrating contemporary dance, video projection, recorded original music, and poetry, will serve as a meditation on healing, resilience, and compassion. Inspired by experiences of those detained and processed on the Station, Within These Walls will transform and animate these historic spaces into sites for remembrance, as part of a community-wide commemoration of the 135th Anniversary of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, speaking to the power of individuals and communities to transcend.

Audiences will travel through a labyrinth of rooms throughout the historic two story building in an intimate interactive environment, a tapestry of movement, sound, poetry and film integrated throughout the inside and outside of the building, and within the walls.

Conceived, produced & directed by Lenora Lee

Choreography by Lenora Lee in collaboration with performers Yao Dang, Lynn Huang, Timothy Huey, Hien Huynh, Carl Irons, Eric Koziol, SanSan Kwan, Wayne Tai Lee, Kevin Lo, Chloe Luo, Johnny Nguyen, Shannon Preto, Yi-Ting Hsu, Stacey Yuen

Music score by Francis Wong and Tatsu Aoki, with Kioto Aoki, JoVia Armstrong, Rami Atassi, Jonathan Chen,Suwan Choi, Deszon X. Claiborne,Coco Elysses, Jason Kao Hwang, Michael Jamanis, Jamie Kempkers, Chad Taylor, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Michael Zerang

Poetry & text by Genny Lim, Wong Gung Jue, and Immigration Station detainees

Voiceover by Lynn Huang, Hien Huynh, Todd Nakagawa, Johnny Nguyen, Shannon Preto

Media Design by Olivia Ting

Videography directed by Lenora Lee
     filmed by Lenora Lee, Shannon Preto, Olivia Ting
     edited by Tatsu Aoki, Lenora Lee, Olivia Ting

LLD’s work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, global conflict, and its impacts, particularly on women and families.

“We strive to generate artistic work that engages deeply the connections between individuals and their experiences, and community and collective memory, through creative processes, research, and public involvement.” – Lenora Lee

“What struck me most was how Lee managed to embed the narrative into the installation’s structure. So many different things were happening all at once and no one could predict what was going to occur, or when, or where… it shows how carefully Lee wove the narrative into everyone’s experience, including the viewer’s.” – Heather Desaulniers, Dance Commentary

BACKGROUND

From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island was the site of an Immigration Station that functioned as the West Coast equivalent of Ellis Island, although the Angel Island facility also enforced policies designed to exclude, rather than welcome, many Pacific Coast immigrants coming from eighty two countries. The processing time for most in the Station was two-three days, however for Chinese, the average was 3 weeks to 3 months of detention. One individual spent 22 months in the station.

In 1970, the site was slated for demolition because of its deteriorated condition; but the discovery of Chinese poetry that had been carved into the walls of the detention barracks saved it from destruction and led to renewed interest in the Angel Island Immigration Station. It increased awareness of the need to access the vivid lessons of sacrifice and triumph in the history of immigration. As a result of a broad advocacy campaign, funding was secured to preserve the site and to open the barracks to the public in 1983. Out of the community campaign the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) was founded to continue preservation and educational efforts for the site, and to increase awareness of the contributions Pacific Coast immigrants make.

The mission of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) is to promote a greater understanding of Pacific Coast immigration and its role in shaping America’s past, present and future. In partnership with the California State Parks, AIISF educates the public about the complex story and rich cultural heritage of Pacific Coast immigrants and their descendants.

LENORA LEE DANCE

The company is directed by San Francisco native Lenora Lee, who has been a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for the past 19 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. In 2013 she was an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, and was a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater. 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. For the last ten years, LLD has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia 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

Within These Walls is supported in part by California Arts Council,  San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Portsmouth Plaza Parking Corporation, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, OCA San Mateo, Dance Mission Theater and to Generous Individuals. Special thanks to Casey Dexter-Lee & California State Parks, Grant Din and Penelope Wong.

photos by Robbie Sweeny featuring:

1. Johnny Nguyen
2. Johnny Nguyen & Eric Koziol
3. Lynn Huang, Eric Koziol, Yi-Ting Hsu
4. Yao Dang, Yi-Ting Hsu, Stacey Yuen, Chloe Luo
5. Kevin Lo, Johnny Nguyen, Hien Huynh, Wayne Tai Lee
6. Kevin Lo & Stacey Yuen
7. Johnny Nguyen & Chloe Luo
8. Yao Dang, Stacey Yuen, Chloe Luo, Yi-Ting Hsu
9. Hien Huynh & Lynn Huang
10. Hien Huynh

May 8, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Bay Area People – Lenora Lee Dance on KTVU Fox 2

Thanks to Claudine Wong & KTVU – http://www.ktvu.com/community/234120868-video

Join us for immersive performances of “Within These Walls” in the Angel Island Immigration Station barracks this August – September!

