Dance
LLD's 1st NEW WORKS Festival!
Lenora Lee Dance, Asian Improv aRts & API Cultural Center Present
Interdisciplinary dance works and film by artists from the Bay Area, NYC, and London
Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) is thrilled to present its 1st NEW WORKS Festival with performance works & film by choreographers Lynn Huang, Amber Julian, Flora Hyoin Kim (NYC), SanSan Kwan, Lenora Lee & Moyra Silva Rodríguez, Johnny Huy Nguyen, Catalina O’Connor, dazaun soleyn.
Three performances only!
Friday, April 10, 2026 at 8pm
Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 8pm
Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 3pm
Performances will begin on time, please arrive early.
Dance Mission Theater
3316 24th Street (between Mission & Valencia), San Francisco, CA 94110
Box Office: https://LLDs-1st-New-Works-Festival.eventbrite.com
For more information: http://www.LenoraLeeDance.com , call (415) 913-8725, or email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com
As part of the company’s 18th anniversary, LLD’s 1st NEW WORKS Festival amplifies and celebrates the interracial, intercultural perspectives that are richly unique to the choreographers and their experiences, the communities they are a part of, and to the diversity of their Chinese, African, Korean, Peruvian, Vietnamese, and Mexican ancestries. Through this festival, a collective of experiences bridge past and present, uncover family histories and cultural inheritance, examine the aftermath of death, war and forced displacement, and heal bodies burdened by generational trauma.
ABOUT LENORA LEE DANCE
For the last 18 years Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) has pushed the envelope of intimate and large-scale multimedia, immersive dance performance connecting various styles of movement/dance, film, text, research and music to culture, history, and human rights issues. LLD’s works are set in both public and private spaces, inspired by individual stories as well as community strength. From the proscenium, to underwater, the company’s pieces are site-responsive and immersive calling audiences into deep engagement with the work and environment. LLD’s work has grown to encompass the creation, presentation and screening of films, museum and gallery installations, civic engagement, and educational programming signifying the power of art as a movement for change. www.LenoraLeeDance.com, IG @LenoraLeeDance
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Flora Hyoin Kim (choreographer / dancer - NYC) is a Korean American dance artist, choreographer, and educator born in Seoul, South Korea, raised in Boston, MA, and currently based in New Jersey/NYC. She holds BFA in Dance from University of Wisconsin- Madison and has performed with Lenora Lee Dance, Prometheus Dance, Jenna Pollack, beheard.world, Jennifer Lin, among others. Flora is an artist in residence at Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company Studio to Stage program. Her works have been presented at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Harvard Kennedy School, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, among others. Flora is a former assistant professor of dance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a lecturer of dance at Brandeis University. Website: florakimdance.com
Lynn Huang (choreographer / dancer - SF) is a dancer, writer, and GYROTONIC(R) trainer. Originally from New York City, she arrived in San Francisco via Beijing, where she studied at Minzu University of China on a Fulbright grant. Trained in ballet, modern, and Chinese dance, she holds a BA in English literature from Barnard College, and has danced with New York based HT Chen & Dancers, compani javedani, among others and has performed throughout the US and Beijing. She currently dances with Lenora Lee Dance and was a 2023 Asian Improv Arts fellow. IG: lynnxspirals.
Onyx is an all-Black, femme dance collective rooted in traditions such as Hip Hop, Afrofusion, and House, led by choreographer Amber Julian (choreographer / dancer - SF). Onyx honors healing, ancestry, and Black visibility, blending tender and powerful expressions to embody the radical act of being fully seen. Amber Julian is an Afro-Indigenous multi-disciplinary performance artist, choreographer, educator, mentor, and community organizer dedicated to exploring themes of identity, gender, social justice activism, and ancestral wisdom.
