KUN-YANG LIN/DANCERS’ HOME SEASON: Beyond the Bones (a Philadelphia Premiere)
Contact Ken Metzner, Executive Director, for more information and photos: 267.294.8956 or KyldPhilly@gmail.com
Tickets: $30/25% off for Seniors/Students
Reservations: online at www.paintedbride.org or call 215.925.9914
PHILADELPHIA – The critically-acclaimed and internationally active Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (KYL/D) is pleased to announce its 2012 home season show featuring the Philadelphia premiere of “Beyond the Bones” at The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia on March 29, 30 and 31, 2012 at 8pm. This year’s concert follows three consecutive seasons of KYL/D’s sold-out shows presented by The Painted Bride.
In his groundbreaking, contemporary works, Lin has developed a personal movement language that is an unexpected hybrid of Western and Eastern cultures. “His distinctive blend of traditional and Western dance has the dark, bold force of a woodcut print” New York Times. Lin draws upon diverse, multicultural influences including many from his formative years in Taiwan, such as calligraphy, painting, martial arts, tai chi and traditional Chinese and Southeast Asian dance movements, yet expresses these impulses in a thoroughly contemporary way, borne of his extensive performance experience worldwide. Through the lens of an immigrant artist finely trained in Asian movement traditions, contemplative practices, Eastern philosophy and Western, contemporary dance techniques, Lin’s work grapples with the complexities inherent in a prevailing, dualistic culture, where motion and stillness, form and formlessness, silence and sound, multiplicity and oneness are perceived as opposites. In cultivating his dancers to coalesce around shared values, Lin seeks to explore our common humanity while calling forth the gifts of each individual. Indeed, it has been said that “Lin has found the key to making dances that show what individuals are all about.” New York Times Radio.
The concert will feature the Philadelphia premiere of “Beyond the Bones”, an evening-length, interdisciplinary, contemporary dance, theater and performance work. While inspired by Kun-Yang Lin’s witnessing of the events of September 11, the sudden passing of his father and his own brush with mortality, Beyond the Bones is a reflection on the generosity of spirit that springs from the midst of suffering. As the locus of our deepest feelings, the seat of our instincts as well as the armature for our public masks, our bones are thirsty to unite with the universal well that feeds our souls. Beyond technically demanding movement, beyond an inspired soundscape of Eastern and Western music and live vocals; beyond embodied mythologies of diverse cultures, “Beyond the Bones” is an adventure that “transports us back to the beginning of humanity and the wellspring of our beings.” Backstage Magazine.
Special guest artists include Rhonda Moore, founding member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company performing a contemporary Indonesian mask solo; Janis Brenner, NYC’s award-winning choreographer, vocalist and former member of Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble leading a chorale of university and community singers; and visual artist Alison Stigora who will be creating a visual art installation of charred wood that cocoons the audience and performers within a sacred space.
KYL/D’s dance artists are: Kun-Yang Lin, Jennifer Rose, Olive Prince, Eiren Shuman, Jessica Warchal-King and apprentices Cassandra Cotta and Vuthy Ou. Lighting Design: Stephen Petrilli, lighting designer for world famous, Pilobolus. Costume Design: Heidi Barr. Sound Consultant: Cory Neale. Object designers: puppeteer HuaHua Zhang, sculptor Steve Lohman and glass artist Daniel Cutrone of the Tyler School of Art.************************************
The mission of Kun Yang Lin/Dancers is to draw upon its unique Asian-American perspective to create work that transcends cultural boundaries and celebrates the ability of dance to integrate body, mind and spirit. KYL/D has performed internationally and across the United States, including at the Jogja International Performing Arts Festival and Asia Tri Festival in Java, Indonesia; Hsin Chu Cultural Center in Hsin Chu, Taiwan; Busan International Dance Festival in Busan, Korea; Festival Internacional de Danza in Queretaro, Mexico; the Victoria Theatre in Singapore; the Interlochen Arts Festival in Michigan; Kaatsbaan International Dance Center; Columbia Festival of the Arts in Maryland; Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and in New York City at The Japan Society, Queens Theatre In The Park and the Dancing in the Streets Festival. WHYY/PBS honored Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers with a nationally broadcast, 30-minute documentary in its award-winning On Canvas series in 2011. KYL/D also was featured by MindTV in its celebrated 2011 broadcast series A World of Dance in Philadelphia. For more information about the Company, please visit www.kunyanglin.org.