February 22, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

“LIGHT” film screenings!

LIGHT won Best Experimental Film at the Canada International Film Festival!

Click here for excerpts from LIGHT and an interview with producer / choreography director Lenora Lee 

CAAMFest 35 presents the World Premiere screening of the experimental narrative film
LIGHT (2017), 57 minutes
by Lenora Lee and Tatsu Aoki

in association with Lenora Lee Productions, Innocent Eyes and Lenses Films,
and Asian Improv aRts, powered by Asian Improv Nation

Saturday, 3/11, 7pm
Gray Area
2665 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Included in the program are live performances by Tatsu Aoki, Melody Takata and Lenora Lee Dance (Yao Dang, Yi-Ting Hsu, Lynn Huang, Wayne Tai Lee)

PAGES short experimental film by Tatsu Aoki & Melody Takata, 15 minutes (precedes LIGHT)
PAGES is a meditation on the emergence of Japanese modernist and experimentalist art movements.

Co-presented by Chinese Historical Society of America and Axis Dance Company

Click here for more info

Asian Women United of Minnesota, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women & Cornerstone
Invite You to the Twin Cities Premiere of LIGHT a Film by Lenora Lee and Tatsu Aoki

Thursday, 4/6, 2017
Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota
301 – 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55455

2 Screenings: 3:30pm & 6:30pm
After each 57 minute screening, there will be a brief panel discussion with the filmmakers and a light reception to follow.

Click here for more info

Additional Event Partners:
University of Minnesota School of Social Work
University of Minnesota Asian American Studies Program
University of Minnesota Women’s Center
KC Fortune Cookie Factory

The Foundation for Asian American Independent Media presents
The Chicago Premiere screening of LIGHT
as part of the 22nd Annual Asian American Showcase

Included in the program is a short film The Detached with a special dance and music performance by Lenora Lee, Tatsu Aoki, Jamie Kempkers, and Jonathan Chen, along with a post-performance discussion.

Saturday, 4/8, 8pm
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N State Street
Chicago, IL 60601

Click here for more info
 

The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
Transnational Asian American Series at Columbia University present:
The New York Premiere film screening of LIGHT

Followed by talkback with Lenora Lee and Tatsu Aoki
Discussants: David Henry Hwang, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts in the Faculty of the Arts, Columbia University and
Karen Shimakawa, Associate Professor, Performance Studies, New York University

Tuesday, 4/11, 5pm
Casa Hispanica
Columbia University
612 West 116th Street
New York, NY 10027

Organized by The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality, and the Department of Music. Co-sponsored by the Department of Dance at Barnard College, the Center for Ethnomusicology, the Center for Jazz Studies, the Heyman Center for the Humanities, and the Society of Fellows for the Humanities.

Click here for more info

The DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon welcomes the Pacific Northwest Premiere of LIGHT

Included in the program is a special performance by and a talkback with Lenora Lee and Tatsu Aoki

Sunday, 4/23, 6pm
Bijou Art Cinemas
492 East 13th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401

Click here for more info

The San Francisco Dance Film Festival presents LIGHT Saturday, 10/21, 1:30pm at Brava Theater Studio, Mezzanine, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco

SYNOPSIS

Inspired by the life of Bessie M. Lee (1894 – 1955), who, after migrating to New York City, spent two years in indentured servitude, LIGHT is a film in which dance, memory, music and poetry 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. In LIGHT, Aoki and Lee highlight the lives of women, including Bessie M. Lee, who through the resilience and triumph over unimaginable experiences, were grounding forces in the creation of the New York Chinatown community in the early 1900s.

In memory of Bessie M. Lee
(1894 – 1955)
___________________________________________________________________________

BIOGRAPHIES

Tatsu Aoki (director and filmmaker) is a prolific artist, a filmmaker, composer, musician, educator, and a consummate bassist and shamisen lute player. Based in Chicago, Aoki works in a wide range of musical genres, ranging from traditional Japanese music, jazz, experimental, and creative music and producing experimental films.

