A video of Anna's and Ivi's Solo

A video of Anna's solo and Ivi's solo from Chameleon @ University Settlement



Choreography by the dancers in collaboration with Alaine Handa

Each dancer was interviewed to share their cultural story. We worked with imagery, memories of smells, sounds, sights, touch, people, and events to create solos that were unique to each dancer.

Footage taken from Chameleon performance on 5/14/2010 at University Settlement in NYC

Chameleon is supported by the Singapore International Internationale grant from Singapore International Foundation (http://sif.org.sg)

TCK music

My bf found this on an a cappella forum site (yes, he's an a cappella dork).
This is a TCK group of men living and working in Hong Kong and they are singing both in English and Cantonese.

Famous TCKs - from Wikipedia

Notable third culture kids

• Current US President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father and spent part of his childhood in Indonesia.
• Current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent most of his teenage years in the suburbs of Philadelphia, graduating from high school there.
• Jared Taylor was born in Japan to U.S. parents, and lived in Japan until age 16.
• Former U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry lived in Switzerland as a teenager.
• North Korean leader Kim Jung Il was born in the Soviet Union and spent parts of his childhood in China.
• Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was born in Morocco and raised in Venezuela.
• One of the giants of English literature Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, and reported being more competent in the vernacular than his "native" English during his childhood.^[31]
• Gerald Durrell grew up in India and Greece.
• Uma Thurman grew up in India.
• British singer Engelbert Humperdinck was born in Chennai (then Madras), India to a British Army officer and his wife, and remained in India until the family returned to England when he was 10 years old.
• Keanu Reeves was born in Lebanon and grew up in Australia
• Viggo Mortensen was born in New York City and grew up in Venezuela, Denmark, and Argentina before returning to the U.S. as a teenager.
• Current NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, the Philadelphia-born son of professional basketball player Joe Bryant, lived in Italy from ages 6 to 13 while his father played in that country.
• David Duke spent part of his childhood in the Netherlands.
• Former NBA star and current team executive Steve Kerr, son of American academic Malcolm Kerr, was born in Beirut and spent most of his childhood in various countries in the Arab world, only moving to the U.S. permanently in high school.
• Another current NBA player, Wally Szczerbiak, is the son of professional basketball player Walter Szczerbiak; Wally was born in Madrid while his father was playing for Real Madrid, and spent his first several years in Spain.
• NBA player Steve Nash was born in South Africa and grew up in Canada.
• Zack Kim, Notable guitarist was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Actor Lee Pace spent a few years of his childhood in Saudi Arabia.
• Lead singer of Queen Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar to Parsi Indian parents and later lived in the United Kingdom.
• Slovenian politician Andrej Bajuk, born in Slovenia, spent his childhood in Argentina, studied in the United States, worked in Paris, before returning to Slovenia in the 1990s.
• U.S. Presidential candidate Bob Barr lived in several countries when his father traveled for his job.

Video glimpse of Chameleon Photography Gallery

Chameleon Photography Gallery at Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery

Photography by Wazha Dube, Albert Gumilang, Mei-Chen Lioe, Michael Mastroianni, Lauryn Ishak

Poems by Edith Södergran, Alex Graham James, Leilani Chan
Spoken Word by Alaine Handa

Thoughts on the premiere of Chameleon in NYC

The graphic above is courtesy of my publicist Tiffany Carr & her team from Bella's House of PR. We ended up using it for our program cover and is now on our 5x7 flyer that we're currently cooking up for the Capital Fringe Festival in July. More on that later...

I always get a pretty bad case of post-show depression especially after big productions such as the premiere of Chameleon a couple weeks ago. I'm only beginning to fathom how much I worked on the premiere. This includes the many sleepless nights where I worked through the wee hours of the morning to send out press releases, researching grants, writing grants, finding rehearsal space for the following month, watching rehearsal footage, uploading excerpts on vimeo and youtube, updating this blog, adding a twitter account and presence, keeping up with social media networks, expanding the audience reach, talking to people on opposite ends, writing proposals, etc. and the list goes on... That work hasn't stopped b/c Chameleon still lives.

