![]() If you hold a single chopstick, it is easy to break. Its based on a story that we all learned from a childrens book in Taiwan, said Chien-Pott, who like Chen was born and raised in Taiwan. The other part, Chaing said, was to preserve Chens dances in the repertory, along with presenting new works, both in the contemporary and traditional vein.īeginning Thursday, the company presents ∺wakening, an evening at New York Live Arts that includes Chens final work, Unity, which is being completed by Chien-Pott, with commissioned music by Jason Kao Hwang. Ying Shi is choreographer and director of traditional dance and preservation, which is part of the companys mission. Campo, formerly the groups associate artistic director and a company dancer since 2012, is interim artistic director, while Chien-Pott, the extraordinary former Martha Graham principal, has become the companys choreographer and director of contemporary and creative dance. Together, the three women make up the new artistic team. In part, through conversations with the three women, Chaing began to see the possible path forward, he said, and became optimistic about making the company a resource for artists like Nai-Ni who are committed to the art form and believe in its power to transform people from within. And each had a different skill set in dance that would not only help keep the company going but also guide it forward particularly Chien-Pott, whom Chen considered the next generation and with whom she had already been in discussion about choreographing for the group. Three women immediately came to mind: Greta Campo, PeiJu Chien-Pott and Ying Shi. So I thought, Who do I know? Who can I reach out to? He remembered a friends advice: When you dont know what to do, you need to reach out, Chaing said. Should he disband the company? Keep it going? On the plane traveling home to New Jersey from Hawaii a very, very difficult journey, he recalled recently he found that he was at a loss as to what to do next. Chiang, the soft-spoken executive director of Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, was also Chens husband. A prolific dance artist specializing in both contemporary and traditional works, Chen, a youthful 62, was a powerful presence in the Chinese American dance community.Īndrew N. In December, a shock rippled through dance circles when it was announced that choreographer Nai-Ni Chen had died in a swimming accident in Hawaii while on vacation.
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