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Kun-Yang Lin, Artistic Director of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers & Founder of CHI Movement Arts Center, is acknowledged as one of Taiwan's finest choreographers. He has received numerous awards in Taiwan and been widely recognized in the United States for both his dancing and choreography including, in 2002, by Back Stage, which selected Lin as “the year’s most promising choreographer.” Lin has performed throughout Europe with Transitions Dance Company and in the U.S. in the companies of Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Kevin Wynn Collection, Paula Josa-Jones, Janis Brenner & Dancers, Doris Humphrey Repertory Dance Company and the Mary Anthony Dance Theatre, where he also served as Associate Artistic Director. He has been called “an extraordinary dancer” (New York Times), “theatrical visionary…outstanding choreographer and compelling performer.” (Philadelphia Inquirer). In Philadelphia, Lin or KYL/D has been the recipient of grants from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through Dance Advance (multiple grants), the Philadelphia Foundation, the Samuel S. Fels Fund, the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, Temple University and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. In 2009, Lin was named by the Painted Bride Art Center an “Artist of the City” for his outstanding contributions to the arts and culture of Philadelphia. In 2010, the Mayor of Hsin-Chu, Kun-Yang’s hometown honored him as a “son of the City” for his cultivation of artistic excellence at the international level and in 2011 he was named a “Creative Connector” through a nomination process coordinated by Leadership Philadelphia. Lin’s choreography, described as “deeply spiritual, remarkable” (Dance Magazine), has been presented throughout the United States as well as in Asia, Southeast Asia, London, Vienna and Mexico. His work has been performed by the Martha Graham Dance Company in Union Square, Dance Compass, Dance Fusion, Blue Muse Dance, Pick of the Crop Dance, Elizabeth Higgins Dance Theater, Moving Arts Project, Janis Brenner & Dancers, Dance Ensemble Singapore and Ballet Nacional de Mexico, as well as by numerous universities and high schools. In addition, Lin’s choreography has been made part of the dance curricula at Taiwan National University of the Arts, SUNY Buffalo and Dance Ensemble Singapore (DES) Performing Arts Academy.
Highly sought as a teacher, Lin is regularly invited to offer master classes and workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad. In addition, he has been on the faculty of The Yard, H.B. Actor’s Studio, Peridance International Dance Center and The Limon Institute. Since 2003, Lin has been a Professor at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music & Dance in Philadelphia. For more information please visit: www.kunyanglin.org
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“…a masterwork of art, spirituality and stagecraft.” The Philadelphia Inquirer
“an extraordinary dancer whose blend of tautness and buoyancy is not only exciting, but also suggestive of the clarity and immediacy with which dance can communicate deep, conflicting emotions." The New York Times
"Kun-Yang Lin is an artist for the masses. His work, even when indefinable, is incredibly captivating for audiences and dancers alike." The Martha's Vineyard Times
"exudes a spirituality that’s matchless in the local dance scene." Broad Street Review
"Kun-Yang Lin is an artist for the masses. His work, even when indefinable, is incredibly captivating for audiences and dancers alike." The Martha's Vineyard Times
"exudes a spirituality that’s matchless in the local dance scene." Broad Street Review
"Once in a great while I go to a dance concert where I am stunned by gifts I had not imagined. So it was when I saw the program Kun-Yang Lin put on with his wonderful dancers...he has found the key to making dances that show what individuals are all about..."
Francis Mason, FM WQXR, Radio Station of the New York Times
“intricately crafted on all counts - choreography, costumes, lighting and music…Lin's works are artistic adventures that captivate on many levels…The collective energy emanates around the room, and if you let yourself go with his flow, you don't just watch it - you feel it, too” Philadelphia City PaperFrancis Mason, FM WQXR, Radio Station of the New York Times