Aoki was born in Tokyo in 1957 to Toyaki Moto, an artisan family proficient in Okiya, the tradition of working as booking and training agents for geisha in downtown Tokyo. At the age of four, Aoki became part of his family performance crew and received the essence of traditional Tokyo geisha cultural training and studies, which combine history with creativity. In the late 1960s, upon Tokyo’s economic and social decline and his grandmother’s passing, he shifted his training to American pop and experimental music. By the early 1970s, Aoki was active in Tokyo’s underground arts movement as a member of Gintenkai, an experimental ensemble that combined traditional music and new Western forms. At the same time he began working in small-gauge and experimental films, influenced by his biological father, who was a movie producer at Shintoho Studio.

In 1977, Aoki left Tokyo to study experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is now adjunct associate professor in the Film, Video, and New Media Department, teaching film production and history. He has produced more than 30 experimental films and is one of the most in-demand performers of bass, shamisen, and taiko, appearing in over 90 recording projects. http://tatsuaoki.com/

Lenora Lee (producer, choreography director)
Lenora Lee has been a dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and producer for the past 19 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. She has been an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, and a Visiting Scholar at New York University through the Asian / Pacific / American Institute. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater.

For the last ten years she has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia dance performance that connects various styles of movement and music to culture, history, and human rights issues. Her work has grown to encompass the creation, presentation, and screening of films, museum and gallery installations, civic engagement and educational programming. Lee 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.
www.LenoraLeeDance.com
_____________________________________________________________________________

CAST AND CREW

Conceived & Produced by Lenora Lee

Directed & Edited by Tatsu Aoki

Cinematography by Tatsu Aoki, Zhuoyun Chen, Joshua Chuck, Ben Estabrook, Eric Koziol, Heath Orchard, Joel Wanek

Choreography by Lenora Lee in collaboration with the cast.
Main cast: Juliet Ante, Kara Davis, Marina Fukushima (playing Bessie M. Lee), Sebastian Grubb, Chin-chin Hsu, Yi-Ting Hsu, Lynn Huang, Wei-Shan Lai, Yukihiko Noda (playing Lawrence S. Lee), Olivia Ting

Additional Cast Members: Tatsu Aoki, Corey Chan, Ming Quan Chang, Xenia Chiu, Mike Kilo, Derek Lang, Alson Lee, JoAnn Lee, Lenora Lee, Aimee Liu, Jean Liu, Sophia Ma, Sophia Noda, Suiso Ogawa, Zhenzhen Qi, Francis Wong, Michele Wong, Ronald Wong, Jared Young, Alicia Yu

Music

*LIGHT soundtrack recordings by
Francis Wong saxophones, flute
Tatsu Aoki bass, taiko
Jonathan Chen violin, electronics
Min Xiao Fen pipa, vocals

*Opening, Arrival, Bessie’s Song, In the Classroom, Walking to the Opera, Escape, Crossing, In the Park, Grove

ESL from Reduction Live recording featuring Kioto Aoki, Tatsu Aoki, Megan Lee, Melody Takata, Edward Wilkerson

Kitchen & Wine Cellar from CD recording AIR 091 Miyumi Project Live 2015 featuring Kioto Aoki, Tatsu Aoki, Mwata Bowden, Coco Elysses, Jamie Kempkers, Avreeayl Ra, Edward Wilkerson

No Need to be Sad from CD recording AIR 089 Needs Are Met featuring Ari Brown and Francis Wong

Touch of Sand from CD recording AIR 088 Pages featuring Kioto Aoki, Melody Takata

All the above recordings are courtesy of Asian Improv Records.

Killing the Green Lion vignette music recorded for the LIGHT soundtrack, featuring Corey Chan, Mike Kilo, MaryEllen Kirkpatrick, Melvina Lee, courtesy of Kei Lun Martial Arts

Poetry & Voiceover – Genny Lim

Sound Engineers – Adam Diller, Karen Stackpole, Caleb Wilitz
Color Correction & Sound Design – Joel Wanek
Lighting – Mary McFadden (Killing the Green Lion vignette)
Costumes – Lenora and JoAnn Lee
Sculpture – “Dialog” by Roland Mayer at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Production Assistance – Libby Jones, Gerard Veronica Sese, Kenjo Hatta-Wong
Graphic Design – Olivia Ting
Photos – Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang, Heath Orchard
_____________________

Our deepest appreciation to Bessie M. Lee’s grandson, Larry Lee, for sharing so much of his family’s story, and to Larry Lee and Asian Women United of Minnesota for their generous support of this project.

