THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014 8pm
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue
Tickets: $15 general public, $10 Asia Society members, $12 students/seniors. Groups of 8 or more people can purchase at a discount. Email Lenora@asianimprov.org for group discount code. For tickets / info (212) 517-2742 or visit www.asiasociety.org/nyc
Directed by A/P/A Institute at NYU Visiting Scholar LENORA LEE, the interdisciplinary performance works The Escape & Rescued Memories: New York Stories are engaging and heartfelt pieces in which dance, martial arts, film, text and music collide in a visual and aural landscape, a meditation on women being propelled into the unknown by courage and faith to risk their lives and everything they have for freedom. Performed by an Asian American cast of 10 dancers and martial artists from San Francisco and New York City, these works utilize the interplay between live performance and film.
Through the cinematic recreations of actual experiences in key historic locations of San Francisco and New York City Chinatowns, overlaid with voiceover of first hand accounts, contracts and court documents found in the archives at Donaldina Cameron House and the Library of Congress, Lenora weaves together a powerful and evocative collage of stories highlighting the lives of women who were at the forefront of the early Chinatown communities, who through the resilience and triumph over unimaginable experiences, were grounding forces in the creation of these communities during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Rescued Memories: New York Stories retraces the life of Bessie M. Lee (Bessie You Toy-b. 1894), who, after migrating to New York City, spent two years in indentured servitude working for a wealthy Chinese family. The Escape is inspired by a girl who sought refuge from exploitation in San Francisco at Donaldina Cameron House, a faith-based social service agency that today continues to serve Asian communities living in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
For more information, please visit http://www.lenoraleedance.com/.