Hou Ying is a choreographer/dancer and artistic director of the international dance company Hou Ying Dance Theater based in Beijing, China. She also runs the company’s educational center. Hou was trained professionally in Chinese dance, ballet, and modern dance from a young age. In 1990-1994, she was a dancer with China’s prestigious military-affiliated Armed Police Force Art Ensemble. In 1994 to 2001, she danced with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the professional company in Guangzhou that was established through the collaboration between Yang Meiqi and ADF. In 2001, after receiving a grant from the Asian Cultural Council, Hou attended ADF and created a work as part of ADF’s International Choreographer Residency (ICR) program. She also began to research and create work in New York. That same year Hou also joined Shen Wei Dance Arts, a New York-based dance company established by Shen Wei, a member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program who is also interviewed for this project. Hou was a principal dancer and occasional rehearsal director in the company and originated key roles in some of Shen Wei’s most notable works, such as Folding (2000), Rite of Spring (2003), Connect Transfer (2004), Map (2005), and Second Visit to the Empress (2007). In 2006, Hou founded Horizon Dance Theater in New York. In 2008, Hou Ying returned to China and played an integral role in assisting Shen Wei during the creation of Scroll, a piece of choreography performed at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Beijing. Hou established ADF/Henan, held at Henan Normal University, which took place in 2011, 2012, and 2014. Gerri Houlihan, who is interviewed for this project, taught at the ADF/Henan in 2011 along with three other ADF teachers. Seven ADF teachers taught at ADF/Henan in 2012 and four in 2014, along with two musical accompanists. Hou has received numerous accolades and commissions for her choreographic work, including first place for her piece Spirit of the Night (1995) at the Belarus International Modern Dance Competition and awards from the International Ballet Competition in Vienna for Kiss (1998), which was choreographed on the Guangdong Ballet Company. Hou has been commissioned to create work for HT Chen and Dancers, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Guangdong Ballet Company, Guangzhou Bureau of Culture, and others. Hou has been on the faculty or guest taught at institutions such as the ADF, Pomona College, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, California State Long Beach, California Institute of the Arts, Hunter University, and Beijing Dance Academy.

Suggested citation:
Hou Ying, interview with Emily Wilcox, October 21, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Gerri Houlihan is a dance educator, choreographer, and performer and a long-time teacher at ADF. In 2023, ADF dedicated its 90th anniversary season to Houlihan in celebration of Houlihan’s 40th anniversary of teaching at the festival’s annual season in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Houlihan has taught as part of over fifteen ADF cultural linkages worldwide. Houlihan taught at ADF/Seoul in 1990 and 1991; Estonia and Paraguay International Linkage Programs (ILP) in 1993; Philippines, Poland, Estonia, and Brazil ILPs in 1994; Chile ILP in 1995; ADF Russia II in Moscow in 1997; China ILP in Guangzhou in 1998; ADF/Korea VII in Seoul in 2002; Mongolia ILP and ADF Korea VIII in 2004; Mongolia ILP in Ulaanbaatar in 2005; and ADF/Henan in China in 2011. Hou Ying, who is also interviewed for this project, organized the ADF/Henan festival and was a member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company when Houlihan taught at the China ILP in Guangzhou in 1998. In 2005, ADF awarded Houlihan the Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching. Houlihan served as Co-Dean from 2011 to 2013 and then as Dean of the ADF School in 2014 and 2015 and has been Director of ADF’s dance professional educators workshops for more than ten years. Houlihan made Durham her home in 2015 and began offering her widely popular adult Joy of Movement modern dance classes at the ADF Samuel H. Scripps Studios soon after. Since 2018, she has overseen ADF’s International Choreographers Residency Program. Gerri Houlihan studied at The Juilliard School with Antony Tudor and members of the Martha Graham and José Limón dance companies. She performed with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, the Paul Sanasardo Company, and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. From 1991 to 1999, Houlihan directed her own company, Houlihan and Dancers, based in Miami, FL. Houlihan taught at Florida State University, where she was the Pearl S. Tyner Distinguished Professor in Teaching and now Professor Emerita. As of 2023, Houlihan continues to teach at the ADF Samuel H. Scripps Studios and the ADF School. As the founder and artistic director of the Big Red Dance Project, Houlihan leads the multi-generational company in bringing performances to the Triangle.

