Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company to Celebrate 2025 Asian American Pacific Islanders Heritage Month

The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will launch its 37th anniversary season at CitiGroup Theatre in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center on Sunday, May 18th at 3PM. The production celebrates the 2025 Asian American Pacific Islanders Heritage Month, which will showcase Chen's distinctive cross-cultural style and the diverse influences that informed her work, as well as, new works created for the Company.

Performances will take place Sunday May 18th, 3:00PM to 4:30PM at the CitiGroup Theatre of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Tickets are $40 at the door, $30 if purchased before April 15, 2025. Advance reservations can be made on the Company's website, nainichen.org/events.

The celebration will open with one of Chen's most powerful dances, Unfolding, which explores the flow of energy and the dynamics in Korean Chan-Go music. It was developed in collaboration with Hanulsori.. In addition to Unfolding, the performance will feature Tiger and Water Lilies, a dance Nai-Ni Chen created for contemporary ballet company, BalletMet in Cleveland, OH. New work in this program will be the most recent work Ninja Under the Umbrella by the Company's director Ying Shi.

One of Nai-Ni Chen's most important collaborators is the renowned Ahn Trio. In this celebration, the Ahn Trio will join the company to perform one of their most celebrated collaborations: YuRung by composer Pat Matheny and the Trio will also play a number of new works that they have recently recorded.

The program will also featured an excerpt from the piece Shadow Force, a beautiful and haunting dance work created during the pandemic to highlight the importance of human relationship and our longing for connection and love for each other.