Asian Improv aRts and API Cultural Center Present the U.S. Premiere of
A Bridge to Now / Un Puente hacia el Presente
A multimedia experience by the award-winning Lenora Lee Dance in collaboration with Moyra Silva Rodríguez
A Bridge to Now / Un Puente hacia el Presente is a multimedia dance collaboration between U.S. and Peruvian dancers expanding perspectives on immigration in the Americas by looking at the legacies of racialized labor exploitation and anti-immigrant sentiment in both countries. Through dance, video, archival images, and interviews with the descendants of Chinese indentured servants in Peru and the U.S., this 50-minute piece honors the struggles and lasting cultural contributions of Chinese immigrants to Peruvian and U.S. societies, uplifting the perseverance of these communities made up of multiracial descendants today.
Friday, March 28, 2025 at 8pm
Saturday, March 29, 2025 at 8pm
Sunday, March 30, 2025 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://ABridgeToNow.eventbrite.com
For more information: call (415) 913-8725, or email LenoraLeeDance@gmail.com
VIDEO TEASER: https://vimeo.com/1030613632?share=copy#t=0
Conceived, Produced & Directed by Lenora Lee (San Francisco), Moyra Silva Rodríguez (Lima / London)
Choreography: Lenora Lee & Moyra Silva Rodríguez in collaboration with Dance Collaborators: José Avilés (Lima), Peter Cheng (New York City), Lynn Huang, SanSan Kwan, Johnny Huy Nguyễn, and Catalina O’Connor (San Francisco)
Recorded music directed by Francis Wong & Tatsu Aoki
Media Design & Editing: Lenora Lee & Moyra Silva Rodríguez
Light Design: Harry Rubeck
Interviewee Voiceover: Moyra Silva Rodríguez, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Lok Siu, Maria del Pilar Rodriguez Wong, Xuan Gan, Evelyn Kcomt Whu, Cecilia Maria Kcomt, Julia Wong Kcomt, Diana Li, Yukon Choy, John Choy, Jorge Black Tam, Sun Cok, Marco Loo, Angie Chang.
Photos by Robbie Sweeny
From sound score of A Bridge to Now / Un Puente hacia el Presente:
“Many of the Chinese when they arrived in Peru were quite stigmatized, racialized, as well as objectified, treated as pack animals, as objects. They were sold and transferred from one owner to another, regardless of their humanity.” – Marco Loo, Art historian and designer, Lima, Peru
“Unlike anti-miscegenation laws in the U.S. which criminalized inter-racial marriage until 1967, Peru had no anti-miscegenation laws. Children born of marriages between Chinese and Peruvians become important factors in assimilation of the Chinese. Approximately 10% of Peruvians have some Chinese ancestry.” – Lenora Lee, Co-artistic director, SF
“I think Chinese have everything. They have courage first. They have tenacity and they have the fight for life.” – Jorge Black Tam, performing artist and poet, Lima, Peru
ABOUT LENORA LEE DANCE
For the last 17 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 even underwater, the company’s pieces are site-responsive and immersive calling audiences into deep engagement with the work and environment. Through partnerships, 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
Lenora Lee (co-artistic director of the project) The company is directed by San Francisco native Lenora Lee, who has been a dancer, choreographer and artistic director for the past 26 years. She has been an Artist Fellow at the deYoung Museum, a Djerassi Resident Artist, a Visiting Scholar at New York University 2012-2016, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission Theater, a 2019 United States Artists Fellow, an Artist in Residence at Dance Mission, Pao Arts Center, ArtsEmerson, and Bunker Hill Community College.
Moyra Cecilia Silva Rodríguez (co-artistic director of the project, choreographer, dancer) 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) and collaborates with Lenora Lee Dance on Chinatown and Chinese-Peruvian projects. www.moyrasilva.com / @moyra_silva
ADDITIONAL COLLABORATORS
http://www.lenoraleedance.com/about/collaborators/
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEES
Angie Chang is an architect with a National University of Engineering degree, specializing in the architectural and heritage aspects of Chinese immigration in Peru. Angie published “Built Heritage of Chinese Immigration in Lima’s Historic Center,” and volunteered for the Andean Rural History Institute’s Journal on Barrios Altos. Active in the Peruvian-Chinese Association’s Youth Committee for five years, with leadership roles, she currently analyzes Chinese society facades in Lima’s Historic Center.
