Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company announces Year of the Golden Ox in Celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year at Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company

Nai-Ni Chen Dance CompanyannouncesYear of the Golden Ox,a family-friendly production on the arrival of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 11, 12, and 13, 2021.Year of the Golden Oxis an all-day virtual celebration suitable for children ages 6-15.A one-hour special celebration that highlights the Company's repertory and guest artist's past notable performances will be featured Thursday, February 11 at 7:30pm. Three one-hour sessions will be offered each day at 11:30am, 3:30pm, and 7:30pm. For more information and to register, visithttps://www.nainichen.org/yearofox. The 2021 Year of the Golden Ox marks the end of the Year of the Rat and the start of a new lunar year. The Chinese Diaspora around the world celebrate the occasion with abundant food, dance, music and festivity lasting a month long. The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will celebrate this new beginningwith a virtual event steeped in symbolism inherent in the Chinese American immigrant culture, expressing the Company's role in the arts and the culture of the community.New York metropolitan area audiences have made the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company event an annual tradition in the past 20 years when the Company's productions were presented on the mainstage of NJPAC, Queens College, Brooklyn College and Staten Island. This year, the Company will be presenting the program in partnership with major presenters in NY and NJ. This special online virtual presentation will include the works of the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, the Renaissance Chinese Opera Society, Kuaiban Artist XingYe Ma, Kuan Opera actor Yaozhong Zhang, Yonghong Jia and others.The company will perform some of the most treasured traditional dances performed at the Chinese New Year-the Lion Dance and the Dragon Dance. Originated during the Tang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago, these dances celebrate the coming of the spring and the harmony between nature and humankind. Showcasing the diversity of the traditional and contemporary Chinese performing arts, the company will perform a colorful folk dance from the Xingjian Province, an area near Central Asia on the Silk Road. Instrumental music features Erhu, Ruan, Pipa, Chinese Opera and Kuaiban (a form of rap originated over 200 years ago in Beijing).The audience will also be able to engage the artists live to discuss the music and dance they saw on stage.The program aims to highlight the beauty, creativity and diversity in Chinese American community by showcasing some of the most respected artists who are advancing and preserving the classical and folk traditions in America. It will be an eye-opening, informative and entertaining experience for audiences of any age.The program is free, with recommended donation beginning at $10.C Contribution of $50 will receive a Nai Ni Chen Dance Company T-Shirt in the mail. More Info about the performance and the Company can be found online atwww.nainichen.org According to the Chinese calendar, family and friends should expect 12 months of joyful abundance in the Year of the Golden Ox. This lively performance to mark the beginning of the year will warm the hearts and delight the senses of audiences of all ages.Nai-Ni Chen Dance CompanyA blossom of color, energy and motion,"like endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy," saidTheNew York Times.About the Nai-Ni Chen Dance CompanyBringing the dynamic freedom of American modern dance together with the elegant splendor of Asian art, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is one of the most visible Asian American dance companies in the United States. Ms. Chen's unique choreography transports audiences beyond cultural boundaries to the common ground between tradition and innovation, discipline and freedom, and form and spirit. Since its inception in 1988, the company has earned a broad base of public support and has toured extensively to major performing arts centers throughout more than thirty states. Presented by some of the most prestigious concert halls in the United States, from the Joyce Theater in New York to the Ordway Center in Minnesota and the Cerritos Center in California, the Company has mounted more than twenty national tours and nine tours abroad. Ms. Chen's work has been presented by such acclaimed international festivals as the Silesian International Contemporary Dance Festival and the Konfrontations International Dance Festival, both in Poland, the Chang Mu International Arts Festival in Korea and the Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival. The Company was also honored by a distinctive grant award from both the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities and the Department of State to represent the United States in a seven-city tour arranged by the Tamaulipas International Arts Festival in Mexico. Also, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has the unique honor of having received more than fifteen awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous Citations of Excellence and grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. In addition to its extensive season of touring and performing, the company has developed Arts in Education residency programs in school districts to bring culture and arts into educational settings. It's colorful and engaging in-school assembly program"The Art of Chinese Dance" has been presented in hundreds of schools in NJ, NY, CT and PA, reaching hundreds of thousands of youth. The Company is currently in-residence at New Jersey City University and assisting NJCU in the development of a new BFA in Dance. For additional Company information, visitwww.nainichen.org; write to Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, P.O. Box 1121, Fort Lee, NJ 07024; or call (800) 650-0246.About NJPACNew Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, N.J., has the most diverse programming and audience of any performing arts center in the country, and is the artistic, cultural, educational and civic center of New Jersey - where great performances and events enhance and transform lives every day. NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the state's and the world's best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted more than 8 million visitors (including over 1.6 million children) since opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents.