dance

Bruce Beresford's Mao's Last Dancer to Screen
at 33rd Asian American International Film Festival

NEW YORK (June 28, 2010) -- Oscar-nominated Australian director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, 1989) will showcase his most recent feature Mao's Last Dancer at the 33rd Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF10) in New York City. The AAIFF10 is the longest running festival dedicated to showcasing the latest works created by filmmakers of Asian descent in addition to films that explore new constructs of Asian and Asian-American cinema.

Mavericks of Asian Pacific Islander Descent and Award Winning Actress/Director Elizabeth Sung and Producer Ken Choy Present Access Acting

A 6 week intensive Film acting course facilitating Access to artistic and business essentials Class limited to 10 max.

Thursday, January 28 2010
8pm @ Orpheum Theatre
Tickets at Ticketmaster.ca 604-280-4444
$42-$54

“Powerful, dynamic and unique” -Time Out
“Extraordinarily talented…incomparable muscular zeal” -Chicago Tribune
“This is a show of rare excellence … Run, don’t walk to the box office.” - Edinburgh Evening News
“(It’s) an evening of rhythm, beats, sweaty bodies, melody, dynamic shape, and extraordinary precision.
Tao is inspiring, uplifting and theatrical.” -The New Zealand Performing Arts Review

Ken Choy and Mavericks of Asian Pacific Islander Descent announce an open call for submissions for OSOJI.
OSOJI is an innovative theater experience which will have a world premiere at Breaking the Bow 2 scheduled to be held at Highways Performance Space October 2010. Artistic groups will develop and work on individual pieces which will then be weaved together to create a larger theatrical extravaganza exploring spiritual, political, cultural, and physical cleansing. Based on the year-end Japanese ritual of housecleaning prior to the start of the new year, OSOJI will implement a multitude of artistic forms and genres.

Asian Pacific Islander groups, organizations, companies, troupes, collectives, and any and all ad hoc formations working in theater, dance, improvisation, comedy, music, API cultural expressions, and performance are encouraged to submit general proposals. Large and small; established and new are desired to collaborate on the work.

BOOK BIOGRAPHY (not Movie)

Li was born into utter poverty in Mao’s communist China, at the age of 11 he was selected to train in Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy. And so began Li's journey. The 7 years of harsh training regime at the Beijing Dance Academy taught him discipline, resilience, determination and perseverance. Li’s astounding drive and relentless hard work made him one of the best dancers China has produced.

When he was 18, Li was awarded one of the first cultural scholarships to go to America, and subsequently been offered a soloist contract with the Houston Ballet. Two years later, Li defected to the West in a dramatic media storm, which involved the then Vice President, Mr George Bush Snr. He then went on to become one of the best dancers in the world, won two silver and a bronze medal at three International Ballet Competitions. In 1995, Li and his family moved to Australia where Li danced his last three and half years as a principal dancer with the Australian Ballet.

That Minority Thing - Some 93 percent of studio directors were male this year — Nora Ephron with her “Julie & Julia” and a handful of other women notwithstanding. Damien Dante Wayans, with “Dance Flick,” joined Olatunde Osunsanmi of “The Fourth Kind” as black directors with studio releases, while a few directors were Asian or part Asian.

Uniformity would seem to shut out potential viewers and revenue. But there is really no way to be sure whether sales would go up or down if the studio directing pool were more diverse.

In some ways, studio directors are looking even more uniform than in the past. In 1999, a report on diversity from the Directors Guild of America, whose statistics include nonstudio films, found African-American directors to have worked 5.4 percent of total days covered by the guild’s film contract, while women logged 7.4 percent , Asian-Americans 1.5 percent and Latinos 1.1 percent.

San Francisco  - SF Ballet Company’s Yuan Yuan Tan, the company’s first Asian American principal soloist will tour with the company, when they make their debut in China this October.

San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America, has been invited on a three-city tour to Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou, China this fall as part of the official celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the USA and the People’s Republic of China.

BEIJING - Chinese Valentine's Day, or Qixi, falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. This year, it is today. According to Chinese legend, a beloved couple, a cowherd and a weaver, are allowed to meet only once a year in heaven on this day.

In accordance with the legend, couples throughout the country are set to celebrate in both modern and traditional ways.

In eastern China's Hangzhou city, the second Xiaoshan Qixi festival will mark the occasion with an evening of dance, crafts and local cuisine.

Many households in the area will place fruit outside their windows this evening to pay homage to the star Vega (the weaving maid) and a competition that involves young girls threading a needle will be held under moonlight. These activities originate from the Han Dynasty (206BC–220AD) and are widely spread in Xiaoshan.

(U.S. ASIAN WIRE SAN FRANCISCO) The Filipino American Arts Exposition (FAAE) presents the largest celebration of Filipino Americans in northern California as the 16th Annual Pistahan Parade and Festival and 2nd Annual Filipino American Jazz Festival takes place this Saturday and Sunday August 8-9 at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

FAAE selected Marily Mondejar as Hermana Mayor to lead the 2009 Pistahan celebration and this year the festival is dedicated to the memory of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.

The Pistahan opening ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday August 8 on Beale Street followed by the parade at 11 a.m. featuring beautifully themed floats and nearly 100 contingents.

Over 50,000 attendees are expected and will experience and discover the best of Filipino culture and entertainment as this two-day event showcases exhibits, workshops and demonstrations in art, dance, music and food in various pavilions throughout Yerba Buena Gardens.

JCPenney presents ISA LA 2009 is set for Sept 6! Get your Tickets NOW! Click HERE!