Dance director traipses across five continents, culture in hand

Updated: 2015-04-17 12:14

By Yang Yao(China Daily USA)

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"I believe in 'and', not 'or'. When you need to make choices in life, you don't have to choose between A or B. You can work to make A and B both happen."

Alison Friedman was reminiscing about when she arrived in China, about 15 years ago, and how at first it appeared that living in China and pursuing her passion for dance were mutually exclusive.

"It seemed like I could only chose one. I always wanted both."

Today, she has just that. She splits her time between her native Washington and Beijing, where she runs Ping Pong Productions, which helps Chinese artists take their work overseas, and vice versa.

Her company offers a wide range of performance-related services, from planning and producing shows, to tour management and consultancy.

"I chose the name Ping Pong Productions because it is a nod to ping pong diplomacy. We are engaged in cultural diplomacy," she said. "And of course there's the back-and-forth inherent in the name. Our mission is to bring China and the world together through the performing arts."

The production company has supported many startups and grassroots artists in China. Two of its biggest partners are Wang Chong, the avant-garde theater director, and TAO Dance Theater, which it has already taken to more than 30 countries on five continents, with more planned this year.

"What interests me are young artists with a clear vision, a clear voice. It might still be developing, but you know when you've met someone who has already gone deeply into themselves and found something unique. This was very clear with artists like Tao Ye, (founder of TAO Dance Theater), and Wang Chong. They are on their own path, and nothing is going to deter them."

New arrival

When Friedman first visited China, in 2000, it was on a study program, which took her to Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province. The next year, she gained a summer internship with CNN in Beijing.

It was during her stay in the capital that she met choreographer Wen Hui and documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang, the founders of Living Dance Studio. She went on to perform with them in a production called Dance with Migrant Workers.

"Thirty migrant workers from Sichuan province performed with 10 dancers. It was not only cross-cultural between American and Chinese dancers, but also between dance artists and construction workers. Beijing had just received the Olympic bid. The performance used dance - a physical art form - to highlight how the workers were using their bodies to build the New Beijing.

"I felt that I had found my family in China. We shared the same culture of modern dance. I wanted to learn more about these artists, to put them in a larger context, to understand more about modern dance in China."

In 2002, after graduating from Brown University, Friedman returned to China as a Fulbright scholar studying modern dance. A year of research helped her to integrate in the capital, where she enrolled at the Beijing Dance Academy and studied modern dance, ballet, folk dancing and classical Chinese dance. She also traveled throughout the country to interview choreographers, dancers, educators and other modern dance pioneers.

"Some people asked me why I chose such a narrow topic to study," she said. "In fact it was the perfect vantage point from which to understand this vast country - its education, economy, policies and how that larger ecology affects the development of this new art form."

Later, after working as international director of the Beijing Modern Dance Company and general manager of Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun's Parnassus Productions, she decided to start her own business.

Crossing cultures

Apart from exporting Chinese art, Ping Pong Productions takes acts from Europe and the United States to audiences across China to deepen understanding of other cultures.

In November 2011, the company collaborated with Los Angeles Theatre Works to bring Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons' historical drama Top Secret: The Battle for The Pentagon Papers to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing for two weeks. There were also talks about US legislation and politics with academics, journalists and lawyers after each performance.

"America doesn't have a cultural ministry to support the arts," Friedman said. "So most American companies have to fundraise to come to China. That is one of the reasons why there have been only two American-produced theater shows at the NCPA (National Center for Performing Arts) in Beijing."

In addition to LA Theatre Works, her company has also worked with Tim Robbins' theater troupe The Actors' Gang, the Mark Morris Dance Group and the British Council, to help them establish channels in China.

Her productions have also toured the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, the Sydney Opera House, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and other leading venues and festivals.

In the long run, Friedman said she hopes her company can be a lasting institution that promotes exchanges between art groups in various countries.

yangyao@chinadaily.com.cn

Dance director traipses across five continents, culture in hand

 Dance director traipses across five continents, culture in hand

Performance produced by TAO Dance Theater, one of the two biggest partners of Ping Pong Productions. Fan Xi / for China Daily

(China Daily USA 04/17/2015 page10)

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