The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will present the New York Premiere of Ms. Chen's CrossCurrent, a collection of new works created on her journey as an immigrant artist attempting to reconcile the two cultures inside her, one she was born into, the other she chose to join. Performances: June 22-24, 2017 at 7:30pm at Martha Graham Studio Theater on the penthouse level, 55 Bethune St, New York, NY 10014. Tickets: $30; $15, info: 800-650-0246 or www.nainichen.org/NYSeason.
Opening CrossCurrent will be Earth, a 2010 work to the commissioned music from Gerald Chenoweth, in which she explores the essence of the Chinese Taoist's belief that the essential elements of the physical world are made up by five elemental energies symbolized by Wood, Fire, Water, Metal and Earth. These elemental energies both substantiate and annihilate each other. Chinese medicine and Fengshui are both heavily influenced by this idea of the five elements. The central element, Earth, can be used to annihilate the power of water, and substantiate the power of metal. In this dance, Nai-Ni Chen uses the space on stage as her canvas to create a moving landscape that flows like lava in the center of the planet, waiting for an opening to explode. The movement language she created for this dance is based on trance, breathing, and continuous spiral motion that is central to Tai Chi and other forms of Chinese Martial Art.
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