Very special thanks to:

Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University
Asia Society
Asian Improv aRts
Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach
Asian Women Giving Circle
Asian Women’s Shelter
Asian Women United of Minnesota
California Arts Council
California Lawyers for the Arts
Career, Mobility, Partnership (formerly Chinatown Manpower Project, Inc.)
Chinese Historical Society of America
CREDO Mobile
Dance Mission Theater
DAE Advertising
de Young Museum
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Donaldina Cameron House
Franklin Templeton
Generous Individuals
Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund
New York Asian Women’s Center
New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
Puffin Foundation
San Francisco Arts Commission
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
True Light Lutheran Church
UTAP Printing & Packaging
Zellerbach Family Foundation

Copyright 2017 Lenora Lee Productions, LLC

www.LenoraLeeDance.com

February 22, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Purple Gums Performances in Southern California 2/23 – 2/25!

Purple Gums Brass Ensemble, with dancer/choreographer Lenora Lee

Brass ensemble Purple Gums, comprised of Bobby Bradford (cornet), William Roper (tuba) and Francis Wong (saxophones) performs a tasty gumbo of jazz, free improv, ragtime and classical. The trio’s role is to carry on the tradition of making music in the moment. Charts don’t exist. Rehearsals have never occurred. Ideas are generated and developed on the bandstand. Joining the ensemble is Lenora Lee (dancer/choreographer). The performances at UC Irvine are the opening of a Southern California mini-tour, in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the production company Asian Improv aRts, and dedicated to the memory of the late composer, pianist, shamisen performer, bandleader, community activist, and educator Glenn Horiuchi (1955 – 2000).

Sponsored by the Department of Asian American Studies and the Department of Music

Featuring:
Francis Wong, sax and winds
William Roper, tuba and low brass
Lenora Lee, dancer
Bobby Bradford, cornet

Thursday, 2/23, 7pm
Room 218, Music and Media Building
UC Irvine
Free admission
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brass ensemble Purple Gums, comprised of Bobby Bradford (cornet), William Roper (tuba) and Francis Wong (saxophones) performs a tasty gumbo of jazz, free improv, ragtime and classical. The trio’s role is to carry on the tradition of making music in the moment. Charts don’t exist. Rehearsals have never occurred. Ideas are generated and developed on the bandstand. Joining the ensemble is Lenora Lee (dancer/choreographer) and taiko artist and dancer Melody Takata. The performance at UC Riverside are part of a Southern California mini-tour, in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the production company Asian Improv aRts, is also dedicated to the memory of the late composer, pianist, shamisen performer, bandleader, community activist, and educator Glenn Horiuchi (1955 – 2000).

Featuring:
Francis Wong, sax and winds
William Roper, tuba and low brass
Lenora Lee, dancer
Melody Takata, taiko
Bobby Bradford, cornet

Friday, 2/24, 12-2pm
The Barn
UC Riverside
900 University Ave, Riverside, California 92507

Photo: Lenora Lee, by Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Musicians Francis Wong, Bobby Bradford, and William Roper, dancer/choreographers Lenora Lee and Melody Takata, will present an interdisciplinary concert in tribute to the late composer/instrumentalist Glenn Horiuchi and in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the production company Asian Improv aRts.

Click here for information on Glenn

Featuring:
Francis Wong, sax and winds
William Roper, tuba and low brass
Lenora Lee, dancer
Melody Takata, taiko
Bobby Bradford, cornet

Saturday, 2/25, 2-4pm
Far East Lounge
Little Tokyo
353 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Photo: Melody Takata, by Walter Wagner
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About the artists:

Bobby Bradford (cornetist, trumpeter, and composer) took up cornet in 1949 and played with Leo Wright, Buster Smith, and John Hardee (1952), with Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy in Los Angeles (1953), and in air force bands. After belonging to the Ornette Coleman Quartet in New York (1961) he attended Huston-Tillotson College (BM 1963) and moved to Los Angeles (1964), where he formed the New Art Jazz Ensemble with John Carter. He taught elementary school (1966-71), lived and worked in England (1971), then rejoined Coleman’s group for a brief period in New York. From 1974 he taught at Pasadena City College and Pomona College, and from 1976 to 1978 belonged to the Little Big Horn workshop with Carter, Arthur Blythe, James Newton, and other free-jazz musicians. Bradford has performed most often with Carter; he has also appeared with David Murray Octet (1982-4), Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra (from 1982), John Steven’s Freebop (1986), and his own group Mo’tet. As a composer he has been influenced by the blues and the music of Coleman.