I spent the past week walking around the city, shopping, sleeping in, eating good food, teaching, and more wandering. I got bored towards the end of the week and started working on stuff for Capital Fringe Festival. I finished the press release and have been on the search for a lighting designer. (If you are in the NYC area or DC area and available in July - please contact me ASAP ahdancecompany@gmail.com) I rested that week and didn't show up to dance class until Saturday morning. It always feels good to take dance class, especially if its Stephanie's class and I get to sweat out all the toxins. I've been dancing pretty awesome lately and very happy about it. It feels really good.

I didn't feel so great the first Monday though, the exhaustion really got to me. I had migraines and was feeling jittery all over. A byproduct of traveling, performing, lack of sleep for the weeks before.

Backtracking...

Opening night was wonderful, we had a good showing and the Q+A was so insightful. A majority of the audience stayed until the very end. There were so many TCKs and folks that found out that they were either a CCK or a TCK. (I am so glad to have been able to help you discover that - it truly is rewarding when you combine your background and your resources, talent, and passion; trust me) If there's nothing I can stress enough, is that I truly believe that Chameleon can help educate, entertain, and foster cross-cultural communication among different communities. The arts is such a powerful tool in diplomacy. There was recently an article that was written in the past week in the NY Times about the Diplomacy of Dance.

The technical aspects of putting a theatrical production is precarious and can be difficult to synch up but on Friday evening, both the performance and the tech stuff synched up. Can't wait to see the video from that evening. We picked up our zipcar in Soho and ordered Lombardi's pizza for dinner. Tasted awesome on the drive through New Jersey. I drove halfway through to Delaware so Nick can take a nap before driving the remainder leg. The hotel bed and breakfast in DC was a welcome treat. We were in DC to perform a preview of Chameleon at the Meridian International Children's Festival and lead a five minute workshop with the children in attendance. The audience was receptive, and the children were super adorable. We had a ton of fun performing. The festival staff and the festival itself were crowded with families wanting to find out about each country. A sampling of embassies hosted the festival and I picked up some souvenirs from some of the booths. The festival reminds me of UN day, International Food festivals, and performing at UN Day at my international schools growing up. In a way, it felt very familiar, very cosy, and I felt "home". How ironic.



Fast forwarding...


I'm finally creating some kind of normalcy back in my schedule. I'm plugging forward and want to let you know more about the Capital Fringe Festival.

We have been invited to perform during the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington DC this July.

July 8-25 - Capital Fringe Festival, Washington D.C.

Here are the dates and times we are performing:
Thursday July 8 @ 6pm
Saturday July 10 @ 11am
Friday July 23 @ 6pm
Saturday July 24 @ 3:45pm
Sunday July 25 @ 2:15pm

Venue: The Apothecary
Venue Address: 1013 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

Tickets are $15 and will be available online mid-June via the Capital Fringe website at:
http://www.capitalfringe.com/

If you find yourself in Washington DC this summer, I hope you will join us and come see Chameleon. This is a family-friendly production so come one, come all!

Chameleon - the experience of global citizens

The Performance Project @ University Settlement presents A.H. Dance Company in Chameleon

Thursday, May 13, Friday, May 14 & Saturday, May 15 @ 7:30pm

Q+A following May 13th performance
Reception and after party following May 15 performance

Ticket prices:

$15 adults/$10 for students and seniors

Tickets are $5 for youth 18 and under

Advance tickets for indicated shows are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98414

Your ticket purchases help subsidize tickets for families in-need and help make the arts accessible for all.

Location: The Performance Project @ University Settlement is located at the corner of Eldridge Street and Rivington Street. F/V to Second Avenue, B/D to Grand Street, J/M/Z to Essex Street.

For more information and to make a reservation for any event, please call 212-453-4532 or e-mail project.audience@gmail.com.



