In Gratitude
Dear Friends,
On this #SmallBusinessSaturday to #GivingTuesday, we invite your participation!
2017 marks our 10th Anniversary and has been our most productive year by far. We celebrated with the creation, production, world premiere and national screenings of our 57-minute film LIGHT, which was awarded Best Experimental Film at the Canada International Film Festival. We launched and are selling the beautiful LIGHT DVD and CD soundtrack Box Set.
We are deeply grateful for your support of the September world premiere of Within These Walls, a new multimedia, immersive performance at the Angel Island Immigration Station Barracks. This work transformed and animated these historic spaces into sites for remembrance and healing, as part of a community-wide commemoration of the 135th Anniversary of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and as the highlight of LLD’s 10th Anniversary Season.
Within These Walls was LLD’s strongest and most ambitious work, and has become one of LLD’s signature pieces. It was an exhilarating experience and brought many to tears, including us. Some say it is the best production they’ve ever seen. Some saw it multiple times, and one person saw 5 out of the 8 performances. The content is so relevant given the current day anti-immigrant climate in this country. It puts forth a compassionate lens on the experiences of immigrants.
We feel extremely thrilled about Within These Walls, coming to you with our plans to make a film and DVD box set based on the project, and to share our desire to remount the performance at the Immigration Station during 2018-2019.
We deeply appreciate your support and invite you to make a contribution today!
Your gift will directly support the:
– Creation of the Within These Walls Film
– Creation of the Within These Walls DVD Box Set
– Remounting of the Within These Walls Performance at the Angel Island Immigration Station
– World Premiere of Beneath The Surface Underwater Immersive Performance in 2018
– National Screenings of the 57-minute film LIGHT in 2018
We seek to share a sense of gratitude for life and our lived experiences, no matter how challenging, we are here, not just surviving, but thriving. The power in sharing these truths is boundless and with your support, we will continue to envision the possibilities and bring them to life.
WIth much appreciation,
Lenora
email: LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com
Audience Feedback:
“I thought about ICE jails, people who fear deportation, and refugees overseas. It was heavy….and so beautiful.”
“It was a truly unique and powerful experience, and I feel fortunate to have witnessed it. It snuck into my dreams last night.”
“Moving and beautifully rendered, and of course, so timely given the global dialogue around immigration. I was there with my seven year old son, and the piece made a big impression on him.”
“I was deeply affected and moved by the performance. I left in tears, and literally cried every time I replayed the performance in my head for 4 days afterward.”
“Your performance was indeed historic, an opportunity to trace, embody and heal the wounds of time, and honor the spirits of those who passed through the Immigration Station. The meta for me was the ever present questions of acceptance, inclusion and belonging, true for all of us, but especially now in these difficult times. By allowing us to be with the dancers/immigrants, you and your troupe created a space of resonance. We are all still waiting, aren’t we, for some kind of deeper belonging and transformation…. But in the performance, we could accept each other.”
“It was brilliant and emotionally powerful.”
“Scenes at the water’s edge were particularly touching. Four women danced in unison as sailboats floated by, driving home the proximity but intangibility of freedom. The dancers then returned to their dormitories, stoically passing through their first audience of the day as if we were invisible witnesses to an injustice we couldn’t control.
No matter which dancer one was following, Within These Walls culminated in a heartbreaking finale in the recreation yard, a sun-drenched acrobatic feat that left just about every performer covered in sweat. The dancers took a bow and were excused to prepare for the day’s second performance. The rest of us made our way to back to the island’s docks, onto ferries and back to freedom.”
From the Director:
“It is not enough to live our lives in the safety of our own experiences, as what we’ve known as our foundation can be taken away in the blink of an eye if we are not exercising our voices for justice, equality and compassion.” – Lenora Lee
Lenora Lee Dance is sponsored by API Cultural Center: a non-profit tax-exempt organization – EIN: 94-3295968. Contributions can be made by credit card at www.LenoraLeeDance.com/donate or sent by check. All donations are fully deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Photo of Hien Huynh & Lynn Huang, by Robbie Sweeny
