The Escape and Rescued Memories: New York Stories, Created by Choreographer Lenora Lee (Show 2)

These multidisciplinary dance pieces explore the lives of early 20th-century Chinese migrant women through dance, martial arts, film, and soundscapes. Created by Lenora Lee, dancer, choreographer and visiting scholar at NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute. Post-performance discussion will follow both performances.

The Escape is inspired by stories of women who, after being trafficked into the United States, sought refuge in San Francisco's Donaldina Cameron House, a faith-based social service agency that today continues to serve Asian communities living in San Francisco's Chinatown. Rescued Memories: New York Stories retraces the life of Bessie M. Lee (Bessie You Toy–b. 1894), who spent two years in indentured servitude after migrating to New York City to work for a wealthy Chinese family.

Both evenings' performances will be followed by special conversations featuring the artists, community organizers, and scholars.

Panelists Bios:

Dan Bacalzo (moderator) currently teaches in the NYU Drama Department at NYU and Hunter College Asian American Studies Program. He is currently working on a book project about representations of Asia by Asian American playwrights and performing artists. Bacalzo received his PhD from the Department of Performance Studies at New York University.

Annie Fukushima is the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Associate in Women’s and Gender Studies and the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University. Fukushima's research analyzes human trafficking through gender and migration, transnational feminisms, visual culture, and social movement theory. She received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Song Kim is a Kirkland and Ellis Fellow at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund working with the Anti-Trafficking Initiative, where she represents survivors of trafficking on immigration and civil matters. Kim graduated from NYU School of Law and has worked previously at the New York Asian Women’s Center, Center for Popular Democracy, and Legal Aid Society.

Purvi Shah furthers the art of transformation as a non-profit consultant, anti-violence advocate, and writer. In 2008, she won the inaugural SONY South Asian Social Service Excellence Award for her leadership fighting violence against women. Terrain Tracks is her award-winning book of poetry. Discover her work at http://purvipoets.net or @PurviPoets.
 

Co-presented by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU

Rescued Memories & The Escape clips from Lenora Lee on Vimeo.

About the organizations:

Founded in 2008, the mission of Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) is to create large-scale multimedia performance works integrating dance, original music, video, and text that connect various styles of movement and music to culture, history and human rights issues. LLD has been collaborating on pieces with Kei Lun Martial Arts & Enshin Karate, South San Francisco Dojo since 2011.

Kei Lun Martial Arts is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the cultural legacies of the lion dance, dragon dance, and martial arts. Some members also practice Chinese healing arts, painting, calligraphy, and making/restoring costumes and equipment used in the Chinese lion dance.

The mission of Enshin Karate, South San Francisco Dojo is to engage in rigorous karate training as a means of developing our abilities as martial artists and as a way of improving on our character as human beings. 100% of the Dojo’s proceeds are contributed to various agencies that are engaged in social justice and/or community organizing.