The Asian American Dance Theatre (AADT) was a dance performance and educational non-profit organization in New York. It featured traditional Asian folk and classical dances along with contemporary pieces that evoke Asian forms and sensibilities. AADT was a pioneer in the development of

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

dance. AADT also created several programs to expose the public to different forms of Asian dance and culture, and created a community school to provide lessons on many dance forms as well as art. AADT was founded by Eleanor S. Yung in 1974. In 1987, AADT became the Asian American Arts Centre (AAAC).

History

In the early 1970s, there were very few

public dance performances in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and few dancers actively performing traditional Asian dance. There was a general misconception and exoticization of traditional

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

dance. In addition, there were few opportunities for choreographers of Asian American contemporary dance In 1974, Yung founded AADT as both a performance venue and a producer of Asian-American works. It began as an outgrowth of the Asian American Dance Workshop of the Basement Workshop. In 1974, AADT started a dance performance season in New York featuring works from Yung and guest choreographers. AADT performed at the Riverside Dance Festival, the Marymount Manhattan Theater, the Pace University Schimmel Center, the Dance Theater Workshop, Open Eye, Clark Center, and Synod House, The ADDT performances received coverage in the New York Times,

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

, Dance Magazines,

NY Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily newspaper, daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip ...

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, by critics such as

Jennifer Dunning Jennifer Dunning (born February 4, 1942) is a writer and critic for ''The New York Times'' on the subjects of dance and ballet. She is the author of the 1985 ''But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet'', the 1996 ...

, Jack Anderson, and Burt Supree. Yung's signature piece “Passage” received acclaim from dance critic

. In her piece “Silk road”, Yung collaborated with Zhang Hong-Tu. . Dancers who participated in the AADT seasons include Marie Alonzo, Annie Bien, Fa ChingChu, Lauren Dong, Tomie Hahn, Sharon Hom, Junko Kikuchi, Young Soon Kim, Julio Leitao, Yen Leung, Lynn Macri, George Mars, Pam Noschese, Nancee Sasaki, Ray Tadio, Nayo Takahashi, Michiyo Tanaka, Helen Tran,

Muna Tseng Muna Tseng is a Chinese-American dancer, choreographer, author and lecturer. She has lived in New York since 1978 and in 1984 founded Muna Tseng Dance Projects in New York City. She created over 40 dance productions and performed in over 30 cities ...

, Yung Yung Tsuai, and Dwight Wigfall.. During the 1980s, the AADT Traditional Repertoire toured

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and Massachusetts, and others, performing to large audiences, both outdoor and indoor. AADT performed at Sister Fire in Washington DC, and at the

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to as "The La ...

. It did a nine-campus tour for the

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

system. The tour dancers included Najma Ayasha, Deena Burton, Ananya Chatterjie, Arundhati Chattopadhyaya, Kuang Yu Fong, Chen Guo, Sachiyo Ito, Nancy Latuja, Young Lan Lee, Janaki Patrick, Marlene Pitkow, Carla Scheele, and Kathy Serio. In 1987, AADT became the Asian American Arts Centre (AAAC). In 1990, the dance season in New York ended and in 1997, the community school ended.

Arts in Education program

AADT started a lecture demonstration program of traditional Asian dance for the

New York Public School System The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (or the New York City Public Schools) is t ...

. These events took place at community centers and public libraries. Newsly arrived professional dancers from Asia, became members of the traditional repertoire. The performers, in full costume, spoke about the art form, the people and culture to students. The AADT also started an 8-week Workshop Program in

Indian Dance Dance in India comprises numerous styles of dances, generally classified as classical or folk. As with other aspects of Indian culture, different forms of dances originated in different parts of India, developed according to the local tradi ...

and in

Chinese Dance Dance in China is a highly varied art form, consisting of many modern and traditional dance genres. The dances cover a wide range, from folk dances to performances in opera and ballet, and may be used in public celebrations, rituals and ceremonies ...

. The program used study guides written by MeriLobel. In 1985, AADT started the Pointed Brush program, a

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

workshop, conducted by Nora Shih for public school students. It ran until the late 1980s. In 1986 AADT initiated D'Asia Vu, a showcase of Asian and Asian influenced performances in

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a perform ...

, theater, mask dances, a dancer on skates, to the

Guzheng The zheng () or gu zheng (), is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale. It has a large, resonant soundboard made from ''Paulownia'' wood. Other co ...

,. The first D’Asia vu presentation took place at the Balinese American Dance Theater in New York before moving back to AADT space. The performances included Kuang Yu Fong premiering her original creation, "A Day at the Office", Tomie Hahn first performing "Leaf", Bell Yung performing on the

Guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...

, the Leela Puppets, and East-West Fusion.

Community school

In 1974, AADT started offering ballet classes for children in the

Chatham Square Chatham Square is a major intersection in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City. The square lies at the confluence of eight streets: the Bowery, Doyers Street, East Broadway, St. James Place, Mott Street, Oliver Street, Worth Street and Park R ...

Public Library. In 1976, AADT moved to its own space at and expanded to creative dance and children art classes. It also offered adult

Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as ''guó huà'' (), meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western style ...

and

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

Chinese dance Dance in China is a highly varied art form, consisting of many modern and traditional dance genres. The dances cover a wide range, from folk dances to performances in opera and ballet, and may be used in public celebrations, rituals and ceremonies ...

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, Alexander technique,

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Taichi Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. Ta ...

, and

ballroom dancing Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television. ...

. Children's classes took place on the weekends while adult classes usually in the evenings. The loft space was divided into a dance studio and an art classroom. AADT held annual dance recitals for the children at public school PS 124.

References

{{reflist

External links

Asian American Arts Centre official site
* Yung, Eleanor. (1984). Asian American Dance Theatre.(VHS tape) New York: Asian American Arts Centre. * Yung, Eleanor. (1985). Asian American Dance Theatre tenth anniversary. (Visual Material) New York: Asian American Arts Centre. Non-profit organizations based in New York City Arts organizations established in 1974 Asian-American organizations Asian-American theatre Asian-American culture in New York City Cultural history of New York City Culture of Manhattan 1974 establishments in New York City

History

Arts in Education program

Community school

See also

References

External links