Suggested citation:
Gerri Houlihan, interview with Emily Wilcox, June 29, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Jin Xing is a performer, choreographer, theater director, talk show host, and celebrity. She is the founder and artistic director of Jin Xing Dance Theatre and Mars Theater Group based in Shanghai, China and Jin Xing Dance Theater in Paris. Jin studied dance professionally from a young age in China’s top military arts schools and rose to fame as a dancer in the prestigious Shenyang Military Region Cultural Work Troupe. In 1985, Jin won first place in China’s first Taoli Cup national dance competition. In 1987, Jin joined the original class of students in the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program led by Yang Meiqi in collaboration with ADF at the Guangdong Dance Academy in Guangzhou, China. There, Jin studied modern dance for two semesters with teachers sent by ADF, Sarah Stackhouse and Ruby Shang, both of whom are interviewed for this project. In 1988, Jin received a one-year fellowship to study in the United States funded by ADF and the Asian Cultural Council. In the US, Jin took classes in the schools of Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Alwin Nikolais, Alvin Ailey, and others. She stayed in the US for several more years and toured with several American modern dance companies performing works by Mark Dendy, Pilobolus, Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis, and others. Jin attended ADF in 1989, 1990, and 1991. In 1991, she choreographed her first work “Half Dream” as part of ADF’s International Choreographers Workshop. Shortly after this, Jin moved to Europe, working first in Italy and then Belgium. In Belgium, she started a small dance company called White Wind and taught modern dance at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and at the Brugge Dance Academy. In 1993, Jin moved back to China to receive gender-affirmation surgery, becoming the country’s first openly transgender celebrity. On the invitation of China’s Ministry of Culture, Jin taught a series of modern dance workshops for professional dancers and choreographers working in state-sponsored performance ensembles across China. Ou Jianping and Wen Hui, both interviewed for this project, also participated. Also in 1993, Jin staged a full-length modern dance concert, titled “Half Dream,” at Poly Theater in Beijing. In 1996, Jin helped found the Beijing Modern Dance Company and worked as company artistic director and choreographer for three years. In 1999, Jin founded her own internationally touring private dance company Jin Xing Dance Theatre. In 2006, Jin founded a modern dance festival in Shanghai and in 2007 she organized Israeli Dance Week in Shanghai. In 2011, Jin began a new career as a television host. After 2012, Jin gained a large following in China by hosting her own talk show, earning a huge fan base with more than 9 million followers. Jin’s achievements in the cultural field have been recognized with two honorary doctor degrees in the UK and the French government’s “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Lettres et des Artists,” among other honors.

Suggested citation:
Jin Xing, interview with Emily Wilcox, May 30/31, 2023 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement-based, interdisciplinary artist. After working for more than 40 years as Eiko & Koma (Koma Otake, also interviewed for this project), she now performs as a soloist and directs her own projects collaborating with a diverse range of artists. After studying with Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata in Japan and Manja Chmiel in Germany, Eiko & Koma created 46 interdisciplinary performance works, two career exhibitions, and numerous media works. Their durational performance living installations were commissioned by the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, and MoMA. Their Retrospective Project (2009–2012) culminated in a comprehensive monograph, “Time is Not Even, Space is Not Empty,” published by the Walker Art Center. Eiko & Koma were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship (1996) and the first Asian choreographers to receive ADF’s Samuel H. Scripps Award (2004) and the Dance Magazine Award (2006). They were honored with the first United States Artists Fellowship (2006) and Doris Duke Artist Awards (2012). Eiko & Koma first performed at ADF in 1984 at the invitation of Charles Reinhart, also interviewed in this project. In 1986, when Yang Meiqi first attended ADF in Durham, she and Eiko first met. In December 1995, Yang invited Eiko & Koma to teach and perform as part of a residency with the ADF China International Linkage Program (ILP) at the arts festival Yang organized in Guangzhou, China. Wen Hui, interviewed for this project, also presented work at the festival. Eiko’s solo project “A Body in Places” began with a 12-hour performance at the Philadelphia 30th Street Station. Since then, Eiko has performed variations of “A Body in Places” at over 70 sites. In addition, Eiko has performed alone in many locations of post-nuclear meltdown Fukushima for her multi-year work “A Body in Fukushima.” In 2016, Eiko was the subject of the 10th annual Danspace Platform. In 2017, Eiko launched a multi-year Duet Project. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic and hosted by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA), Eiko created Virtual Studio. Eiko premiered “A Body in a Cemetery” in September 2020. In August 2021, ADF presented it in Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, NC. In March 2021, she opened Tokyo Real Underground Festival and premiered a performance work, “A Body with Fukushima.” Eiko also premiered two monologue pieces: “They did not hesitate” and “Slow Turn.” In 2022, Eiko started her ten-year project “I Invited Myself.” In 2023, she also presented two installations and two installation-related performance works in New York—“Mother” and “Drawing in Circles.” In 2023, Eiko premiered “No Rule is Our Rule,” a documentary film created in collaboration with Wen Hui, whom she met at the ADF ILP in Guangzhou in 1995. Eiko regularly teaches at Wesleyan University, NYU, and Colorado College. She received an honorary degree from Colorado College in 2020.

