Pittsburgh Changemaker: Yanlai Wu

Kelly Strayhorn Theater is presenting local leaders that have been changemakers in Pittsburgh. Mentors, teachers, artists— KST acknowledges these pioneers. This is Our Story: KST Recognizes Pittsburgh Changemakers. We interviewed Yanlai Wu, founder of the Yanlai Dance Academy.

Yanlai Dance Academy. Photos Courtesy of Yanlai Dance and JuliaBelechak.Wordpress.Com

What do you do for the community now and why is it important?

As the first Chinese dance academy in the Pittsburgh area, I feel a deep obligation to provide a cultural outlet for the Chinese American community in the region and also a great desire to introduce the beauty and intricacies of Chinese culture and dance to everyone in Pittsburgh. China and the US are important leaders in the world and I believe it is important for Chinese people to understand the West and Americans to understand the East. The Yanlai Dance Academy is trying to act as a bridge between those two communities.

What is one defining moment of your life? (When you decided to do what you’re doing now).

After retiring as a professional dancer, I was living in Houston and teaching at a Chinese dance school there (one that has been featured on the television program America’s Got Talent). Two of my friends and former classmates at the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy were principal dancers for the Pittsburgh Ballet. They told me that the Pittsburgh region did not have any Chinese dance schools and that I should come here and open one. I took the leap, moved, and opened my school in 2004. Shortly after that my friends left Pittsburgh and returned to China, but I still am happy that I made the move and made Pittsburgh my home.

What advice do you have for youth that want to become a changemaker in their community?

At Yanlai Dance Academy, I emphasize the importance of hard work, a belief in oneself and perseverance to overcome adversity. I believe those are the cornerstones of a great dancer and an accomplished individual. I work with students from age three to adults. I’ve watched my students mature from giggly children to impressive, poised adults. I encourage the students to work hard to perfect the dances that I choreograph for them. I get them up on local stages at many festivals and events throughout the year to build their self esteem and confidence. And I encourage them. They all hit obstacles that they find difficult and—through patient coaching and practice—I help them conquer those problems and reach their goals.

These cornerstones of dance—hard work, belief in oneself, and perseverance makes great dancers, but these attributes also make an individual a great leader who can make positive change to his/her community. We also instill in our students an appreciation and understanding of Chinese culture. Most of my students will never be professional dancers but the skills they learn and the worldly perspective that they get at Yanlai Dance Academy will help them become thoughtful and productive citizens of the world.

What is a song on your playlist? (A song that motivates and drives you).

I know that this answer will make me sound very boring, but I don’t even HAVE a playlist—let alone one song that drives me. I’m very busy right now mounting our May 9th performance of The Chinese Nutcracker at the Byham Theatre. Not only am I choreographing and teaching the dances to all of the students, I’m also selling ads for the programs, designing costumes and props, working with the Pittsburgh Art Institute to create video backgrounds, creating my lighting plan, overseeing marketing and ticket sales and occasionally sleeping. Ask me about my playlist again after May 9th and I promise that I will have a better answer for you.

Yanlai Dance Academy is presenting The Chinese Nutcracker on Saturday May 9th at The Byham Theatre.

The code Special2 (not case sensitive) gives $5 off each ticket (Adult becomes $25.75 and child becomes $15.75. Babies/todders in arms are admitted for free). Tickets are available here or at the Box Office. You can also check out Yanlai Dance Academy’s YouTube here.

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newMoves Fast Facts: Joan Wagman

This spring, KST presents the sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to presen short works each night. Read more about the newMoves participants here before you see their new works on stage, May 7–9.

Joan Wagman, Pittsburgh Choreographer

• Joan was a dance professor at Chatham College, Youngstown State University and University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• She has shown her work at Wood Street Galleries, the Byham Theater and the New Hazlett Theater
• Joan has also done choroegraphy for plays, operas and musicals, including Romeo and Juliet, The Mikado and Parade
• Joan Wagman’s newMoves piece is entitled Pinkification
• Pinkification lightly touches on cancer, sexuality and inhumanities

 Watch examples of Joan’s work on her vimeo, and order your newMoves festival passes here.

