[ Music plays ] Andy Chiang: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is a very, very special dance company in the sense that we both have traditional dance repertory and the contemporary dance repertory, and the two somehow helps each other.

Hwang: The thing that's remarkable in Nai-Ni is her vocabulary.

Chen: If you can make a bigger gesture, like really reach to her, then you... Hwang: She has genuine roots with martial arts and Chinese opera, and she has that within her modern movement.

She has that in her body that she gives to the dancers.

Narrator: The art of Chinese calligraphy was also an important inspiration.

Andy Chiang: Calligraphy -- probably the most advanced form of Chinese art.

It's really a two-dimensional choreography, if you will, in a way.

Campo: Her movement, it's very fluid, but also very percussive because it incorporates a lot of, like, martial arts movement.

So for me, coming from a ballet background and very modern, I really learned how to loose up my body.

Anyang: Bringing the East and the West together, and you develop something unique and something wonderful and something that was never done before.

Sylvia Chiang: I could just see, like, the passion that she has.

I would come home from school and she'll be choreographing while cooking dinner.

She'll be dancing in the kitchen.

And it would be pretty awesome to just see it go from the kitchen to onstage.

Chen: You see, my purpose is really to have the company to create a very unique style, you know, which combine the West and the East, you know, the aesthetics, you know, the essence of the both.

And I never really intend to bring the old way into the modern world, but I think it's me, you know.

It's the background.

It's the root.

Root is so important for artists.

You have to go back to find your root and then have it to be shown in your work and very natural, in a very natural way.

Actually, in Chinese dance, any classical form, like ballet -- posing and control.

You have to move in the appropriate way.

But when I first exposed to modern dance, the one thing fascinate me so much and then make me decide to go on this road, this path in the future, is the freedom.

The freedom.

You can feel free to do anything you want with your body.

Narrator: Nai-Ni Chen was a dancer who mastered many different traditions.

From these roots, she became one of the world's most celebrated Asian American choreographers.

The company she founded in 1988 has toured North America, Europe, and Asia.

Based in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is an essential part of the New York/New Jersey culture scene.

Tragically, Nai-Ni died in a swimming accident in Hawaii in December 2021.

She was 62 years old and in the midst of one of her most creative periods.

We look back at Nai-Ni Chen's life, career, and her remarkable body of work.

"Unity: Choreographer Nai-Ni Chen Remembered" -- a special edition of "State of the Arts."

Announcer: The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, encouraging excellence and engagement in the arts since 1966, is proud to co-produce "State of the Arts" with Stockton University.

Additional support is provided by these friends of "State of the Arts."

Narrator: Andy Chiang was Nai-Ni's soul mate and life partner, and the executive director of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company.

Andy Chiang: Last December, my sister bought a place in Hawaii and she was inviting everybody to come.

And so we went.

We enjoyed every moment of it.

We were there for a week, and in the last day, me and my sister decided to go -- go to another side of the beach, and we asked her if she wants to come.

She was doing a ballet barre exercise at the time.

She says, "Oh, you know, you guys go first."

And on the way back, we learned that there were ambulances there and that they had picked up someone in from the ocean.

And when I went into the hospital, they said, "Oh, we can't talk to you.

The doctor will."

And I didn't feel good at that time.

And when I saw the doctor, he gave me the bad news.

And I...

I just felt my world was all of a sudden disappeared.

Her soul didn't come back.

Her body came back.

[ Music plays ] Ronald Chen: In some ways, she was so, so Chinese, so Asian.

Personally modest, but so professional.

I noticed when I would see her with her dancers, she was a master teacher.

I think her dancers truly viewed her as a mentor.

And dancers would come into the company and would...

There was -- there's a natural cycle.

But she would take great pride in seeing them succeed.

Narrator: Paul Liu studied with Nai-Ni as a teenager and is now a member of the famed Pilobolus Dance Company.

Liu: I remember I was in rehearsal when I found out that she passed away, and my artistic directors have met her before.

And just through the New York dance scene, they know who she is.

So I went over and I told them, and I just said, "I'm just gonna need a minute."

And then I went into the bathroom and cried my eyes out harder than I had cried in a very long time.

And while I was sitting there on the floor of the bathroom crying, I had a thought that I wouldn't be in this company, I wouldn't have gone to the school that I went to and met the teacher who trained me to get me into Pilobolus, and I wouldn't have continued with dance.

I might have gone into a whole different career.

Just, like, all these things started flooding in.

I was like, I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for how much faith she put in me as a student.

And then I thought, I was like, if she was still here, she would tell me that I'm at work right now and I have to go rehearse because that's what I'm here to do.

And so I got up and did that, which was hard.

But I think in my heart and my soul, honestly, I think that's what she would have said to me.