Suggested citation:
Eiko Otake, interview with Emily Wilcox, June 7, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Koma Otake is a movement-based, interdisciplinary artist. After working for more than 40 years as Eiko (Eiko Otake, also interviewed for this project) & Koma, he now performs as a soloist. After studying with Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata in Japan and Manja Chmiel in Germany, Eiko & Koma created 46 interdisciplinary performance works, two career exhibitions, and numerous media works. Their durational performance living installations were commissioned by the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, and MoMA. Their Retrospective Project (2009–2012) culminated in a comprehensive monograph, “Time is Not Even, Space is Not Empty,” published by the Walker Art Center. Eiko & Koma were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship (1996) and the first Asian choreographers to receive ADF’s Samuel H. Scripps Award (2004) and the Dance Magazine Award (2006). They were honored with the first United States Artists Fellowship (2006) and Doris Duke Artist Awards (2012). Eiko & Koma first performed at ADF in 1984 at the invitation of Charles Reinhart, also interviewed in this project. In December 1995, Yang Meiqi invited Eiko & Koma to teach and perform as part of a residency with the ADF China International Linkage Program (ILP) at the arts festival Yang organized in Guangzhou, China. Wen Hui, interviewed for this project, also presented work at the festival. In 2017, Danspace Project in New York had the pleasure of presenting and commissioning Koma’s first multi-disciplinary solo project, “The Ghost Festival.” In 2023, Dancespace Project presented Koma’s latest solo, “You.”

Suggested citation:
Koma Otake, interview with Emily Wilcox, June 29, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Ou Jianping is Research Fellow and Honorary Director of the Dance Research Institute of the Chinese National Academy of Arts in Beijing. Ou was a member of the first cohort of graduate students in dance studies in China, trained at the Chinese National Academy of Arts (CNAA) in the early 1980s by Wu Xiaobang, often known as the “Father of Chinese Modern Dance.” Ou joined CNAA’s Foreign Dance Research Branch, which was established in 1986, and played an important role in organizing visits to China by foreign dance artists and scholars. Through his translations and publications, including his editorship of the foreign dance column of CNAA’s Chinese-language journal Dance Art, Ou was instrumental in introducing US and Western European dance history to China in the 1980s and 1990s, with a focus on modern dance. Since his first trip abroad to India in 1986, Ou has travelled abroad fifty-three times to thirty-two countries. In 1986, Ou was invited to contribute to the US Dance magazine on the recommendation of Selma Jeanne Cohen. Two years later, he was appointed international critic and China correspondent. In 1988, Ou received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to conduct dance research in the United States and attend the International Theatre Institute’s dance conference in West Germany. Ou visited the US five times funded by ACC, four of which he attended ADF. After he returned from the US in 1988, Ou was a visiting instructor at the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program led by Yang Meiqi in Guangzhou. In 1993, Ou taught Western dance history as part of the nation-wide modern dance workshops for choreographers and dancers organized by China’s Ministry of Culture. Jin Xing, also interviewed for this project, taught choreography and technique in these workshops, and Wen Hui, also interviewed for this project, attended the workshops as a student. Ou has remained a leading voice in the study of modern dance and foreign dance in China. He has mentored scores of Chinese graduate students and visiting scholars in dance studies and has published over thirty Chinese-language books on international dance history, theory, and aesthetics, many of which serve as required textbooks for graduate students in dance studies in China.

