Event Preview: Downtown Los Angeles' Grand Performances Concert Series, August 2003

California Plaza, Watercourt, 350 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Grand performance Summer Concerts at California Plaza is back and features an impressive multi-ethnic line-up to soothe your ears and acculturate your mind with free (yes, free!) live performances. Here is a preview of the upcoming shows that you and your family will definitely enjoy!

By Nayla Huq

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22ND AT 7PM

Famed Los Angeles Based Korean Dance Academy Seeks to Enlighten and Enrich Audiences from a Waterfront Stage

The Los Angeles based Korean Dance Academy, lead by award-winning instructor Jung Im Lee, will dazzle audiences with grace, poise and traditional beauty in colorful costumes during the Far East Festival this August. The Dance Academy features artists who fuse traditional, contemporary and Western dance and music in their performances.

Dance instructor and director of one of the largest Korean dance studios in Southern California, Jung Im Lee has had an expansive career, as a leader encouraging pride in Korean culture. But she advises traditional dance studios not to restrict themselves by teaching only the dances of Korea, but the traditional dances of other cultures as well.

Lee's Academy, however, not only offers lessons in Korean Dance, but also teaches Korean culture in an effort to raise a sense of pride among Korean Americans, and also an awareness of Korean culture to non-Koreans.

Taking center-stage at California Plaza's Watercourt will surely enable Jung Im Lee and all at the Korean Dance Academy to realize this goal.

Liu Qi-Chao plays one of the many instruments in his repertoire. Courtesy of Grandperformances.org

Reknowned Master Performer Plays Traditional Chinese Instruments at Grand Performances

Liu Qi-Chao (Dizi) renders his dream to introduce the richness of China's traditional musical heritage to Western audiences a reality. He will enlighten the audience with the rich heritage of Chinese music at Los Angeles' Grand Performances Concert Series' stage as part of the Far East Festival of Music and Dance on Friday, August 22nd at 7 pm.

A master performer of various Chinese wind, string and percussion instruments, Qi-Chao's two-decade long career has given many classical, rock and jazz musicians the honor of working with such a musical genius. Such groups include the Kronos Quartet, the San Francisco Symphony, The Grateful Dead, and Chinese American jazz pianist/composer Jon Jang. Dizi recently taught at UCLA, while scoring a modern adaptation to a classical Chinese novel.

Beyond Taiko
Unlike any other Taiko ensemble in Southern California, the youthful quartet, the On Ensemble, incorporates jazz, rock, and electronica with traditional Japanese instruments to perform their otherworldly interpretation of traditional Taiko music. Turntables, didgeridoo, acoustic guitars and Tuvan throat singing can all be found in On Ensemble's electrified Taiko performance, which will take place during the Grand Performances Far East Festival of Music and Dance on Friday, August 22nd at 7 pm in Downtown LA.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23RD AT 8PM

Humorous and artistic Kip Fullbeck demonstrates his many talents. Courtesy of Grandperformances.org

Exploring What it Means to Be Hapa
Artist, award-winning video/film maker, and Professor of Art Studio and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Kip Fulbeck will explore his Hapa ("of mixed racial heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry" - courtesy of www.thehapaproject.com) roots and what it means to be Hapa by combining improvisation, stand-up comedy, political activism and inspirational stories dealing with myths about Asian men, interracial dating, race and sex with compassion, humor and insight.
Fulbeck, whose ethnic background consists of Cantonese, English, Irish and Welsh heritage, is the creator of The Hapa Project. The mission of this project is to raise awareness of Asian/Pacific Islanders of multicultural heritage in the United States, encourage healthy identification and self-image among the Hapa community, and to dispel racial myths.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28TH - 30TH AT 8PM

The Beijing Modern Dance Company arouses anticipation and curiosity. Courtesy of Grandperformances.org

Spectacular Dance Troupe Makes its American Debut

The Beijing Modern Dance company will be making its debut in the Western Hemisphere at Grand Performances beginning Thursday, August 28th until Saturday, August 30. They will enliven the stage with their stellar repertoire, bringing together traditional and contemporary dances of mainland China, and producing innovative works using music from Iraq, India, and even Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring".

Founded in 1995, the Beijing Modern Dance company has been an award-winning act since its inception, especially since Willy Tsao became their artistic director in 1999, bringing them to peak performance, which in turn brought into their possession the prestigious Bielorussian International Choreography Grand Prize in 1999.

Under the choreography of Nadine Thouin and the art direction of Tsao, the BMDC has received recognition in their efforts to incorporate the cultures of ethnic minorities living in China, as well as non-Chinese cultures.

www.grandperformances.org

August 15, 2003