Chameleon combines dance, film, spoken word and visual art to investigate multi-cultural identity and cross-cultural relationships. Rooted in the notion of home, this show draws on the insight and experience of Third Culture Kids: those who have spent a significant period of time in a culture other than their own, creating a new third culture. Suitable for all ages and citizens from around the globe.
http://tckcckahdanceproject.blogspot.com

Choreography by Alaine Handa & dancers
A.H. Dance Company performers: Yoonjung Choi, Ivilisse Esguerra, Alaine Handa, Anna-Louise Herzog, Emily Mercer
Jewelry/Prop design by Natalia Krasnodebska
"The Maid" written and performed by Shayna Padovano
"I am a TCK" film Directed & Produced by Alaine Handa
Photography by Lauryn Ishak, Robert Oandasan, Wazha Dube, Albert Gumilang and more!
With additional performances by Guest choreographer/performer Kirsten Ho, "Inside out and reversible"
"Migrations" by Guest Choreographer, Deepa Dharmadhikari and Guest performers: Deepa Dharmadhikari, Jin-Ming Lai, Katherine Lung, Kurt Blomberg

Pre-show 7:15-7:30 pm: "Over Land and Water" film by Choreographer, Katherine Lung and Filmmaker, Alexander Brown



The Performance Project @ University Settlement seeks to provide innovative artists and diverse audiences with a range of opportunities to connect and enrich their lives. The Project presents innovative music, dance, film/video, theater, and performance art for all generations. The Performance Project is a continuation of University Settlement's longtime commitment to creatively address the needs of the Lower East Side community.


This project is supported in part by Singapore International Foundation's Singapore Internationale grant scheme. http://www.sif.org.sg/

Photography by William Hebert

A busy weekend for us!

What an exciting weekend!

On Friday, we had our gallery opening at Houston Street Center featuring the photography of Wazha Dube, Albert Gumilang, Lauryn Ishak, Michael Mastroianni, Rob Oandasan and Mei-Chen Lioe.
A shout out to the fabulous performances by AH Dance Company, Shayna Padovano, and Molly Does Not Approve! A BIG Thank YOU to Alison S. from Houston Street Center for organizing everything. And last but not least THANK YOU to all the folks that attended for coming out and supporting us - it was great to meet the NYC Third Culture Kid group and coordinators (Thanks Eddie & Aradhana - you are both awesome!).
The gallery will be up for the rest of the month so if you didn't get a chance to see the wonderful photography please go check it out at Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery (just ask the Univ. Settlement front desk where to go). Hours of operation run Monday through Thursday — 8AM to 10PM, Friday — 8AM to 8PM, and Saturday and Sunday — 9AM to 6PM.

A few blocks up 2nd avenue, Kirsten Ho was representing AH Dance Company by performing her solo at the Tradition in Transition Festival at the LABA Theater on 14th st. Her solo explores what it means to be biracial to her. I got to see it on Saturday and the rest of the festival was fabulous! A shout out to Laura Smith and Lydia Kramer from Intercultural Arts Dialogue for making the performance such a huge success! I really enjoyed the programming. It was also fun to meet more creative TCKs (and dancer/choreographers!)

If you haven't already PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come to Chameleon on May 13-15, 2010. Here's the info below:

The Performance Project @ University Settlement presents A.H. Dance Company in Chameleon

Thursday, May 13, Friday, May 14 & Saturday, May 15 @ 7:30pm

Q+A following May 13th performance
Reception and after party following May 15 performance

Ticket prices:

$15 adults/$10 for students and seniors

Tickets are $5 for youth 18 and under

Advance tickets for indicated shows are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98414

Your ticket purchases help subsidize tickets for families in-need and help make the arts accessible for all.

Location: The Performance Project @ University Settlement is located at the corner of Eldridge Street and Rivington Street. F/V to Second Avenue, B/D to Grand Street, J/M/Z to Essex Street.

For more information and to make a reservation for any event, please call 212-453-4532 or e-mail project.audience@gmail.com.