What's going on? Tell me about your recent project? (Where, When, How Much, Why?)
My most recent project is "Solo Flight", an evening of mostly solo dances exploring identity, spirituality, and our life connection to the earth and humanity. The concert will be performed Saturday, October 17th, at 8pm at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes. Tickets are $10. I will be joined by Unbound Spirit Dance Company, the resident company of Asian American Dance Performances (AADP). I am the adminstrative director of AADP and a resident choreographer with Unbound Spirit. Unbound Spirit is based in San Francisco and I currently live in San Anselmo. One of the reasons I am doing the concert here is to be more involved with the Marin community. I moved to San Anselmo three years ago and and have wanted to become a more active member in the Marin community. Doing this concert here gives me that opportunity. I believe it is very important for artists to be involved in the community they live in.
I am also doing the concert for artistic reasons as well. As a choreographer I tend to work best by developing solos for myself first, and then expanding the movement vocabulary into group pieces. Consequently, I have several solos which have been created and performed during the past five years. My colleagues and friends have suggested I perform them in one concert, and now seems like the appropriate time for me to be doing something like this. I came to dance and chose it as a career later in my life, and now that I am getting older (I am 36) feel the need to be dancing as physically and as fully as possible since I realize my years as a technical dancer are dwindling.
I see creating and performing solos as a journey one goes through. You begin at one point and arrive at another point. Sometimes the journey is circular and sometimes linear, but it is a journey nonetheless. I titled the evening "Solo Flight," because a flight is a journey. For me, the particular journey of doing this concert is freeing and uplifting, hence the word "flight." I feel as if I really need to do this concert, and then after that I will go on with another phase of my journey as a choreographer and dancer.
The solos I have chosen are representative of my ethnic cultural heritage and also aspects of human history and culture that intrique and inspire me. Three of the solos will be performed back to back, and are excerpted from a full length work, "Slaying the Dragon," which premiered at Theater Artaud in San Francisco. These three solos are inspired by the lives and stories of Chinese women in America from 1870 until the present. One of the solos, "Little Shining Star," is about my mother's journey to America -- the sound score was created using a live interview I had with my mother.
Two of the other solos and the group piece in the concert are inspired by the Standing Stones of Great Britain and the work of Norwegian sculptor Gustave Vigeland. These two solos and the group section will eventually develop into a full length work entitled, "Standing Stone." I had the opportunity last year to spend three weeks in Scotland visiting the standing stones, burial chambers and dwellings of our neolithic ancestors. I traveled to the Skara Brae (stone age dwelling), Maes Howe (burial chamber), and the Ring of Brodgar (standing stone circle) on the Orkney Islands, and I experienced amazing feelings and emotions that connected me with our stone age ancestors, the earth, and humanity. The work of Gustave Vigeland also has this effect on me.
Lastly, in the closing solo of the evening, titled "Solo Flight," I will be joined by local Marin musician John Caulfied. He will accompany my dance on the fiddle, playing a beautiful Irish tune, "Lark in the Clear Air." Most recently, I have been working more with the rhythmic and dynamic qualities of dance movements as they relate to the music. I am really looking forward to working with John.
Sounds incredible. When you first begin rehearsals, how do you present the project to your dancers? How do you prepare them to meet the material?
I like my dancers to know a lot about what I am doing. My wish is for them to feel my own inspiration about why I am creating the dance. Most of the dances I create involve some research on my part, so if I have read books or collected photos about my inspiration, I share these with the dancers. I have even taken dancers on field trips to sites that have inspired me or are meaningful to the work. The first rehearsal begins with me talking about the work and inspiration, and then I introduce movement material. In the concert coming up, I have worked with all these dancers before, so they already have a sense of my style and movement quality.
How do you tackle a movement that you want to use but don't quite
have down?
To be quite honest, I tend to choose movement that feels good and works for my body. However, there are certain movements, in particular turning movements with a développe and tilted torso that I like to use a lot. These movements are very difficult to nail all the time. I tend to practice over and over and anaylze what I need to do physically to make the movements work. Most of the time, I find I need to be more grounded and not approach the movement with too much force. If I continue to have difficulty with a movement I will ask another dancer (usually someone who is a dance teacher) to watch me and help me figure out a better way to do the movement.
When did you start dancing and why?
