Nai-Ni Chen (1959-2021) trained in traditional Chinese dance in Taiwan from the age of four, beginning her performance career at a young age and becoming an early member of Cloud Gate Dance Theater. After graduating from the Chinese Cultural University in 1982, she came to America and continued her studies at NYU. With the encouragement from modern dance pioneer Mary Anthony, she established the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company with her husband, Andy Chiang, in 1988. Through Passage to the Silk River, Nai-Ni Chen paid tribute to her ancestors. The program noted that “the ‘water sleeves’ costume expresses the motion of water as well as the emotion of the dancer.”
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