William Roper (tuba) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. He has received awards from the NEA, CA Arts Council, L.A. Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Brody Arts Fund, ArtMatters Inc., American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Durfee Foundation and JUSFC. He has been a resident artist at Djerassi Artists Program – California, Oberfalzer Künstlerhaus – Bavaria, College of the Canyons – California and a Japan/US Friendship Association Creative Artist Fellow in Japan. He has fulfilled commissions from Dance L.A., the Gloria Newman Dance Theatre, Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre, SASSAS and the College of the Canyons Symphonic Band. His compositions have been performed by the California E.A.R. Unit, TaiHei Ensemble, Sounds New Ensemble, Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble, Cal Arts Cello Ensemble and others.

Few musicians are as accomplished as Francis Wong (Saxophone), considered one of “the great saxophonists of his generation” by the late jazz critic Phil Elwood. For over 30 years he has performed for audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe with such with such luminaries as Jon Jang, Tatsu Aoki, Genny Lim, William Roper, Bobby Bradford, and the late Glenn Horiuchi, Fred Anderson, and John Tchicai. Wong’s imaginative career straddles roles as varied as performing artist, youth mentor, composer, artistic director, community activist, nonprofit organization manager, consultant, music producer, and academic lecturer.

For the last ten years Lenora Lee (dancer/choreographer) has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia dance performance that connects various styles of movement and music to culture, history, and human rights issues. Her work has grown to encompass the creation, presentation, and screening of films, museum and gallery installations, civic engagement and educational programming. Lee 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. She has been a dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and producer for the past 18 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. In 2013 she was an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum and a Djerassi Resident Artist. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at New York University, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater, and recently completed a newly commissioned work by Fort Mason Center in 2015.

Melody Takata has been performing in the traditional arts for over 25 years, from her upbringing in the Japanese American community of Los Angeles. She is founder and director of GenRyu Arts, established in 1995 as Gen Taiko and incorporated in 2008. She completed the ACTA master apprentice program for shamisen with Hideko Nakajima Sensei in 2003, and, in celebration of Gen Taiko’s 10th anniversary, the ACTA master apprentice program with 90 year-old Madame Fujima Kansuma. Takata has been one of the most significant collaborators for Tsukasa Taiko’s national expansion program.

A great article by LeRoy Downs about the 2/25 performance “Remembering Glenn Horiuchi”

The Theme is Love and Unity: Santa Monica High Jazz Ensemble, Purple Gums and Dianne Reeves

February 21, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Day of Remembrance 2/19/17, 2pm

Bay Area Day of Remembrance 2017
75th Anniversary of Executive Order 9066

FRAGILE FREEDOMS
Carrying the Light for Justice
Sunday, February 19, 2017, 2 – 4PM
AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres

Click here for the San Francisco Chronicle article

Photo: Lenora Lee, by Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

February 21, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

CALL FOR DANCERS & THEATER ARTISTS!

Lenora Lee Dance is seeking male dancers and theater artists for a series of immersive performances on the Angel Island Immigration Station. Inspired by the experiences of those detained and processed there, Within These Walls will transform and animate these historic spaces into sites for remembrance, and will be the highlight of Lenora Lee Dance’s 10th Anniversary Season.

Shows on the Immigration Station will be in September 2017.  We will also do some filming there in September to create a full-length dance film from this project.

We are open to dancers of various movement backgrounds. Training in modern / contemporary dance, experience in choreography, improvisation, and collaboration are a plus.

Those interested can email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com or call (415) 816-9376 for more information, and to sign up for an audition rehearsal appointment.

www.LenoraLeeDance.com

January 19, 2017 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

“The Eye of Compassion” premiering 9/24 – 10/2/16 at Cameron House!

