In response to the Shen Wei: Painting in Motion exhibition, Lenora Lee Dance, Pao Arts Center 2021 Artist in Residence presents a newly commissioned work, Meditations on the Power of Community, illuminating stories of the Chinatown community against the backdrop of Wei’s large-scale, immersive paintings. Interviews and contemporary dance choreographed by Lee in collaboration with Lenora Lee Dance and Boston-based dancers, provide a meditation on the experiences of Boston’s Chinatown community. Film by Weiying Olivia Huang.
Join us for a dialogue around the resilience of local activists, dreams turned into reality through art, advocacy, and the healing embrace of culture.
Image Credit: Dancer Flora Hyoin Kim, still image by Weiying Olivia Huang
Panelists
Cynthia Woo, Director - Pao Arts Center, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Cynthia has been the inaugural Pao Arts Center Director at BCNC since Jan 2017. She has more than fifteen years of experience in the non-profit arts, and arts education sector. Prior to joining the staff at BCNC, Cynthia worked at the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles, LynnArts Inc, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Boston Center for the Arts.
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Lenora Lee, Artistic Director - Lenora Lee Dance creates multimedia and immersive dance performance connecting various styles of movement, music, and film to culture, history and human rights issues.
Lenora Lee has been a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. She has been an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, and a Visiting Scholar at New York University through the Asian/Pacific/American Institute, and an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater. She is a 2019 United States Artists Fellow and has been recently awarded a Creative Work Fund, a California Arts Council California Creative Communities grant, and a Kenneth Rainin Foundation Open Spaces grant with the Chinatown Community Development Center to collaborate on an immersive performance piece “And the Community Will Rise” in 2020.
The mission of Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) is to create and present large-scale multimedia performance works integrating dance, music, video projection, and text that connect various styles of movement and music to culture, history, and human rights issues. LLD is weaving together multiple artistic disciplines and socially conscious work, pushing the relevance of arts in various communities throughout the country.
Paul W. Lee, Retired Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP, Board President, Asian Community Development Corporation, Chair of the Asian Community Fund and Board member of The Boston Foundation.
Paul grew up in the Boston Chinatown and Brookline, Mass. His Chinese immigrant parents worked in restaurants and garment factories. After earning a degree in electrical engineering and computer science, he became a lawyer and was a partner at Goodwin Procter specializing in corporate law from 1984-2013. Mr. Lee serves on the boards of The Boston Foundation Board, Conservation Law Foundation and WGBH and Board President of the Asian Community Development Corporation, which has built over 600 units of housing in Boston Chinatown. In 2019 he received the Sojourner Award from the Chinese Historical Society of New England.
Susan Chinsen (moderator) is a Creative Producer at ArtsEmerson. She established the annual Boston Asian American Film Festival in 2008, where she continues as the Festival Director. Previously, she managed the Chinese Historical Society of New England, and was an engagement consultant for the PBS documentary "The Chinese Exclusion Act," building upon her community work and past experience working at WGBH. She is on the Board of Directors at South Cove Community Health Center, MASS Creative and a Steering Committee member of the API Arts Network. Susan is also an alumna of the American Chinese Art Society's traditional dance troupe and Tufts University.
Photo Credit: Sampan/Yiyan Zheng 鄭怡嫣
Weiying Olivia Huang, Filmmaker - Weiying Olivia Huang is an award winning documentary filmmaker. Her documentary ‘City as Canvas: Above the Free Walls’ won the Best Human Interest Documentary at the World Premiere Film Awards in 2020. The film, funded by a grant from the Cambridge Arts Council, was also nominated for ‘Best New England Film’ at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival, and was screened internationally as well over 10 other film festivals.
Her previous documentary, 2017’s ‘The Last Sacred Place of Poetry: Grolier Poetry Book Shop,’ has likewise been screened at many film festivals, as well as libraries and universities. In 2021 she received a second grant from the Cambridge Arts Council to fund her next documentary project.
Pao Arts Center represents the belief that investing in arts, culture, and creativity are vital to the health and well-being of individuals, families, and vibrant communities. Through its innovative approach, Pao Arts Center empowers creativity, connection, learning, and support.
How to Reserve Tickets
Free for all, but registration is required. Click the button at the top of the page to reserve your ticket.
Community programs created in partnership with the Pao Arts Center and Lenora Lee Dance, Inc. are made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts and Barr Foundation ArtsAmplified initiative.
Education and community programs receive support from the Vertex Foundation, Rowland Foundation, the Liberty Mutual Foundation, and Janet Burke Mann Foundation.
The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