John Choy is an advertiser and communicator dedicated to spreading self-healing through Eastern philosophy rituals, with a belief in faith, change, and evolution. John sees himself as a constant learner and a firm believer that for a door to open, one must be grateful and know how to ask, without forgetting that one is the maker of their own dreams and the creator of consequences.
@john_choy_/ Youtube: Vibrando Alto con John Choy
Yujon Choy Hau Yon, has been a Member of the Dance Ensemble of the Chinese Benevolent of Lima since 1991, Instructor since 1995, and coordinator from 2003 to 2015. Born in Lima on June 25, 1976, he is the third of four siblings. Yujon’s father was born in the Village of Pai Long, Tai Shan Region, Guangdong province/China. His mother was born in Trujillo, Peru. Yujon is a former student of Colegio Peruano Chino 10 de Octubre, with a Bachelor of Communication Sciences from the UNIVERSITY OF LIMA.
Sun Cok is a multidisciplinary Tusán professional artist bridging traditional art and design techniques with applied digital methods. Since 1996, he has been dedicated to creating and developing artistic proposals and design projects aimed at establishing interdisciplinary languages. He has worked in traditional painting using oil, acrylics, watercolors, Chinese ink, sprays, collages, etc., as well as in audiovisual installations that include animations using techniques such as stop motion, analog and digital sound installations, net art, and more. Additionally, Sun is a teacher of traditional and digital illustration and infographics. https://www.behance.net/fscokde0d/ @suncok
Evelyn Hu-DeHart is a Professor of History, American Studies and Ethnic Studies, Brown University. She was Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Brown from 2002-2014, and Director of the Consortium on Advanced Studies in Cuba 2014-2015, 2019. She received her B.A in Political Science (Stanford University) and her PhD in Latin American/Caribbean history (University of Texas at Austin). In 2018 she was Visiting Professor at the Consortium for Advanced Study Abroad in Barcelona, Spain. She has received two Fulbright fellowships, to Brazil and Peru, and lectures extensively in the United States, Asia, Latin America and Caribbean and Europe.
Xuan Gan is an Architect, makeup artist and cultural manager. Born in Zhuhai, Guangdong, in 1993, Xuan arrived in Peru as an immigrant in 1996. She grew up surrounded by dishes and woks, as immigrants and children of Chinese immigrants usually do. Despite her parents’ stricter suggestions, she has an affinity for art. Currently, Xuan is a graduate in Architecture from the National University of Engineering and makeup artist. Instagram: @nauxcorner
Cecilia Maria Kcomt is a loving Mother who was born in La Libertad, Peru and moved to Lima when she was nine years old. As an adult, she worked at a Chinese Embassy and a construction company. Cecilia married and left Peru for Mexico with her husband in 1985, then moved to the US a year later where she’s lived for over 35 years and raised three children. She considers the US her home, but occasionally visits Peru to see family.
Evelyn Ivette Kcomt Whu was born in Lima, Peru. Her four grandparents are Chinese and settled in Peru. When she was young, Evelyn studied in a Peruvian Chinese school, and remains close to the Chinese community. She celebrates with her family the Chinese New Year, the Moon Festival, and by eating Chinese cuisine. Evelyn and her family often go shopping on Capon Street, in Lima Chinatown.
Diana Li, Daughter of Cecilia Kcomt, is an artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently resides and works in Huchiun, unceded Ohlone land. Her work is eclectic and evolving, from sound and video installations glitching diasporic memories, crochet affirmation clothing and accessories, and linocut prints of mythological creatures. A self-proclaimed “hija de chifa y chicha,” she traverses time and space to draw closer to the cultural lineage of her Chinese Cantonese and Peruvian ancestry.
