LLD is seeking your support!
Within These Walls & Dreams of Flight Indiegogo
DEAR FRIENDS,
September of last year we exchanged sorrow and travesty of justices at the Immigration Station on Angel Island. Tears and hearts aligned in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Am so honored to announce of the re-staging and launch of Within These Walls, alongside its sequel Dreams of Flight. Now we are at a critical juncture and wholeheartedly ask for your love and support in re-staging this momentous and heartfelt work. We deeply hope you can join us in sharing the love and light of voice in this coming year. Join Lenora Lee Dance in the re-staging of its award winning immersive, multimedia dance piece, Within These Walls, alongside the creation of its sequel Dreams of Flight, and its full length dance film. In honor, these works are dedicated to those detained, interrogated and processed at the Angel Island Immigration Station.
WTW premiered in a two-week run 9/9-9/17/17 at the Angel Island Immigration Station Barracks and is receiving incredible acclaim, through a Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Production by the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee. Hien Huynh, one of the main cast members who played a character inspired by the life of Wong Gong Jue, is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Performance by an Individual for his incredibly moving performance in the piece. LLD has been touring excerpts of the work in Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, with the possible re-staging of the full work on tour in Boston and other cities in 2019 and 2020.
WTW is dedicated to the 170,000 Chinese who were detained, interrogated and processed at the Station between 1910 – 1940 as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Exclusion Act tore families apart and resulted in a mass incarceration experience that forever stamps the experience of Chinese in America. It was the first piece of legislation to restrict anyone from another country from immigrating to the U.S. It was enforced until 1943, with quotas until 1965, an 83 year period of Exclusion, which set precedent for anti-immigration laws to follow.
We are again at a particular crossroad in our nation’s journey with the current administration. The rights of immigrants, women, children, the impoverished, and communities of color are being heavily threatened. In the context of today’s mass detention of immigrants and the national debate taken to a new level, there is an acute sense of urgency in promoting efforts to engage the public in the process of reconciliation and restorative justice embodied in the effort to share the story of the Angel Island Immigration Station. The public’s engagement with this historic site is not only one of education or curiosity, but an affirmative, deeply felt, effort at healing.
GOING FORWARD INTO OUR 12TH SEASON
WTW remains one of LLD’s strongest and most ambitious works. It was an exhilarating experience that brought many to tears, including us. With immense displays of love and support from numerous communities across the country, we feel extremely thrilled and honored to announce the re-staging of WTW and its sequel Dreams of Flight at the Angel Island Immigration Station for three weekends in May, 5/4 – 5/19/19! This will be our longest performance run to date, a necessary and bold next step in making this pivotal work more accessible to the public.
Your support will also contribute to the creation of a dance film based on our WTW (2017) production, directed by award winning filmmaker/musician/composer Tatsu Aoki. Our last collaborative film with Tatsu, LIGHT, won Best Experimental Film at the Canada International Film festival in 2017. The WTW film will premier in Fall 2019, and will be made available to the broader public through the creation and sale of a DVD box set of this major signature piece.
ADDITIONAL WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE
– If your company has a Matching Gifts Program, your donation can go twice as far. Please contact me at LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com to inquire about the details
– If you have airline miles you can donate, we would greatly appreciate the contribution!! Please email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com
YOU CAN HELP SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, AND NETWORKS ABOUT THIS PROJECT AND OUR REQUEST FOR SUPPORT!
The timing is critical.
We seek to share a sense of gratitude for life and our lived experiences. The power in sharing these truths is boundless and with your support, we will continue to bring the possibilities to life.
With much appreciation, love, light & gratitude,
Lenora Lee Dance