A beautiful article by John Wilkins of KQED on “The Eye of Compassion”

A nice write up in the Examiner by Leslie Katz! 

Nice plug on Hoodline for “The Eye of Compassion” by Nathan Falstreau

Asian Improv aRts, API Cultural Center, Chinese Historical Society of America, & Donaldina Cameron House present

The World Premiere of “The Eye of Compassion”
A new multimedia immersive dance experience by Lenora Lee Dance

Saturdays, 9/24 & 10/1 – 7:30pm & 9pm
Sundays, 9/25 & 10/2 – 7:30pm 
Performances will begin on time, please arrive early.

Donaldina Cameron House
920 Sacramento St (between Powell & Stockton), SF, CA 94108
Parking available at the Portsmouth Square Plaza Garage. There will not be parking available at Cameron House.

Arts Patron: $35 in advance online, includes 6:45-7:15pm pre-performance reception (for 7:30pm show), and 10-10:30pm post-performance reception (for 9pm show)
General Admission: $20 in advance online. $25 at the door
Student rate: $15 in advance online. $20 at the door – Valid student ID required
Group rate available – while tickets last

Due to the intimate nature of the performance, there are a very limited number of tickets available per show. To ensure your space, purchase your tickets today.

Click Here for Tickets
For more info: www.LenoraLeeDance.com, email: LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com, 415-816-9376

Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) celebrates its 9th Anniversary Season with the World Premiere of The Eye of Compassion, a new site-specific multimedia immersive dance experience premiering in a two-week run 9/24 – 10/2/16 in San Francisco’s historic Donaldina Cameron House (CH). This work for six dancers will integrate contemporary dance, video projection, original music, and will serve as a meditation on healing, resilience, compassion and transformation, inspired by the work done at Cameron House over the years. It will feature a collage of vignettes, stories about, and interviews of people previously served in its programs, and also speak to the power of individuals and communities to transcend.

Audiences will travel through a labyrinth of rooms throughout the historic five story building in an intimate interactive environment, a tapestry of movement, sound and visual collage throughout the inside and outside of the building.

LLD’s work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, global conflict, and its impacts, particularly on women and families.

“We strive to generate artistic work that engages deeply the connections between individuals and their experiences, and community and collective memory, through creative processes, research, and public involvement.” – Lenora Lee

“What struck me most was how Lee managed to embed the narrative into the installation’s structure. So many different things were happening all at once and no one could predict what was going to occur, or when, or where… it shows how carefully Lee wove the narrative into everyone’s experience, including the viewer’s.” – Heather Desaulniers, Dance Commentary, 9/13/15

Conceived & directed by Lenora Lee
Choreography by Lenora Lee with performers Peter Cheng, Yao Dang, Christian Felix, Yi-Ting Hsu, SanSan Kwan, Chloe Luo
Music score by Francis Wong, Tatsu Aoki, Melody Takata, Kioto Aoki, Jonathan Chen, Ari Brown
Media Design by Lenora Lee
Cinematography directed by Tatsu Aoki and Lenora Lee,
          filmed by Ben Estabrook, Eric Koziol, Lenora Lee, Joel Wanek
Edited by Olivia Ting, Tatsu Aoki, Eric Koziol, and Lenora Lee

Additional artists on video: Corey Chan, James Q. Chan, Laurene Chan, Kara Davis, Kimberly Elliot, Raymond Fong, Chizuru Hamada, Karina Lee Howe, Kate Lee Howe, Chin-chin Hsu, Carl Irons, Wei-Shan Lai, Amy Lam, Lenora Lee, Yukihiko Noda, Melody Takata, Olivia Ting, Alisa Wong, Pamela Wong

Please Note:
– Comfortable footwear is encouraged.
– Coat, purse and bag check service is available and is highly recommended.
– Guests may encounter situations in close proximity with performers.
– We encourage guests with special needs to contact us prior to arrival at: LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com or (415) 816-9376

“The Eye of Compassion” is funded in part by San Francisco Arts Commission, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Portsmouth Plaza Parking Corporation, Fleishhacker Foundation, SF Grants for the Arts, Dance Mission Theater and by Generous Individuals. Special thanks to our Arts Patron Sponsor DAE Advertising and to our Community Circle Partners Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach and OCA, San Mateo.

