Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company announces their Lunar New Year Gala of Music and Dance on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at 5:30pm at the Dimenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street, New York, NY. Now is your chance to Save the Date for this extraordinary night of Music and Dance featuring Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York. Tickets are limited. RSVP to reserve your seat and join in the celebration honoring the Year of the Snake, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSernL0DjFiJJ5G6lTc3R7NLK5p1NShpOzZALFCMr8H-kkR9Og/viewform.

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, a renowned pioneer in Chinese dance, is excited to present its stunning Lunar New Year Gala. The evening will include performances, cocktails, cuisine, and festivities all in celebration of the Year of the Snake!

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to witness the magic and beauty of Lunar New Year traditions, interpreted through the extraordinary talent of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company.

Celebrating over 30 years of dance-making, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is a rare Asian American female-created touring company that honors and advances the dynamic spirit of Chinese American cultural tradition. Led by Nai-Ni Chen, a visionary in Asian American dance, the company emphasizes the immigrant experience through multicultural performances. Founded in the early 1990s, the company’s diverse repertory bridges Asian and American arts, collaborating with musicians like the Ahn Trio and artists such as Myung Hee Cho. Recent works like “A Quest for Freedom,” developed with the Ahn Trio, exemplify the Company’s commitment to innovative, cross-cultural productions. Nai-Ni Chen’s unique choreographic styles reflect the grace and splendor of the Chinese cultural traditions she studied in Taiwan and the dynamic spirit of modern and contemporary dance she acquired in New York. The Company’s contribution to the community has been honored by OCA, the leading national Asian American advocacy organization, New Jersey Chinese American Chamber of Commerce and the International Institute in Jersey City. The Company has toured extensively in the United States and at international festivals around the world . Their global presence includes performances in Mexico, Canada, Russia, and China, supported by esteemed institutions and foundations. Nai-Ni Chen has been honored with over 20 awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and prominent institutions – including the Lincoln Center Institute, the Joyce Theater, Dancing in the Streets, New Jersey Ballet, Ballet Met, Dancing Wheels and Baraka Sele at NJPAC – all have commissioned notable works.

Founded in 1961 by its late Director, Mr. Tsuan-nien Chang (1917-1997), the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York (CMENY) has grown from a few music lovers presenting Cantonese traditional music to becoming the oldest and largest Chinese orchestra in the United States. Its present membership of almost fifty musicians plays practically every type of Chinese musical instrument.

Recognized as the only full-scale non-youth Chinese orchestra in the Americas, the Ensemble maintains its standard of excellence through a program of musical exchange with professional musicians from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Many of its award-winning musicians come from state conservatories of music in Shanghai, Beijing, Sichuan, Tianjin, Shenyang, Guangzhou, and Taipei and have worked in renowned orchestras across Asia.

Ensemble performances range from small chamber groups to a full orchestra using a wide range of Chinese bowed and plucked strings, wind, and percussion instruments. Its repertoire ranges from ancient classical to modern compositions, spanning over fifteen hundred years of history. The CMENY also presents folk music of various regions and ethnic groups in China.

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One of the main objectives of the CMENY is to introduce the music of China to broad audiences–both the concert-going public and professional musicians, so as to enrich the public, strengthen cross-cultural ties, and to help give Chinese music a new voice in the West. To this end, the Ensemble has performed at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Town Hall, Asia Society, Carnegie Hall, Newport Music Festival, and Musikfest. It has appeared at numerous museums, libraries, colleges, and schools throughout the Eastern seaboard.

We place great importance on preserving and promoting Chinese musical heritage, and so the Ensemble offers Chinese music lecture-demonstration services to schools and colleges, and gives free musical instrument lessons to schoolchildren during the summer. The Ensemble has worked in the past with Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute to provide educational programs, including CarnegieKids, Global Encounters, Neighborhood Concert, and Family Concerts at Carnegie Hall.

Acknowledgement

Programs of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company have been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey Cultural Trust, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, DanceNYC Dance Advancement Fund, the Hyde and Watson Foundation, E.J. Grassman Trust, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, New Music USA, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, American Dance Abroad, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ Cultural Exchange Fund, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, PSEG, Proskauer, WAC Lighting and the Glow Foundation. WQXR is a media partner of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company.

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