Suggested citation:
Ou Jianping, interview with Emily Wilcox, February 2/3, 2023 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Charles “Charlie” Reinhart has worked as a producer, manager, festival director, consultant, and administrator in the arts since 1955. He was Director of the American Dance Festival (ADF) from 1968 through 2011 and Co-Director of the organization with the late Stephanie Reinhart from 1993 to 2002. Reinhart was a member of the Board of Directors of the Theatre Development Fund for 41 years and is presently a member of the Board of Directors of ADF. Reinhart served as Co-Artistic Director for Dance at the Kennedy Center with Stephanie Reinhart from 1996 to 2002 and as Artistic Director from 2002 to 2004. From 1967 to 1978, Reinhart developed and was the National Coordinator of the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Touring Program. He also developed the dance component of the NEA’s Artists-in-Schools Program and served as its National Coordinator from 1970 to 1981. He worked with the Asia Society Performing Arts Program in the early 1960s, and in the early 1970s was a member of its Advisory Committee. From the 1980s onward, Reinhart collaborated with Yang Meiqi to support the establishment of the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program at Guangdong Dance Academy and later the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. Through invitations to present and create work at ADF, Reinhart directly supported the careers of several dancers interviewed in this project, particularly Eiko and Koma, Shen Wei, and Jin Xing. In 1974, in addition to directing ADF, he directed the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. In the 1960s, Reinhart founded Charles Reinhart Management and managed Paul Taylor, Donald McKayle, and Meredith Monk among many others. He served as a military historian in Korea in 1953–1954. Reinhart graduated from Newark Rutgers in 1952 and studied at the graduate school of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark in 1956–1957. Reinhart has been the recipient of numerous awards including Dance/USA’s Honors for Lifetime Achievement in Dance (1994), the Arts Presenters’ Award of Merit for Achievement in the Performing Arts (2011), and an Emmy for the PBS series “Free to Dance: The African
 American Presence in Modern Dance.” In 1986, the French government awarded Reinhart with the title of Officier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his efforts in introducing French modern dance to the United States. In 2002, he was honored again by the French Government, receiving the title of Commandeur dans l’ordre des Artes et des Lettres. Duke University conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts upon Reinhart in 2003.

Charles Reinhart, interview with Emily Wilcox, June 28, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

From 1976, Ralph Samuelson pursued a dual career as a foundation professional facilitating and supporting US-Asia cultural exchange and as a performer and teacher of the Japanese bamboo flute, shakuhachi. From 1991 to 2008 Samuelson was the director of the Asian Cultural Council (ACC), a foundation whose program was established in 1963 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd to support cultural exchange in the arts and humanities between the United States and the countries of Asia. Prior to his tenure as director, he served as the foundation’s associate director (1983-1990) and as program associate of The JDR 3rd Fund (1976-1982), predecessor of the ACC. At the Asian Cultural Council, Samuelson managed the head office in New York and four regional offices in Asia and developed and oversaw the ACC’s diverse grantmaking, fundraising, and programming activities in the United States and Asia. During his time at the ACC, and particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, Samuelson initiated a number of innovative cultural exchange programs with China. Foremost among these was a unique partnership among the Guangdong Dance Academy, the American Dance Festival, and the ACC that contributed to the birth and flowering of the modern dance field in China and that created lasting ties between the American and Chinese dance communities. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell University, Samuelson has an M.A. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. He studied Japanese traditional music in Tokyo in the 1970s under the guidance of distinguished musicologist Fumio Koizumi, and he was trained in the classical style and repertoire of the Kinko School of shakuhachi since 1969 by the late Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi and other master musicians of Japan. He is recognized as one of the foremost shakuhachi players and teachers outside of Japan and has performed in leading concert venues in the US, Europe, and Asia. He has been presented in live radio and television broadcasts in the US and Japan and has recorded for Innova, Lyrichord, CBS Masterworks, Tzadik, and other labels. In 1991 and again in 2008 he was the featured shakuhachi soloist in the New York City Ballet’s production of Jerome Robbins’ “Watermill,” with music by Teiji Ito. Earlier in his career Mr. Samuelson was a lecturer in ethnomusicology at Eastern Connecticut State College, a public school music teacher, and a researcher and presenter for the Smithsonian Institution’s Festival of American Folklife. He has been a consultant to the Smithsonian, the Japan Society, the Japan Foundation, the Asia Society, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the World Music Institute, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Seoul Institute of the Arts, and other organizations and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and colleges.

