PERIDANCE FACULTY
Guest / Past
Dian Dong
Modern
BIOGRAPHY
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Dian Dong studied with Shirley Ubell, Vladimir Doukodovsky, Alfredo Corvino and Doris Rudko. She has worked with Anna Sokolow’s Players’ Project, Kathryn Posin, Janet Soares, Lance Westergard, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Lincoln Center Institute, the ADF 25th Anniversary Repertory Co, Walter Nicks, and the national tour of The King & I. She has taught at NYU School of Ed., Montclair State College, the Center for Modern Dance Ed. and Chen Dance Center. Ms. Dong organizes and designs the education programs for H.T. Chen & Dancers homebased and residency programs. She has participated in the Kennedy Center’s Capacity Building Program led by Michael Kaiser, and attended the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders - Arts at Stanford Graduate Business School. She and H.T. Chen are the proud recipients of the 2012 Mid-Career Award from the Martha Hill Dance Fund.
CLASS DESCRIPTION
East meets West – exploring the works of H.T. Chen, led by Dian Dong The distinguishing characteristics of early American modern dance share similar qualities to the martial arts, such as the use of weighted movement, asymmetry, and dissonance. Choreographer, H.T. Chen was born in Shanghai, China, raised in Taiwan where he attended the University of Chinese Culture, received a BFA from the Juilliard Dance Division, and a masters in Dance Education from NYU. His wife and longtime company dancer, Dian Dong, will lead a warm-up based on principles of Yin & Yang and planal organization. The class will learn a phrase from one of H.T. Chen’s signature works, then develop their own movement phrase using these principles. Dian Dong is a graduate of the Juilliard School, a co-founder of Chen Dance Center, and was recently appointed as the new Artistic Director of H.T. Chen & Dancers. In 2021, she helped develop a K-12 DEL curriculum for the NYC DOE titled “TRACING FOOTSTEPS – Into the Heart of Chinatown – Hidden Voices”.