To find out how you can support this project, click here

BACKGROUND

Started as the Occidental Mission Home for Girls in 1874, the initial purpose of the work done at Donaldina Cameron House (CH) was to intervene on behalf of young, Asian, immigrant females who had become vulnerable upon arrival into the United States. From its founding to the 1930’s over 2,000 women and girls sought shelter or sought refuge in Chinatown at CH from forced labor and indentured servitude.

LENORA LEE DANCE

The company is directed by San Francisco native Lenora Lee, who has been a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for the past 18 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. In 2013 she was an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, and was a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater. 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. For the last nine years, LLD has been pushing the envelope of large-scale multimedia dance performance that connects various styles of movement and music to culture, history & 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.

Photos by Robbie Sweeny and courtesy of Lenora Lee Dance

July 20, 2016 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

“The Detached” experimental dance film is screening 7/23, 3:15pm!

“The Detached” (2014), 13:01 min
by Lenora Lee and Tatsu Aoki

Screening Saturday, 7/23, 3:15pm at the Roxie Theater as part of the SF Frozen Film Festival!
Note: some films in the 3:15pm program contain adult content.

http://www.frozenfilmfestival.com/pages/lineup16.php

Conceived & Produced by Lenora Lee

Directed & Edited by Tatsu Aoki

Cinematography by Ben Estabrook, Eric Koziol, Olivia Ting, Joel Wanek

Choreography & Performance by Lenora Lee with Larissa Fong, Raymond Fong, Marina Fukushima, Chin-chin Hsu, Lynn Huang, Wei-Shan Lai, Yukihiko Noda

Music
De-Clime 2 from CD recording Jonathan Chen Orchestra Returns by Tatsu Aoki and Jonathan Chen.
DiStilled by Ari Brown, Tatsu Aoki, and Francis Wong.
Michi from CD recording Shadow to Shadow by Melody Takata and Tatsu Aoki.
Steel Toe from CD recording Actual Music by David Pavkovic and Tatsu Aoki.
Moving the Moment by Ari Brown, Tatsu Aoki, and Francis Wong.
All recordings are courtesy of Asian Improv Records.

Lighting – Harry Rubeck

Costumes – Lenora and JoAnn Lee

Painting – Corey Chan

Production Assistance – Tongjia Wang

Special thanks to Angel Island and the California State Parks

In association with production partners Lenora Lee Dance, Innocent Eyes and Lenses Films, and Asian Improv aRts

Copyright 2014 Lenora Lee Dance

July 5, 2016 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

“The Detached” 5/27, 3pm as part of Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival!

“The Detached” (2014), 13:01 min
by Lenora Lee and Tatsu Aoki, in association with production partners Lenora Lee Dance, Innocent Eyes and Lenses Films, and Asian Improv aRts

Screening on Friday, 5/27, 3pm as part of the Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival!

Conceived & Produced by Lenora Lee

Directed & Edited by Tatsu Aoki

Cinematography by Ben Estabrook, Eric Koziol, Olivia Ting, Joel Wanek

Choreography & Performance by Lenora Lee with Larissa Fong, Raymond Fong, Marina Fukushima, Chin-chin Hsu, Lynn Huang, Wei-Shan Lai, Yukihiko Noda

Music
De-Clime 2 from CD recording Jonathan Chen Orchestra Returns by Tatsu Aoki and Jonathan Chen.
DiStilled by Ari Brown, Tatsu Aoki, and Francis Wong.
Michi from CD recording Shadow to Shadow by Melody Takata and Tatsu Aoki.
Steel Toe from CD recording Actual Music by David Pavkovic and Tatsu Aoki.
Moving the Moment by Ari Brown, Tatsu Aoki, and Francis Wong.
All recordings are courtesy of Asian Improv Records.

Lighting – Harry Rubeck

Costumes – Lenora and JoAnn Lee

Painting – Corey Chan

Production Assistance – Tongjia Wang

Special thanks to Angel Island and the California State Parks

In association with production partners Lenora Lee Dance, Innocent Eyes and Lenses Films, and Asian Improv aRts

Copyright 2014 Lenora Lee Dance

May 18, 2016 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Take 5 – June 10, 2016, 5pm at ODC’s Mott Studio

Lenora Lee Dance is pleased to present a work-in-progress excerpt as part of the ODC Take 5 Series.