Ralph Samuelson, interview with Emily Wilcox, June 28, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Ruby Shang performed with The Paul Taylor Dance Company and served as a member of the dance faculties of The Juilliard School, the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and the American Dance Festival. She was Chair of the Dance Panel for the New York State Council for the Arts and a member of the Board of Governors for the New York Foundation for the Arts. As a choreographer, Shang was the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council of the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, the Japan-US Friendship Commission, and the Fulbright Hayes Cultural Award. In 1984 and 1986, Shang taught at ADF/Tokyo. In the spring of 1988, with support from the American Dance Festival, Shang was the second teacher sent from the U.S. to teach in the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program at the Guangdong Dance Academy. There, she taught two dancers interviewed for this project, Jin Xing and Wang Mei. Shang was born in Tokyo, attended the American School in Japan, and graduated from Brown University. She served for 14 years as a member of the President’s Leadership Council for Presidents Ruth Simmons and Christina Paxson of Brown University. Additional Board roles include the Asian Cultural Council, The Asia Foundation, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance.

Ruby Shang, interview with Emily Wilcox, December 15, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Shen Wei is a choreographer, director, and painter and founder and artistic director of Shen Wei Dance Arts in New York. He has been the recipient of a 2007 MacArthur “Genius” Award, the US Artists Fellow award, and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Other accolades include Australia’s Helpmann Award, the Nijinsky Emerging Choreographer Award, the Algur H. Meadows Prize, Les Étoiles de Ballet Award, Audi-China 2012 Artist of the Year Award, GQ-China 2013 Artist of the Year Award, and the 2013 Chinese Innovator Award from The Wall Street Journal-China. Most recently, he was honored with the Asian Cultural Council’s 2017 John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award and ADF’s 2022 Samuel H. Scripps Award for lifetime achievement in choreography. Shen was born in China’s Hunan province in 1968, the son of Chinese opera professionals. Shen trained from youth in the rigorous practice of Chinese opera performance and traditional Chinese ink painting and calligraphy and was a performer with the Hunan State local opera company from 1984 to 1989. During his student years, he studied Western visual art, which propelled an interest in modern dance. In 1989, Shen began modern dance training at the at the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program led by Yang Meiqi at Guangdong Dance Academy in Guangzhou, China. In 1991, at the age of 23, Shen became a founding member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, which resulted from the collaboration between Yang and ADF. Upon receipt of a fellowship from ACC, Shen moved to New York City in 1995 to study with the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab. The same year, he was invited to create work for ADF’s International Choreographers Commissioning Program (ICCP), which resulted in his early choreography “The Bed.” In 1999, Yang Meiqi invited Shen to create a new choreography for the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, which resulted in “Folding,” a signature work. In 2000, Shen participated again in ADF’s ICCP, this time producing “Near The Terrace,” another signature piece. In July 2000, Shen founded Shen Wei Dance Arts, and his company quickly entered the international touring circuit. Shen has received over twenty commissions from major presenting institutions to support his creative work. Shen returned to China in 2008 to serve as a lead choreographer for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In addition to choreography, Shen continues as a visual artist. A solo exhibition of his paintings was presented in Shanghai at the Power Station of Art in 2018. In 2023, Shen premiered a new choreography “Dongpo: Life in Poems” in cooperation with China Oriental Performing Arts Group, a leading national ensemble in China.

