Inaugural New Dance Choreographer Residency and Commissions with Choreographer Peter Chu and Zhongmei Li
Company:
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is pleased to announce a new resident choreographer program that will become part of the artistic anchor of the Company. In the upcoming year, the Company has invited two prominent Asian American choreographers to create new works as well as providing public and private workshops as part of the residency.
Zhongmei Li, one of the most prominent Chinese American dancer/choreographers in the US will be developing a new work, ULTIMATE JOURNEY, which will premiere in New York in the Spring of 2026. Zhongmei Li is basing this work on a journey on the Silk Road with her late husband, the renowned writer/journalist Richard Bernstein and their exploration of one of China’s most prominent cultural treasures, Duanhuang Caves. She is starting this new work in the Fall of 2025, and the Company is planning several work-in-progress showcases and public workshops before the premiere. Zhongmei will be working with Grammy Nominated Composer Angel Lam and Costume/stage designer Han ChunXi. Please check our website for announcements. https://nainichen.org
Besides working with Zhongmei Li in the Fall/Winter, the Company will also be working with world-renowned choreographer Peter Chu in the Spring/Summer season of 2026. Peter is commissioned by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center for a dance to the music from The Miraculous Mandarin, a ballet by Bela Bartok, tentatively titled the same. Beginning in March of 2026 as a Resident Choreographer for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Peter Chu will utilize an abbreviated four-minute percussion section – based on the original ballet music by Bartok – as the starting point of his choreography. He will eventually expand and adapt the piece to the 33-minute length of the original ballet. The first phase of the commission will premiere in May 2026 and the entire dance will be completed by 2027.
PETER CHU (he/him) is a movement artist whose versatile roles encompass director, choreographer, stager, performer, educator, and mentor. Driven by a deep curiosity and a passion for learning, he generously shares his experiences and insights with others. Chu's love for the arts fuels his vivid imagination and creative expression.
Born in the Bronx and raised in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Peter’s interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine deepened his understanding of his Chinese identity and influenced his artistic and individual values. This healing approach informs his creative process and shapes the movement experiences he cultivates.
Peter began his journey as a competitive gymnast and further developed his artistry at Dussich Dance Studio. As a BFA student at The Juilliard School, he honed his technical skills and embarked on a path in choreography, earning the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreography upon graduation.
With over two decades of experience in both concert and commercial dance, Chu has performed with esteemed companies such as Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot, EZdanza, Aszure Barton and Artists, and Celine Dion's *A New Day*. His choreography has been featured in numerous organizations, including Ballet Augsburg, Backhaus Dance, Charlotte Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Cirque du Soleil, DART Dance Company, Gibney Dance Company, Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Kansas City Ballet， MØN festival，and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. In 2008, he founded the project-based company chuthis., where he explores innovative lighting and sound alongside live contemporary movement, delving into the depths of his identity and artistry as a director, choreographer, and educator.
Chu's accolades include the 2010 A.C.E. Capezio Award and recognition as the 2008 Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival choreographer. In 2018, he was honoured with the Harvard Blogett Award for Distinguished Artist for his impactful creative work at the Theater, Dance, and Media Department at Harvard University, where he served as a guest faculty member for three years. He has also been the Rehearsal Director for Nederlands Dans Theater 2 and served as Guest Rehearsal Director for NDT1.
Currently based in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Peter travels frequently for freelance choreographic commissions and teaching opportunities. He is honoured to be a Choreographic Mentor for one of the Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellows and the Upsurge Dance Festival. This past summer, chuthis. enjoyed a residency at Orsolina 28, where they premiered a new work and chuthis. ended dancing a mini tour to Germany and the Netherlands featuring a duet evening called SHIFT. chuthis. concluded the summer with a residency at Perry Mansfield in Steamboat Springs, CO.
As the director of Chuthis. Perspectives and co-director with Jess Hendricks of Creating WAVES, Chu continues to push the physical boundaries of dance, earning respect as a sought-after artist in the industry.
ZHONGMEI LI is a renowned dancer and choreographer whose career spans continents and encompasses both classical and contemporary forms. At just 11 years old, she was one of only a select few girls chosen to attend the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy, China's premier dance school. There, she received rigorous training in both ballet and traditional Chinese classical dance.
After several years of performing in China as a principal dancer, Li brought her artistry to the United States. She was awarded scholarships to study at highly respected institutions, including the Martha Graham Dance School and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater schools, further broadening her stylistic range and technical prowess.
In 1995, driven by a passion to share her cultural heritage, Li founded the Zhongmei Dance Company. Under her direction, the company became instrumental in introducing the beauty and complexity of Chinese dance to wider American audiences. Her company performed at numerous premier venues across the country, including the iconic Joyce Theater in New York City, where The New York Times lauded their performance as "commanding and majestic." In a Jennifer Dunning's profile of Li, she stated that Li "captured the combination of artistry and determination that enabled this engaging artist to arrive on the cultural scene with something never before seen by American audiences."