SanSan Kwan (choreographer - SF) is chair in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley. Performance: Lenora Lee Dance, Chingchi Yu, H.T. Chen and Dancers, Maura Nguyen Donohue, among others. SanSan premiered her own work, titled Two Doors, in 2024, and is a dance scholar. Books: Love Dances: Loss and Mourning in Intercultural Collaboration, Kinesthetic City: Dance and Movement in Chinese Urban Spaces. Articles: Dance Research Journal, TDR, Performance Research, and more. Awards: 2024 Dance Studies Association Mid-Career Award, de la Torre Bueno© Book Award, Isadora Duncan Dance Award, Beatrice Manz Faculty Award. https://sansankwan.wixsite.com/my-site
Lenora Lee (artistic director, filmmaker) The company is directed by San Francisco (Yelamu) native Lenora Lee, who has been a dancer, choreographer & artistic director for the past 27 years. She has been an Artist Fellow at the deYoung Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, a Visiting Scholar at NYU, a 2019 United States Artists Fellow, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission, Pao Arts Center & ArtsEmerson. www.LenoraLeeDance.com, IG @LenoraLeeDance
Johnny Huy Nguyễn (choreographer / dancer - SF) is a Vietnamese multidisciplinary dance artist incorporating movement, theater, text, ritual, installation, and humor to interrogate the social, political, and cultural forces that shape us. Nguyễn is a 2023 United States of Asian America Festival Featured Artist, 2022 Isadora Duncan Dance Award recipient, and 2021 APAture Festival Featured Artist. His work has been presented by 500 Capp St, and Asian Art Museum. His films have shown at CAAMfest, Sans Souci Festival, Contact Dance International Film Festival (Canada), Dance Camera Istanbul (Turkey). IG: johnny.huy.nguyen.
Catalina O’Connor (choreographer / dancer - SF) is a modern/contemporary dancer & teacher. She is currently teaching with LINES Ballet Community Programs, Shawl-Anderson Youth Program, and Nagata Dance. They have had the honor to work with Lenora Lee Dance, pateldanceworks, Rogelio Lopez & Dancers, Andrew Merrell/Slack Dance, Davalos Dance, Chingchi Yu, and Andi Salazar/A Pulso Dance Project in various Bay Area theaters as well as beautiful nature spaces like the National AIDS Memorial Grove and the Yerba Buena Gardens. Photo by Andrio Jordan Fong. IG: @catalina_oconnor Facebook: Catalina O’Connor
Moyra Cecilia Silva Rodriguez (filmmaker, choreographer, dancer - London / Lima) from Lima, Peru, holds a Master’s in Dance Anthropology and a Bachelor's in Communication Science and Arts. Her Chinese-Peruvian heritage influences her exploration of art and identity, blending academic research with movement and visual arts. Awarded by the 2023 Economic Stimulus for Cultural and Arts Industries, Instituto Cultural Peruano Norte-Americano, Festival Artes Escenicas Lima, the German Federal Foreign Office, and Goethe-Institut, she is an Erasmus Mundus scholar (2020-2022). www.moyrasilva.com / @moyra_silva.
dazaun soleyn (choreographer / dancer - SF). With an intention to create art that aims to illuminate the human soul, dazaun soleyn (he/she/they), has presented work in the Bay Area since 2013. He received a BFA in Modern Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of South Florida and continued his dance education at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. Recently, dazaun graduated from California College of the Arts with a Masters in Architecture (MArch). Dazaun is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, a Gyrotonic Instructor, Reiki Master and Apprentice Herbalists. His mediums include dance, architecture, sculpture and interactive installations.dazaunsoleyn.org social media: dazaun_s. website: dazaunsoleyn.org.
LLD is supported in part by Asian Improv aRts, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, Good Medicine Picture Company, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and by Generous Individuals.
Images: 1) Rosika Dater-Merton & Catalina O'Connor, photo by Robbie Sweeny. 2) Claire Fisher-Mendez, dazaun doleyn, Jordon Ellis Dabney, photo by Kimara Dixon. 3) Tatianna Steiner & Frances Sedayao, photo by Robbie Sweeny, courtesy of SanSan Kwan. 4) Johnny Huy Nguyễn, photo by Robbie Sweeny. 5) Amber Julian, photo by Empyrean Visuals. 6) Lynn Huang, photo by Robbie Sweeny. 7) Flora Kim Han, photo by Joan Dwiartanto. 8) Moyra Silva, courtesy of LLD
