Tommy Davidson

Colorful costumes, twirling ribbons, dancing dragons - they're all a part of Year of the Dog, a dance and music celebration of the Chinese New Year, courtesy of NJ's acclaimed Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. Choreographer Nai-Ni Chen and her dancers fuse the dynamic freedom of American modern dance with the grace and splendor of Asian art. Their spectacular productions take audiences beyond cultural boundaries, to a place where tradition meets innovation and freedom arises from discipline. The company has received more than 15 awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and numerous Citations of Excellence from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Chen and company specialize in "a remarkably smooth blend of the new and the old, as well as a confident, intensely personal approach to nature," says The New York Times, which has described Chen's dancers as "endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy."