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Event
Minh Tran & Company in Retrospective Performance
MINH TRAN & COMPANY IN RETROSPECTIVE PERFORMANCE
To mark the commencement of Minh Trans appointment as Assistant Professor in Dance at Reed College, the Dance Program at Reed College will present Minh Tran & Company in a retrospective of the companys work that has, over the past decade, received critical acclaim.
Trans work is particularly noted for its fusion of traditional Asian technique and contemporary Western dance, underscored by an unwavering commitment to breaking down cultural and racial barriers. The value of diversity, the main theme of his works, gives meaning to the content of his choreography. The Oregonian praised Tran for having, a style that is an idiosyncratic fusion of traditional Chinese opera movement and Western postmodern dance, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer raved, both precise and fast-flowing, Tran is blessed with confident, complex inner musical rhythms.
The program, will be danced by Trans 6-member Portland-based company: Angela Haugejorden, Samuel Hobbs, Jennifer Hong, Riho Katagiri, Carla Mann, and Tran. The program features three works that display the breadth and power of Trans choreography. The first piece, Ancestor (2000) is a tribute to the grandfathers that Tran only had the opportunity to know through family portraits, and features dance vocabulary drawn from Asians martial arts forms. The War Within follows and is an excerpt from the critically acclaimed 1996 work, The Road Home. An autobiographical dance journal, the work depicts Trans escape from Vietnam after the war.
Drawing from the spiritual world of Southeast Asia, the program concludes with Nocturnal Path, an ensemble work for the company based on archaeological reliefs and mural paintings from temples throughout the region. Visual design for this work is provided by artist Christine Bourdette and Lam Quang of Hi-iH Gallery. Nocturnal Path was originally commissioned by the White Bird/Tiffany & Co. New Works Fund with additional support from the Regional Arts & Culture Council, and the National Dance Project for the 2005-2006 season, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts.
These selections of Trans work will also be performed as part of the Footlight Series in March 2009 at John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin (www.jmkac.org); and Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State University, Los Angeles, California (www.luckmanarts.org).
Minh Tran & Company is a nonprofit dance organization based in Portland, Oregon under artistic direction of Vietnamese-American choreographer Minh Tran, a recipient of the 2005 Oregon Art Commission Individual Fellowship Award. With a growing body of original and distinctive contemporary dance work and an increasing national presence, the company is noted for its singular fusion of traditional and contemporary techniques. Spanning architectural, cultural and social contexts, Minh Tran & Companys repertory reflects its choreographers fascination with the personal identity, popular culture, geography, and the compelling interplay of eastern and western traditions. The Company aims to promote artistic dialogue and educational exchange with audiences and communities through the use of artistic expression as a catalyst for breaking down cultural and racial barriers.
Born in Vietnam, Mr. Tran immigrated to the United States in 1980 as a political refugee. In addition to receiving dance training in classical Vietnamese opera at the National School of Fine and Performing Arts in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), he holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Washington and Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration / Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis from Portland State University. Mr. Tran has created over twenty-nine choreographic works since 1989. As both a dancer and choreographer, his work has received numerous grants, fellowships and commissions. Since 1995 Mr. Tran has acted as a review panelist for numerous public and private funding organizations. In 2003 Minh Tran & Company was awarded a production and touring grant from the Doris Duke Fund for Dance of the National Dance Project, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Mr. Tran was a member of the advisory committee for New York's Dance Theater Workshop Suitcase Fund / The Mekong Project which is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Mr. Trans work has been performed nationally along the West coast, and internationally in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Tran is an assistant professor at Reed College and Guest Instructor of Dance at Lewis & Clark College.
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LocationReed College Sport Center Gym II
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202-8199
United States
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