Marco Loo is an Art historian and designer who has worked on various curatorial projects, including “土生:回乡 Tǔshēng. Returns to the Country of the Center” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lima, which won the 2020 Llama Award from the Association of Curators of Peru. He researches artists of Chinese descent in Peru as a contribution of migration to Peruvian culture. He is currently the head of the Publishing Fund at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University.
Maria del Pilar Rodríguez Wong, mother of Moyra Silva Rodríguez, is a Peruvian geologist of Chinese descent with a Bachelor’s in Geology from the National University of Engineering (Peru), and advanced studies in Environmental Sciences and Landscaping from Universidad Agraria La Molina. Her work specializes in geochemical exploration across South America and Mongolia. Passionate about Chinese history, culture, and migration to Peru, she has been inspired by her grandfather, Emilio Wong, to search and read books on this topic since youth.
Dr. Lok Siu (she/her/她) is Professor of Ethnic Studies and Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. She is an award-winning author and cultural anthropologist working in the areas of Chinese diaspora, Asian diasporas in the Americas, transnational migration, belonging and cultural citizenship, food, and ethnography. Siu has conducted field research in Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, China, and the United States.
Jorge Black Tam is a multidisciplinary performing artist and poet who graduated from the IV Advanced Workshop for Actors with Alberto Ísola, and studied under teachers such as Roberto Ángeles and Gilbert Rouviere. Jorge starred in “Cuaderno Negro de Almada” at the French Alliance Theater and participated in “Puertas” at the 34th ICPNA International Dance Festival. He is notable for creating “El Rezo de los Niños” and wrote “Manta y Vilca,” which was presented at the Place of Memory (LUM). Jorge conducts workshops on poetry and movement, and his poems are included in the Tusán anthology Hojas Sobre Las Raíces. He is currently working on the “Poetic Performance Concert: Tantas Voces, Tantas Veces” and is preparing a poetry collection.
Julia Wong Kcomt (1965-2024) was a Chinese-Peruvian writer and cultural manager, born in Chepén, a city in the northwest of Peru, into a family of Chinese immigrants. She has always been deeply engaged with art and identity expressions. The author of numerous poetry collections, novels, short story collections, and other works, Wong Kcomt explores themes of identity, migration, and womanhood. Her Chinese Peruvian heritage and experiences living across South America, Asia, and Europe heavily influence her work.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Asian Improv aRts Since 1987, Asian Improv aRts (AIR) has built a national cross-cultural, interdisciplinary community rooted in social justice and equity, advancing artists who create innovative works representing Asian and Asian American experiences. AIR’s impact has been far-reaching; building the strength, sustainability and national visibility of Asian American arts and culture, embedded in community-based work with an authentic Asian American voice and grounded in a social justice approach that has deep connections to BIPOC communities. Over its 37 years, AIR has produced more than 100 recordings of Asian American artists, chronicling a legacy of Asian artistic excellence in the U.S. and mentored many artists in their early stages, some of whom are now luminaries in their field. http://www.asianimprov.org
The Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s (APICC) mission is to support and produce multidisciplinary art reflective of the unique experiences of Asian Pacific Islanders living in the United States. APICC was founded in 1996 by representatives of five nonprofit arts groups: Asian American Dance Performances, First Voice, Asian Improv aRts, the Asian American Theater Company, and Kearny Street Workshop. Since 1998, the center has promoted the artistic and organizational growth of San Francisco’s API arts community by organizing and presenting the annual United States of Asian America Festival as well as commissioning contemporary art for and by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. www.apiculturalcenter.org
The 2025 U.S Premiere of “A Bridge to Now” is supported in part by Asian Improv aRts, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, California Arts Council, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and by Generous Individuals. The 2024 World Premiere of “A Bridge to Now” / “Un Puente hacia el Presente” in Lima, Peru was awarded the 2023 Culture Stimulus in Peru, and was supported in part by Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and Mid Atlantic Arts through USArtists International, a program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Photos by Robbie Sweeny of 1) Peter Cheng & José Avilés. 2) Lynn Huang & Johnny Huy Nguyễn. 3) Catalina O’Connor. 4) Peter Cheng & Moyra Silva. 5) featuring José Avilés. 6) SanSan Kwan