Take 5
June 10, 2016 at 5:00pm
Tickets $5 | Buy Tickets at the Door

Featured artists*: Lenora Lee, Katharine Hawthorne, Christy Funsch

Be a shareholder in the creative process. See works in progress from dance artists. Discuss what you saw, what resonated, and what sparked questions. Then, exercise your share to award an artist with 15 hours of free rehearsal time.
Program Subject to Change
LOCATION

ODC Theater
Mott Studio
3153 17th Street SF CA 94110
TICKETS
Buy Tickets at the Door
Tickets $5

May 10, 2016 | Categories: Latest Updates | Leave A Comment »

Double Victory at Fort Point May 21-22, 1pm!

1 pm to 2:30 pm on Saturday May 21 and Sunday May 22, 2016 
Fort Point National Historic Site
999 Marine Dr, SF 94129, under the South Side of the Golden Gate Bridge entrance

Admission free
Please arrive early to find parking. Click here for directions.

Featuring

Lenora Lee Dance – Yao Dang, Gama Hsu, Lenora Lee, Chloe Luo

Francis Wong Unit – Karl Evangelista on guitar, John-Carlos Perea on bass & flute, Karen Stackpole on gongs & drum set, Melody Takata on taiko, Francis Wong on saxophone, Yangqin Zhao on yangqin.

Visiting artists – William Roper (Los Angeles) on tuba, Michael Jamanis on violin (from Lancaster, PA) and Amanda Kemp (Sunday only) with spoken word (also from Lancaster)

Special guests – Kei Lun Martial Arts, and Okinawan music and lion dance by Wesley Ueunten and ensemble

Remarks by historian Connie Young Yu and SFSU Asian American Studies Professor Wesley Ueunten and other guests to follow Saturday’s performance. Please click here to RSVP for this post performance discussion. Seating is very limited.

Visit www.asianimprov.org,www.parksconservancy.org/nps100, http://go.nps.gov/goga100, or email: lenora@asianimprov.org for more information.

Background

Many of us are familiar with how important World War II was in shaping our modern world and the heroism and sacrifice of what has been called “the greatest generation”. However, a lesser known story is how World War II was a  turning point for racial justice in the US. For Chinese Americans, it meant that an alliance between US and China would  finally repeal the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese from naturalization to U.S. Citizenship and restricted their immigration.

The heroic role that Japanese Americans played in WWII while their families were incarcerated in concentration camps in the US would also bring about important changes such as the repeal of the Alien Land Law barring non-citizens from purchasing land. More than the legislation, this era represented a moment that deeply empowered Asian Americans as well as other communities of color in the struggle for civil rights and racial equality.

It was the beginning of a new era of activism around issues such as the promised benefits to Filipino war veterans, to finally lifting of restrictive quotas on Asian immigration, to redress for the camps for Japanese Americans. In this spirit our intercultural collaboration of artists and organizations comes together to evoke remembrance and celebration of the sacrifices made and victories won in WWII, the defining event of our global society.

Called to Rise: Chinese Americans in CBI

Several stories from the World War II experience of Asian Americans have inspired the works to be performed at this event. One of these stories is the experience of Chinese Americans in the China Burma India (CBI) theater of the war. CBI operations were a critical part of the Allied strategy to supply the wartime Chinese government’s resistance to Japanese occupation. President Roosevelt had believed that the defense of China was key to the defense of America, making the alliance with China vital to the US war effort.

Composer Francis Wong and CHSA Historian Connie Young Yu share a connection to this historic chapter through Wong’s father George and late mother Noela Wong and Young Yu’s late father, Colonel John C. Young, a decorated U.S. Army Combat Liaison Officer (under General Joseph Stilwell) who among other duties, played a key role in the pivotal Battle of Mount Song.  Wong’s father George, a Chinese citizen at the time (as was Wong’s mother), served as a liaison with a U.S Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) team under the US State Department in Guizhou, working on transportation issues related to the Burma Road. Wong’s mother was civilian staff for the US Army transportation administration in Kunming in Yunnan Province.

A special educational mini-installation exploring this narrative produced by the Chinese Historical Society of America, Called to Rise: Chinese Americans in CBI will be on view May 6 – June 30, 2016 at the Fort Point Historic Site. The hours for the site are Friday – Sunday 10am – 5pm, Thursday – Tuesday 10am – 5pm starting end of May.