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newMoves Fast Facts: Moriah Ella Mason

This weekend, KST is presenting its sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to present a medley of four to five short works each night. Read more about the newMoves participants here before you see their new works on stage, May 7-9.

Interdisciplinary artist Moriah Ella Mason 

• Moriah graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2009 with a B.A. in Modern Dance and International Development
• Her choreography has been presented at Future Tenant, the New Hazlett Theater, Vox Populi (Philadelphia Fringe Festival) and venues throughout Philadelphia, Tucson and Brooklyn
• Moriah’s newMoves piece is named Diasporate.
• Diasporate reflects on Jewish history, and will feature two dancers using embodied experiences of ritual, prayer and inclusion
• Diasporate also explores whiteness, otherness and privilege in the United States
• Point Park graduate Riva Strauss will also be featured in this piece

You can read an excerpt of Moriah’s work with RAW/Yes Brain Dance Theater, and order your newMoves festival passes now.

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newMoves Fast Facts: Alexandra Bodnarchuk

This spring, KST is presenting its sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to present a medley of four to five short works each night. Read more about the newMoves participants here before you see their new works on stage, May 7-9.

Photo by David Kelly

• Alexandra began training in jazz, ballet and tap at Benvin Dance Academy at the age of two.
• She has also studied various ethnic dance styles, including Eastern European Folk Dance and Ghanian Dance.
• Alexandra has presented work at the American Dance Festival, and the HATCH Presenting Series (NYC) and RAW Pittsburgh and RAW Minneapolis (June, 2015).
• Alexandra premiered CONNOTATIONS: unknown in May 2014 at PearlArts Studios.
• Her process is rooted in an exploration of visceral physicality through the lens of multiple techniques
• She’s also interested in photography
• Alexandra’s newMoves piece,…and counting, explores the values of numerical facts by which we define ourselves, as a means of assessing the past, present and future.

Photo By Lindsay Dill.

Pick up your newMoves festival passes today and check out Alexandra’s newMoves piece this Thursday.

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newMoves Fast Facts: Elizabeth Atwell

This spring, KST is presenting its sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to present a medley of four to five short works each night. Read more about the newMoves participants here before you see their new works on stage, May 7-9.

Factory Street Studio Dancers

• Factory Street Studios is based in Athens, Ohio
• Artistic Director Elizabeth Atwell has studied at American Ballet Theater, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Ballet Met and other sites
• Elizabeth also served as an AmeriCorps member in Appalachian Ohio, and she is registered with Yoga Alliance
• Her choreography has been shown at the West Virginia Dance Festival and the Ohio Paw Festival

Elizabeth Atwell, Choreographer

• Her newMoves piece, Revolution, explores “What is dance? Movement? Someone dancing?”, and features four high school seniors.

Purchase your festival passes now to see her performance at newMoves and be sure to check out Factory Street Studios.

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newMoves Artist Spotlight: Maree ReMalia

This spring, KST is presenting its sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to present a medley of four to five short works each night. Read more about Maree ReMalia here before you see their new works on stage, May 7-9.

Choreographer Maree ReMalia | merrygogo

Briefly describe your role as a choreographer/dancer and your upcoming performance at newMoves?

In my role as a choreographer, I am interested in the particulars of people, places, and things. As a starting point for the first iteration of the Circulation Project (work-in-progress), my collaborators and I were exploring ideas related to habit, re-activating neglected spaces, and bringing what is at the margins to the center. We developed a collective movement language that drew from our writing, discussions, and shared interests. My role is a lot about allowing, offering prompts for movement, and holding a space that invites a range of expressions, movement and otherwise, to emerge, then responding intuitively to shape and structure the material.

What does it mean to you to be a choreographer in DC?

I have been living in D.C. for less than a year and have been activated in new ways by the spectrum of value placed on community dance, dance in healthcare, and site-specific and concert dance. I am still finding my way into the community and learning more of the range in aesthetic that exists in the area.

What your thoughts on the current and future dance scene in Pittsburgh vs. DC?

I am eager to see what transpires in the dance scenes in Pittsburgh and DC, both of which seem to be thriving and growing with support for both local and touring artists.

What do you hope to get out of your performance at newMoves? What do you hope audiences will take from your work?