[ Music plays ] Chen: I always loved to move.

You know, when I hear music, I would just improvise.

I would dance to it.

So I remember when I was four years old, my mother asked me, "Would you like to take dance lesson?"

And to her, you know, I didn't think she wanted me to become a professional dancer.

Or, a professional dancer, it was not an option at that time in Taiwan.

There's no one in such a career as a professional dancer except for, you know, in the nightclub, that kind of dancer.

So, she just wanted me to grow up to have good posture.

Yeah, that's the reason she sent me to dance school.

And I began when I was four, and I fell in love with it right away.

And that's the first thing I learned in my life.

You know, I just took it very seriously.

Very disciplined, very seriously.

[ Music plays ] And "Raindrop" is one of my signature pieces.

It's based on my childhood memory because I came from Taiwan and I was born in the city.

It's a harbor, and it rains a lot in the winter, so it is also called the "rain harbor."

So, this dance is kind of mixed in with a little bit sentimental feel and, you know, how you get to be homesick sometimes.

You know, miss your childhood.

It shows a sisterhood.

You know, how I enjoy growing up with my best friends, you know, playing outside in the rain.

Yeah.

[ Music plays ] [ Music continues ] I entered a very special program, a dance program -- 13 years old or something, when I entered this special program to train dancers.

And during that time, not only I was a full-time student, I also joined the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre when I was 16.

Narrator: The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan was Asia's first internationally recognized modern dance company.

Chen: So, every day I would take a full day of class in school, including a lot of dance class and the music class.

In the evening, I'd go to rehearsal.

On all the weekends, I would go to rehearsal.

So my seven days is filled with dancing for a couple of years.

Andy Chiang: I first met Nai-Ni when she was, I believe, 18 years old, and she was the youngest member of the Taiwanese government's Youth Goodwill Mission.

And I was the activity chair of the Chinese Student Club at MIT.

So, I met her on the bus, and when I heard her voice, I froze.

And when I saw her, I had the feeling that this person will be my partner for life.

Chen: ...here is not there.

Maybe not so much in... Andy Chiang: So, when she came here, it was an opening up of all the possibilities, and the energy that she felt was unbounded.

She spent a month here in New York.

She was performing at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway with a group of artists that represent Taiwan.

And she was able to take classes in different schools like the Alvin Ailey School and the Martha Graham School.

And so she felt completely free and she was able to feel the energy of a city that is truly growing.

Chen: After I've got my master's degree from NYU, what do I do next?

All of the sudden I felt free, but then also lost.

You know, didn't know what to do next.

And I auditioned for other choreographers.

I danced in this and that production.

And is that really me?

You know, am I -- was I able to speak my own voice fully?

The answer is no.

So then I found maybe I should start a company of my own.

It can be faster.

Yeah, I know you're working on the technique right now, but now you can just go, like, faster.

Yeah.

And the arms side to side.

When you do the step, a little bigger arm movement from...

The arm come from the torso.

So, the side to side.

So, one, two.

See?

A little bit of ball change.

Turn your pelvis a little bit.

Yes, yes, yes.

I enjoy the process.

You know, that's number one.

I enjoy being in the studio, working with my dancers to create from nothing to something.

[ Music plays ] About when you are doing the plié, when you are, you know, sinking down, melting down and transfer that idea to the other arm, too.

Otherwise, it's -- you know what I mean?

-- it's tension here, tension here.

So, as you breathe out, let the whole body kind of melt.

And the other arm kind of -- the wrist and the elbow relax a little bit.

Creativity is, the fun is in the process of making something happening.

[ Music plays ] Narrator: "Truth Bound" is Nai-Ni Chen's 2018 response to information overload and the fake news flooding today's media.

It takes an hour or more for dancers to assemble their costumes before each performance.

[ Music plays ] Chen: Anyplace in New York, we see, like, free newspaper here and there, you know?

And that made me think about, "Wow, you know, we are really overloaded with information, with free press, with social media, with advertisement."

You know, how many junk mail do we receive a day, you know?

And then I thought about, "Okay, why don't we use the free newspaper to do something about it?"

And then we start to put the newspaper on our body, and right away I had this connection and I thought about from history to now, we are searching for truth and that is like a quest you'll never stop.

It's going to go on to the future.

And how much is true, what we are reading about?

[ Music plays ] [ Music continues ] Narrator: Over the years, Nai-Ni collaborated with a remarkable variety of musicians.

The Oscar-winning composer of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Tan Dun, wrote several works for her.

Nai-Ni created dances with the Ahn Trio and toured with them for years.

Ahn: I think we share so many similar artistic vision.

You know, we both have classical training, yet we don't want to be bound by tradition.

[ Music plays ] Narrator: And she worked with many Asian folk artists, including this Mongolian horse-head fiddle player.