Suggested citation:
Shen Wei, interview with Emily Wilcox, October 28, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Sarah Stackhouse was born in the Midwest of the United States and lived her early years in Michigan until her family moved to a suburb of New York City. She began her study of dance in a small group led by German teacher Steffi Nossen in Westchester County. On a scholarship, Stackhouse attended ADF at Connecticut College, the six-week summer teaching residence of Martha Graham and José Limón. Stackhouse continued her education at the University of Wisconsin and studied in the first dance major in a US university. In 1958, Stackhouse joined the José Limón Company, working also as José Limón’s assistant at The Juilliard School. Soon after joining the company, she performed in Asia with Limón on USIS tours sponsored by the US State Department. In addition to Limón, Stackhouse also studied with Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Viola Farber, and Anthony Tudor. In 1969, Stackhouse left the US and moved to Italy. In 1972 she returned to the US to teach at the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, State University of New York and work as a freelance dancer. In the fall of 1987, Stackhouse was the first teacher sent by ADF to teach in the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program led by Yang Meiqi at Guangdong Dance Academy in Guangzhou, China. There, Stackhouse spent three months teaching the foundations of modern dance to students in the program, including Jin Xing and Wang Mei, who are both interviewed for this project. During this course, she also taught them sections of the choreography for “There is a Time” by José Limón. In 1989, Stackhouse guest taught for short periods at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and the Beijing Dance Academy. Stackhouse was Associate Professor Emerita and one of the leading stagers who set Limón’s ballets on dance companies around the globe.

Suggested citation:
Sarah Stackhouse, interview with Emily Wilcox, July 8, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Michelle Vosper was Director of the Asian Cultural Council in Hong Kong from 1986 to 2012. In this capacity she was closely involved with ADF’s work in China and served often as interpreter and intermediary between Yang Meiqi and Charles Reinhart. Vosper is the editor and an author of the 2017 publication “Creating Across Cultures: Women in the Arts from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan,” which includes chapters on two dancers interviewed for this project, Wen Hui and Yang Meiqi. The stories of Yang Meiqi and Wen Hui are featured in this book among those of sixteen visionary women who have had an extraordinary impact on culture and the arts at home and abroad. In 2018 Vosper wrote and produced with artist Li Xiaofei the documentary film “Composer of Confluence” about the ground-breaking Chinese-American composer, Chou Wen-chung. In 1978 Chou had established the Center for US-China Arts
Exchange at Columbia University where Vosper worked as the first Program Director. In the early days of exchange, she organized programs for many cultural figures including Arthur Miller, Anna Sokolow, Alwin Nikolais, Susan Sontag, playwright Cao Yu, and writer Ding Ling. Vosper lives in rural northwest New Jersey where she writes about local cultural history.

Suggested citation:
Michelle Vosper, interview with Emily Wilcox, July 8, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Wang Mei is an emerita professor and choreographer at the Beijing Dance Academy (BDA). She is past recipient of the Young Core Instructor designation from the City of Beijing and recipient of the Mr. Hu Chunan Teaching Grant from BDA. Wang began her dance career with ballet and later transitioned into Chinese folk dance. In 1984, Wang graduated from the Chinese Folk Dance program of the Beijing Dance Academy. While she was a student, she attended a school trip to perform in Hong Kong. There, she saw the City Contemporary Dance Company led by Willy Tsao and became interested in modern dance. She also saw a performance by Trisha Brown in Beijing that sparked her interest in modern dance. After graduation, Wang was hired as faculty at BDA teaching Chinese folk dance. In 1987, Wang received permission from BDA to go to Guangzhou to study modern dance. Wang was a member of the original class of students in the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program led by Yang Meiqi in collaboration with ADF at the Guangdong Dance Academy in Guangzhou, China. There, Wang studied modern dance with teachers sent by ADF, including Sarah Stackhouse and Ruby Shang, both of whom are interviewed for this project. After graduating from the Guangdong program, Wang returned to BDA, where she contributed significantly to the development of modern dance at the school, China’s top dance conservatory. Wang has served as dance director for the Modern Dance program in the Choreography Department and trained a generation of students who went on to become influential choreographers in China. Wang is an influential modern dance choreographer in China whose works include “Net,” “Naughty Kids,” “Dawn,” “Spring,” “The Phoenix Hairpin in My Heart,” “Tides,” “That Night,” “Legend on the Chair,” “Two Bodies,” “The Red Fan,” “Linger,” “Time Passes like Flowing Water,” “Dance as Your Heart Pleases,” “Finding the World Once Lost,” “Swan Lake Diaries,” and many others. Recently, Wang has been engaged in several projects devoted to rethinking Chinese regional folk dances through a modern dance lens to express experiences in contemporary society. She also publishes essays on choreography.