Through our performance at newMoves, I look forward to building new relationships with artists I have not yet met and to reconnect with the Pittsburgh community, which has been very meaningful and present in my artistic and personal development. I hope audience members will be open to what comes up for them as they experience the work without the pressure of trying to solve it.

Buy your newMoves festival passes now and don’t forget to register for Maree’s master class on Friday, May 8, 10 AM at the Alloy Studios. Registration is pay-what-you-can and seating is limited.

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newMoves Fast Facts: slowdanger

slowdanger is the pseudonym, nom de guerre, and stage moniker of Pittsburgh-based performance artists Anna Thompson and Taylor Knight. Anna and Taylor use their bodies as mediums, creating movement, sound, and visual images that express an energetic and sensual connection to body and spirit. Read about the duo before you see their new work on stage May 7 at the newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival.

• In addition to making dance, these Point Park alums produce music and released their debut album in March 2015
• slowdanger’s work has been shown at the Pittsburgh Biennial and The Space Upstairs
• Outside of Pittsburgh, slowdanger has performed at the Goose Route Dance Festival in Shepardstown, WV
• Their work for newMoves, memory 3: swimmoon, reflects on the thought “I am what I remember, what I remember is what I am” and explores performance as “a reinterpretation of a memory in the present.”

Read more about the newMoves Festival and purchase your festival passes today to catch slowdanger’s innovative performance.

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Article by Trevor Miles 

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newMoves Fast Facts: Jil Stifel

By Trevor Miles

Next weekend, KST is presenting its sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to present a medley of four to five short works each night. Read more about the newMoves participants here before you see their new works on stage, May 7-9.

Jil Stifel, Performing Artist, Choreographer

• Jil Stifel is a collaborative artist who works in movement, dance and performance
• She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Highest Honors in dance from Rutgers University
• Jil recently collaborated with choreographer Ben Sota on a circus/ modern dance hybrid, Waywardland

• She has also worked with Maree ReMalia | merygogo,  Staycee Pearl Dance Project and Dave Bernabo’s MODULES
• Jil’s newMoves piece is named Knuckle Press
• Knuckle Press investigates how shared body schema can allow us to work intricately as a single unit, and utilizes discreet movements and gestures

Visit Jil’s page for more of her work and purchase newMoves tickets on our website.

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newMoves Fast Facts: Megan Mazarick

By Trevor Miles

This spring, KST is presenting its sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to present a medley of four to five short works each night. Read more about the newMoves participants here before you see their new works on stage, May 7-9th.

Megan Mazarick, Choreographer

• Megan is a Philadelphia-based choreographer, performer and teacher
• Megan’s work has toured internationally. She considers it to be visceral, humorous and political
• In some of Megan’s performances, she has danced on the hood of a moving car, swung from the side of a rock cliff, and rolled through the remains of crumbled buildings
• Her most recent work monster was performed in Cairo, Egypt at the By Chance Contemporary Dance Festival in 2015
• monster is a solo that faces female identity and being unladylike in new ways
• The performance presents the idea of women being able to transform into ferocious predators

Check out Megan’s site for more videos, pictures, and her full biography. You can also grab your festival passes right here to see monster live.

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newMoves Fast Facts: Jamie Erin Murphy

By Trevor Miles

This spring, KST is presenting its sixth annual newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival! This festival brings young local and national choreographers to the stage to present a medley of four to five short works each night. Read more about the newMoves participants here before you see their new works on stage, May 7-9th!

• Jamie is a graduate of Point Park University, and has taught Modern and Contemporary Movement at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre for eight years
• Jamie has presented in PA, OH and NYC
• Jamie was also a part of the previous Murphy/Smith Collective
• She also performed in Shana Simmon’s work Passenger and previewed this work at the Alloy Studios
• Jamie has also worked with Attack Theatre and Xpressions Dance Company
• She has also danced in I Am Woman, Accidentally, and Much More Than Bones for KST’s Next Stage Residency Program
• Jamie’s newMoves piece is entitled Makeshift, and is a movement exploration about replacement and support
• Makeshift will feature music by Olaf Bender and Ben Frost

Teacher and Choreographer, Jamie Erin Murphy

For more info on Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s newMoves Festival and tickets/passes, visit our website here.

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