Nai-Ni Chen Virtual Dance Institute Offers Free One-Hour Company Class On Zoom

The Bridge, Nai-Ni Chen's Virtual Dance Institute of boundary-breaking dance experiences and Free One-Hour Company Class is open to all dancers at an Intermediate to Advanced Level with Guest Master Artists and Company Dancers August 17-21 at 12pm EDT on Zoom. Interested dancers can join the class by registering on Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's website: http://nainichen.org/company-class.

The Bridge Classes are as follows:

Week of 8/17/2020

Monday Greta Campo (Kinetic Spiral)
Tuesday Andrij Cybyk (Ukrainian Dance)
Wednesday Nai-Ni Chen (Kinetic Spiral)
Thursday Mary Verdi-Fletcher & Sara Lawrence-Sucato (Physically Integrated Dance)
Friday Yuka Notsuka (Kinetic Spiral)

For the week of August 17, The Bridge at Nai-Ni Chen is honored to host two guest artists: Andrij Cybyk, a New Jersey-based Master artist of folk ballet of Ukraine, will teach a Character Ballet and Ukrainian folk dance class; and Mary Verdi-Fletcher and Sara Lawrence Sucato, both master teachers and pioneers in the physically integrated dance field where people of different abilities work together to develop amazing dance. Mary Verdi-Fletcher is the founding artistic director of Dancing Wheels, the United States' first company with dancers who are on wheelchair. Mary and Sara will offer an exploration of physically integrated dance with methodologies used in their published manual. The session will introduce translation and adaptive movement approaches used between sit-down and stand-up dancers in class, choreography, and partnering.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is keeping its dancers in shape by conducting regular Company Classes and rehearsals online from Nai-Ni and Company dancer's living rooms using Zoom while inviting intermediate/advanced level dancers around the world to join the class at no cost. These classes have received overwhelmingly positive reception with more than 300 registrants. The Company took 3 weeks off in July. On July 20th, Nai-Ni Chen is re-launching the classes and renamed the program: The Bridge. The new title signifies the Company's focus on supporting artists of color whose practices are embedded in the community and are focused on advancing the art of dance. The mission is, through cyberspace, to provide the physical experience in the boundary-breaking dances from the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Color) Community..

As a virtual dance institute, The Bridge will invite world renowned as well as up and coming dancers and choreographer to come to guest teach the Company class. Advanced/Intermediate level professional or pre-professional dancers who are looking to explore beyond their own boundaries and looking for new dance experiences are encouraged to participate. The core program is based on Nai-Ni Chen's Kinetic Spiral, which is a cross-cultural dance program that integrates the Chinese martial arts philosophy in TaiChi with contemporary dance practices she studied in America. Guest artists will cover a wide range of folk and classical dance styles. Dancers are encouraged to take the class daily.

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