Suggested citation:
Wang Mei, interview with Emily Wilcox, April 4/5, 2023 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Wang Yabin is a dancer, choreographer, and actress and is founder and artistic director of dance studio Yabin & Her Friends based in Beijing, China. Born in Tianjin, China, Wang began studying dance professionally at the age of nine at the Beijing Dance Academy attached middle school, which she attended from 1994 to 1999 majoring in Chinese dance. Wang graduated in 2003 from the Beijing Dance Academy’s Chinese classical dance program and became a principal dancer in the Beijing Dance Academy affiliated professional company the Young Dancers Group. Wang won numerous gold prizes in Chinese dance competitions and is best known for her contemporary Chinese classical dance solo “Fan as Brush” (2000), as well as her work as a soloist in numerous Chinese dance dramas. Wang also works for the television and movie industry. She performed as a dancer in Zhang Yimou’s “House of Flying Daggers” and is the leading actress in the Chinese soap series “The Love Story of the Village.” Cultural exchange programs enabled Wang to perform at Lincoln Center in New York, the Bolshoi in Moscow, and Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2009 Wang started her own studio named Yabin Studio and produces a dance performance each year under the brand name Yabin & Her Friends. Wang’s studio produces full-length dance programs and commissions choreographers from the US, Europe, and China to create new work. In 2010, Wang attended ADF and took part in the International Choreographers in Residence program, where she danced in the premiere of “Sepia,” choreographed by Tatiana Baganova. In 2015, Wang premiered her work “The Moon Opera” at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. In 2016, Wang became the first Chinese choreographer to create a new work for the English National Ballet as part of its female choreographer project. Wang’s production “She Said” premiered at Sadler’s Wells Theater in London. Wang has also participated in international projects in France and Israel. In 2018, ADF commissioned Wang to make a new work in the Wondrous Women project. In 2019, Wang presented her work “Data Deleted” as part of the ArtsCross international choreography workshop. Through Yabin & Her Friends, Wang has collaborated with renowned choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Sang Jijia, Fei Bo, and Mark Haim, composers Zhou Long, Wenzi and the rock band Tang Dynasty, and dancers from around China. She is currently with British director Dominic Dromgoole on the Chinese version of “Frankenstein,” in collaboration with the English National Theater.

