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Eleanor Yung and the AADT: Dancing "Asian America"
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July 31, 2023
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Passage. 1978.
Costume Design: Kwok Yee Tai
What Jenny Huang has written on Eleanor Yung and her choreography is beautiful. So well understood and articulated, I feel as if she were there, seeing Eleanor’s dance with us for the first time. Her writing makes explicit an embodied insight into being Asian American in the 70s when a racial/political consciousness was emerging. At that time the thumbs up accolades of mainstream dance reviews seemed enough, but they were certainly not writing for an Asian American audience. Jenny's critical perceptions of that - an analysis of how we are perceived - is most helpful. It is a remarkable moment to have Jenny Huang do this now some thirty years later. It is our pleasure to share this piece with you.
After introductory remarks on the term ‘Asian American’, background on Eleanor starts on p2, Basement Workshop on p3, Eleanor’s comments about Asian American dance and the make up of the company on p4, the Ribbon Dance and Passage on p5, Kampuchia p6, the developing purpose of the traditional company p7, Asian bodies, Orientalism and mainstream reviews p8, p9, & p10.
