Queens Dancer Shapes Radio City Stage
By MICHAEL REHAK
Queens Tribune
January 5, 2006
For the third straight year, the "Chinese New Year Global Gala" will make its way to Radio City Music Hall, providing a full venue of music, dance, acrobatics and entertainment brought by hundreds of Asian and Western artists.
Like previous years, the show will feature the choreography of renowned dancer, Yung Yung Tsuai, an Elmhurst resident who has studied the art since the age of 5, when she began learning traditional Chinese folk dance and opera after her family moved from China to Taiwan during the Communist Revolution.
Now half a century later, Tsuai said although she won't be performing at the Gala (which she did last in 2004), her choreography will be showcased in an interesting storyline that pits the righteous against evil spirits, where evil is represented by a large scale dragon and good is played by a cast of floating dancers. The performance, she added, involves around 50 artists.
No stranger to the art, when she's not assembling dozens of dancers in fixed and collaborative moves for shows, Tsuai is also a teacher at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance in Manhattan and has performed in various off-Broadway shows, such as "Sayonara" under the tutelage of director Susan Stroman.
Now spending her time teaching others, Tsuai said what she found most difficult about choreographing such a large group for the performance is simply finding the time for everyone to meet together.
"It's a challenge," she said.
Despite the difficulties, she added that many of the performers are very talented and a number of them are from Queens.
As for Tsuai, she said she has lived in the borough for the past four years and has moved around a lot since coming to this country at the age of 21, when she received a scholarship to study at the Graham School.
Now in her 50s, Tsuai said the differences in Western and Chinese cultures can be found in styles, where one focuses on individuality and the other is more collaborative.
Chinese culture, she said, revolves around the society as a whole, where Americans tend to center on the soloist.
"Ours is more like the society that is tied together," she said Tuesday."In the Chinese culture, if you know one person, you know 20 people."
"The dancing and the music has a very circular flow," said Tsuai. "It shows unity."
She added that the art goes back thousands of years and began with the teachings of Confucius and Buddha.
"The art is a reflection of living philosophy" said Tsuai. Using Chinese culture as the basis for her work, Tsuai said it would be shown throughout the two-day performance that is set for the end of this month, one week before the official Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.
Also providing more than just Chinese performances, this year, according to Tsuai, the American Ballet will be making its way onto the stage at Radio City.
The shows will be held Friday Jan. 20, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 21, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. The New Tang Dynasty television station, which is available through Time Warner Cable, will also broadcast the Gala but to see it live, tickets can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171. You can also purchase tickets online at www.gala.ntdtv.com or at www.radiocity.com. Prices range from $49 - $200.