Suggested citation:
Wang Yabin, interview with Emily Wilcox, June 7, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Wen Hui is a choreographer and dancer who also makes documentary films and installations. She is considered a pioneer of Chinese contemporary dance and interdisciplinary performance art. Wang founded Living Dance Studio in Beijing in 1994 and has participated in curating and organizing numerous art projects. The Living Dance Studio was committed to exploring the artistic process in an open arena, working with artists from all media and all disciplines, and creating performances that integrated dance, theater, and all forms of audio-visual art, with a strong focus on individual memories, histories, and social experiences. Wen Hui insists on using theater as an intervention in society and has been researching the ways the body forms an archive of personal social documentation, using personal means to experiment on how bodily memory catalyzes collision between history and reality. In 2005, together with Wu Wenguang, Wen founded the independent art space for performing arts, documentary film, video art, and photography CCD Workstation (Cao Chang Di) in Beijing. CCD Workstation was also the home of the Living Dance Studio and a documentary film archive. Notable works by Wen include “100 Verbs,” “Living Together/Toilet,” “Face,” “Skirt,” “Report on Giving Birth,” “Report on the Body,” “Dancing With Migrant Workers,” “Listening to the Stories of Third Grandmother,” “Dancing with Third Grandmother,” “Red: A Documentary Performance,” and “I Am 60.” Born in 1960 in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, Wen graduated from the choreography program at the Beijing Dance Academy in 1989. She worked as a choreographer for China Oriental Performing Arts Group, a leading national ensemble in China. In 1995, Wen premiered “Living Together/Toilet” at the arts festival organized by Yang Meiqi in Guangzhou, China, in connection with the ADF China International Linkage Program (ILP). There, she met Eiko Otake, who is also interviewed for this project. In 1996, Wen received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) to observe contemporary dance and theater activities and to study modern dance and choreography in the United States. In 1997, through an introduction by ACC, Wen collaborated with Ralph Lemon on the work “Tree: Part Two of Geography Trilogy.” In 1998, Wen received a renewal of her grant from ACC to continue to observe contemporary performance in the US and to undertake a residency at Djerassi Foundation. In 2023, Wen premiered “No Rule is Our Rule,” a documentary film created in collaboration with Eiko Otake, and “New Report on Giving Birth: Creation.”

Suggested citation:
Wen Hui, interview with Emily Wilcox, June 29, 2022 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao Xu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.

Yang Meiqi is a dance educator and former professor and principal of the Guangdong Dance Academy and founding director of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. Yang grew up in Shanghai and studied dance professionally at the Beijing Dance School from 1956 to 1963, where she learned Chinese classical dance, Chinese folk dance, ballet, and European character dance. After graduation, Yang moved to Guangzhou, China, where she began her career teaching Chinese folk dance at the Guangdong Dance School, which later became the Guangdong Dance Academy. Yang was appointed as the academy’s principal in 1985, at the young age of forty. During the early 1980s, Yang participated in major dance curriculum development projects and became interested in modernizing China’s dance education. In 1986, on the recommendation of Chiang Ching, Yang received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to study and observe modern dance in New York and attend ADF in Durham, North Carolina. At the end of her visit, Yang proposed to Charles Reinhart, then ADF Director, and Ralph Samuelson, then director of ACC, both interviewed for this project, to establish a modern dance program at the Guangdong Dance Academy. The program that grew out of this proposal was the Guangdong Modern Dance Experimental Program. Over the course of five years, from 1987 to 1992, ADF sent teachers to work with Yang’s Chinese dance students in Guangzhou, with funding support from ACC, under Yang’s direction. The outstanding artistic achievements in the modern dance class influenced national public opinion in China, garnering the attention of provincial government officials who approved the establishment of China’s Guangdong Experimental Modern Dance Company. The program and later company nurtured a generation of modern dancers in China through Sino-US collaborative teaching. After mandatory retirement from the company in 2000, Yang set up a second university-level modern dance program in collaboration with the Beijing Dance Academy and Guangdong-based Asia Television College of Performing Arts. There, she continued teaching modern dance together with invited artists from abroad from 2000 to 2004. Through these projects, Yang and her collaborators nurtured a generation of modern dancers and choreographers in China. Yang’s multifaceted roles encompassed being a transmitter, pioneer, cultivator, promoter, and defender of modern dance in China. She persevered in the survival and proliferation of modern dance within the complex social and ecological landscape of Chinese society, often meeting with a level of alienation that was challenging to interpret. Her ongoing mission has been to promote creativity, shape ideologies, and advocate for the care and love of humanity’s destiny. Yang is dedicated to nurturing talent with the potential for breakthrough and creative artistic careers. These individuals do not merely follow trends; they create unique and elevated beauty that inspires the Chinese cultural landscape.

Suggested citation: Yang Meiqi, interview with Emily Wilcox, February 9/10, 2023 on Zoom. In Jodee Nimerichter, Emily Wilcox, Dean Jeffrey, Yao XXu. “Planting Seeds: ADF and Modern Dance in China.” American Dance Festival, 2024.