I started taking ballet 2-3 times a week from 8 years until 14 years. When I was a child I danced becaused my mother initially enrolled me in ballet, and I became interested in it and enjoyed it. Now, I dance because I have to -- I truly believe it is what I have to do. I know this sounds corny, but it was a long road getting to this point, which is why I started dancing professionally later in life. I went into college pre-med, and left with a teaching credential. After teaching for a couple of years, I went into a very severe depression, and it was dance that brought me back out of it. I started taking dance classes at City College of San Francisco in my mid 20's (I had taken class off and on until that point), went on to work with a company, and then graduate school in dance. I had always wanted to be a dancer since those ballet classes, but it took a career change and a severe depression for me to commit to a career as a dancer. I grew up in an environment where there was not a lot of encouragement to pursue a career in the arts. I also did not know if I had the guts to pursue a dancer's life -- a bunch of part time jobs arranged around rehearsals and classes, etc. However, once I made the commitment I have never looked back -- and I now know that being a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher is really who I am.
I know you also have a job working at a non-profit organization...or you used to. Can you tell me about this work, and how it has enriched you and your dance career, and how it has hindered it.
I am the Administrative Director of Asian American Dance Performances (AADP), which means I do everything: develop programs, write grants, bookeeping and budgeting, and producing, presenting and marketing performances. AADP has four programs that it runs, and it is a community-based arts organization. This means that I have a larger community that I serve and work for -- the dance community and the Asian American community. We are also the oldest Asian American dance organization on the West Coast (25 year anniversary!) which means that I sit on quite a few committees which benefit the arts in general. I also choreograph and dance for Unbound Spirit, the resident modern dance company. We are a small organization which means that I and the other director, Claudine Naganuma, do everything. It has enriched my career because I am able to present my choreography with the organization's support. However, juggling all these things has hindered me artistically. Instead of having the time to spend in the studio or take a dance class, I am often trying to complete a grant deadline or attend a San Francisco Art Commission meeting.
Any secrets on keeping your body safe and happy during grueling rehearsal/life schedules?
Plenty of rest, eat healthfully, stretch before and after rehearsal, and find quiet time. I am terrible about doing most of these things, but I am trying to get better at it.
Besides dancing/choreographing, how do you enjoy spending your time?
I love reading, hiking, gardening, and cooking. Interestingly enough when I am doing these things I come up with some of my best ideas and choreography.
What plans do you have for your dance and choreography over the next five years?
I want to premier "Standing Stone" at a theater in San Francisco in 2000, and an outdoor site in Marin in 2000 or 2001. After that, my next choreographic project may be inspired by the Rape of Nanking. I have been doing a little bit of reading on it, and would like to delve into it further. In terms of the dance projects -- I recently started a children's dance program with three other partners. The business is Luna Kids Dance, and this business has sprung from a sucessful children's dance program in which I taught in Oakland. I look forward to this business growing in Marin so that I can be an active member of the community here.
Since we're heading into the next millennium, how do you think dance will evolve in the next 25 years or so? (Oh come on, just humour me!)
I believe in Martha Graham's statement that goes something like this: "There is no original movement." To me this means that humanity has been dancing for a really long time, and any movement you do has been probably been done by someone somewhere once before. In terms of dance in general, I think that social dance (in particular the swing) is becoming much more popular, and I think people in general will be dancing more for recreational purposes. In terms of modern dance, I think dancers are techinically stronger than they have ever been, and with the current cross-over between ballet and modern dance I think we will see more modern choreography in ballet repertory. I like to think that attending a modern dance concert will be more popular. In terms of evolution of the art form itself, I think there will be more traditional dance forms becoming contemporized and mixing with new dance styles.
What was your favorite performance moment, and why?
My favorite performance moments have been performing the "Standing Stone" solo I created. There is something about the movement and sharing it with the audience that brings me back to the Orkney Islands and feeling and touching the 5,000 year old stones. It is a very transcendent experience.
If you could only say one thing, what would you tell a young aspiring dancer?
Pursue you dream. I wish I had started earlier.
Solo Flight Graphic by
Alan Brown (contact: 415-753-6933; email: BrazMunkee@aol.com)
B&W Photographs by
Marty Sohl (contact: 415-665-7645);
Pictured in order:
Standing Stone, performed by Nancy Ng, Unbound Spirit Dance Co., 1998.
Solo Flight, performed by Nancy Ng, Unbound Spirit Dance Co., 1998.
Waiting on Golden Mountain, performed by Nancy Ng, Unbound Spirit Dance Co., 1998.
Asian American Dance Performances presents Unbound Spirit World Premier of Slaying the Dragon, 1977; Dancers left to right: Nancy Ng, Claudine Naganuma, Ruth Chen.
© 1998. All Rights Reserved.
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Interview and Page Design by Hilary Kretchmer
