Artist Zijia Kong Will Work With Coronado High School

Ms. Kong is an internationally renowned dancer who has made significant contributions as an artist to concerts, performances and conferences in some of the world's most established and storied venues, including as a principal soloist at the "Spring in Phoenix" Chinese New Year Gala in front of 1,500 spectators (Arizona Representative John Kavanagh and Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke) at Phoenix, Arizona's Chandler Center for the Arts, where world famous artists have performed Grammy Award-winning La Marisoul and Kirov Ballet companies. Other leading venues where Ms. Kong has taken center stage include the Margaret Gisolo Theatre, Phoenix Art Museum, The Trunk Space, Edge Hill University and Tempe Center for the Arts. Consistently ranked as a top performer in her field, Ms. Kong has won numerous, highly competitive awards, including The Hope & Robert Heimann Award, one of Arizona State University's premier honors recognizing a student in Dance department who has demonstrated commitment to academic excellence, and The Honorable Choreography Prize and First Prize of Shenyang Conservatory of Music Competition 'Lu Yi Cup' in Shenyang, China in 2016, where winners are chosen based on five days of live performances by outside judges.

Ms. Kong will be holding her new work at Coronado high school Spring Dance Concert showcase, the showcase will be on May 16th at the Coronado high school Auditorium. The dance that choreographed by Ms. Kong has four dance pieces, each drawing to different degrees on her strong background in Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, Chinese Classical dance and Jazz. I was lucky enough to visit her rehearsal.

The first work, "Layer," using contemporary music, is a fluid, energetic mix of ballet and modern dance, this dance has significant amount of creative floorwork. This piece shows amazing strength and flexibility of the dancers.

In the second dance piece "Leaving the table," dancers drape over chairs and tables; they wrap shiny pieces of mylar around their waists and wear them with such grandeur that they could be ball gowns. They slowly pull on the fleshy part of their cheeks and press the back of hand on forehead. With a ferocious calm, dancers slash their arms back and forth in a solo that shows how emotions, in this quiet, intense landscape, simmer below the surface. It's like watching a private world unfold in front of you.

The third second dance piece, "Ruten," was definitely one of the highlights in the show. The work is a typical Chinese Classical style dance and the music is created by one of Chinese most famous women band "Twelve Girls Band". "Ruten" is an inspiring piece that illustrates Ms. Kong's talent in translating seemingly static forms into ones with energy and purpose. Dancers moving slowly, crisply, and deliberately to emphasize and convey strength and power. Ms. Kong used ribbon, projector, and bows as props to emphasize the athletic forms and shapes.

In the last dance piece, called "The Night We Meet," is primarily a Contemporary piece with a few modern forms, it shows the falling apart of a strong, structured entity and the emotions that arise from crisis. The six dancers showed amazing grace, strength, and flexibility, they brought Ms. Kong's inventive choreography to life.

The dance world has many local treasures, and one gem is the choreographer Zijia Kong. Her works really can transfer the ideas to audiences with very simple and natural movements such as raising the arm and kicking. It was a thoroughly enjoyable for me to see her thoughtful, inspired works.

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