Beyond her company, Li has graced the Broadway stage, performing in the beloved musical The King and I at the Neil Simon Theater. She is also a regular guest performer with the acclaimed Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and she also earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts demonstrating her versatility and continued engagement with the contemporary dance scene.
Li's innovative spirit continues to thrive through her choreographic endeavors. She recently undertook the significant task of choreographing the dance portion of a new production of the opera Dream of the Red Chamber for the Minneapolis Opera Theatre, which premiered in November 2024. This ambitious project, sponsored by the Chinese Heritage Foundation, underscores her commitment to blending traditional art forms with new interpretations and her ongoing dedication to enriching the cultural landscape through dance.
About Nai-Ni Chen
Nai-Ni Chen (1959-2021) was a legendary choreographer who worked in the NJ/NY area professionally for over thirty years since coming to the US in 1982. She has built a diverse repertoire of over 80 original works and toured to major venues in the US and international festivals in 12 countries around the world. A cross-cultural choreographer who aims to bring audience across the cultural boundaries, she has developed unique movement and choreographic styles that reflect the grace and splendor of the Chinese cultural traditions she studied in Taiwan since youth and the dynamic spirit of modern dance that she acquired in New York from luminaries such as Mary Anthony, Bertram Ross, Doris Rudko and Patricia Rowe.
Nai-Ni Chen has received multiple Choreographer Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She has been a principal affiliate of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and was a resident artist of the Harlem School of the Arts. Her contribution to the immigrant cultural experience has been honored by OCA and the International Institute. Commissions have come from the Joyce Theater Foundation, the Lincoln Center Institute, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Towson University, Dancing in the Streets, New Jersey Ballet, Ballet Met, and the Cleveland Dancing Wheels. Nai-Ni is currently in residence in New Jersey City University creating a new dance program for the university in collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet School as well as pioneering a program with the University’s Laboratory School for children with multiple disabilities.
About the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company is a rare Asian American woman led professional touring company with programs for educational settings, community organizations and mainstage venues. The Company's mission is to be a premier provider of innovative cultural experiences that reflect the inspiring hope and energy of the immigrant’s journey. It was founded with the vision that the journey of crossing cultures and adapting to a new home provides endless inspirations and opportunities for creative expressions that can enrich the human experience. Each one of the company’s work is aimed to increase the visibility of the struggle, triumph, despair and joy of this experience. The Company's productions provide authentic experiences and bring forth issues of identity, authenticity, and equality. The Company’s worldwide touring is represented by Red Shell Management led by Edward Schoelwer.
Choreography is developed with dancers from diverse backgrounds, and each rehearsal is an immersive, boundary-crossing journey that contributes to the creative process under the direction of the choreographers. Our repertory of Nai-Ni Chen's original works bridge the grace and power of Asian arts and American dynamism which incorporated her broad influences. The company also preserves a variety of festive dances from different regions of China choreographed by guest immigrant artists bearing their tradition.
The Company began to tour in the early 1990s, originally on the East Coast, and later internationally. The dance company is multi-racial and multi-national and has collaborated with a wide range of artists from different disciplines and cultures. Musical collaborators range from New Music, jazz to classical, they include Joan La Barbara, The Chinese Music Ensemble of NY, Jason Kao Hwang, Huang Ruo, Kenji Bunch, Tan Dun, Glen Velez and most recently, the Ahn Trio. Award-winning designers and visual artists such as Myung Hee Cho, Jay Moorthy, AC Hickox and costume designer Karen Young. These collaborations provided us the opportunity to develop innovative productions that carry the timeless essence of the tradition.
In addition to domestic touring, the company has also performed at international festivals in Mexico, Canada, British Virgin Islands, Guatemala, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, South Korea and China with support from Fund for Mutual Understanding, The President’s Committee for the Arts, Arts International and the State Department of the United States. Ms. Chen has received multiple Choreographer’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and from New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Her work has also been commissioned by the Joyce Theater Foundation, the Lincoln Center Institute, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Dancing in the Streets, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and New Jersey Performing Art Center.
Prominent Institutions, including the Lincoln Center Institute, the Joyce Theater, Dancing in the Streets, NJ Ballet, Ballet Met, Dancing Wheels, and Baraka Sele at NJPAC all have commissioned notable works. The most recent tour, “A Quest for Freedom”, developed with the Ahn Trio, premiered at the Philadelphia NextMove Festival. The Company is currently in residence at New Jersey City University’s A. Harry Moore for students with disabilities and in Elizabeth School #26, a school of mostly immigrant children.
Acknowledgement
Programs of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company have been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey Cultural Trust, The New Jersey Division of Tourism, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, DanceNYC Dance Advancement Fund, the Hyde and Watson Foundation, E.J. Grassman Trust, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, New Music USA, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, American Dance Abroad, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ Cultural Exchange Fund, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, PSEG, Proskauer, WAC Lighting and the Glow Foundation. WQXR is a media partner of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company.