Chen: I really love folk music and folk dance in the way that it has so much to say about people's lifestyle and their customs, how they live.

[ Music plays ] Usually in Mongolia during their festival, they will always have this instrument.

It has a beautiful horse head as decoration on top.

If we heard about Mongolia, how they almost conquered the whole entire world because their horse, yeah?

They have such great horses.

[ Music plays ] Narrator: Nai-Ni also collaborated with Joan La Barbara, a legendary singer and composer in contemporary music circles.

Together, they created a 2003 work called "Incense."

It was inspired in part by Carlos Dorrien's sculpture "Nine Muses" at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey.

[ Music plays ] The work reminded Nai-Ni of the clouds of white incense she saw in the ancient Taiwanese temples she visited as a child.

[ Music plays ] [ Music stops ] [ Music continues ] Chen: I remember when I was in Taiwan, we really respect our teachers, you know, and the elderlies, you know, and you're told what to do and you pretty much obey what your teacher told you what you need to do.

I feel a sense of freedom you know, after I come here.

There is no fear of I need to please my teacher or I need to please certain people.

You know, you're kind of like...

I think that freedom is what I see and sensed.

And also in New York City, I see people, like, walk so fast, you know, and with such energy.

That's the driving force.

You know, everybody's going somewhere.

It seems like they have a -- they have a confidence and they believe in themselves and they have a mission, you know, which is really, really inspiring.

[ Indistinct conversations ] Narrator: Nai-Ni's last work, called "Unity," premiered at the New York Live Arts Festival in March 2022, just three months after she died.

Before the performance, the dancers gathered quietly backstage to remember their mentor.

[ Music plays ] [ Speaking indistinctly ] Narrator: Peiju Chien-Pott, the company's new director of contemporary dance, helped put the finishing touches on "Unity."

Chien-Pott: Each dancer is individual.

They have their own journey to battle in their own life.

[ Music plays ] Chopsticks, particularly that Nai-Ni used it in this work that I feel very -- is amazing, is a great idea because she took the idea from, you know, a Taiwanese story, traditional story about if you hold one chopstick, it's easy to break.

If you hold a bunch of chopsticks -- stronger, reinforced, it's bendable.

It just make it harder to break.

And that is unity.

[ Music plays ] Narrator: Jason Kao Hwang composed the music for "Unity."

Nai-Ni sent him a video of her completed choreography just three days before leaving for Hawaii on the family vacation that would be her last.

Hwang: I met Nai-Ni Chen in the early 1990s.

We were both in "M. Butterfly" for Broadway, and then I'm not quite sure our paths crossed, but eventually I created music for a solo piece that she did called "Journey for a Lonely Soul."

[ Music plays ] As a composer, when I worked on "Unity," the thing that could drive me was her intentions throughout the piece were very clear, and there's a certain spiritual quality to her movements, her relationship to nature.

[ Music plays ] The other thing that's remarkable in Nai-Nai is her vocabulary.

She has genuine roots with martial arts and Chinese opera, and she has that within her modern movement.

She has that in her body that she gives to the dancers.

And so seeing when I delve into the phrases of that dance, I started using that vocabulary as well from Chinese opera, as well as, you know, from the taiko drums that are -- that you hear.

[ Music plays ] [ Music continues ] Unity is a big idea, but it's a simple idea.

The word itself is so full -- unity.

And so I feel that in that piece, she's harnessing all the -- all the powers of our human drama, all the different strands, and how we can come together.

So, she does that with the metaphor of the sticks and other movements.

But I think the core idea, the spirit of that dance is, is simply stated in the name and all that it implies -- "Unity."

[ Music plays ] [ Music ends ] [ Cheers and applause ] Andy Chiang: Her choreography has gotten to a point that she was able to say what she wants to say and people understand it.

Narrator: Andy and the dancers are committed to continuing their founder's work.

Three new leaders will now take over the various roles Nai-Ni Chen previously filled.

Andy Chiang: The artistic director role is being taken by Greta Campo, who has worked with Nai-Ni for the last 10 years, but with two other directors, who one is in the new dance area and another is in the traditional dance area.

Both are respected masters in their field.

[ Music plays ] Chen: Everyone has a mission and a sense of responsibility.

You know, as artists, what can we do?

You know, what can we do as artists?

I think each one play a role in the society.

And as a choreographer, as dancers, this is how we speak our voice and how we can help.

It is part of communication, and it is love and passion that we like through dance to communicate to others.

So, I wish everybody healthy and safe.

[ Applause ] [ Music plays ] [ Music plays ] Announcer: The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, encouraging excellence and engagement in the arts since 1966, is proud to co-produce "State of the Arts" with Stockton University.

Additional support is provided by these friends of "State of the Arts."