Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College will celebrate The 2025 Lunar New Year of the Snake, with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, at 53-49 Reeves Ave, Flushing, NY.

The Lunar New Year Celebration at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts honors the Year of the Snake, symbolizing wisdom, transformation, and resilience. The program blends ancient Chinese traditions with contemporary movement, celebrating themes of harmony and renewal. Opening with "Lion in the City," a fusion of traditional Lion Dance and hip-hop, the piece symbolizes peace and cultural collaboration. A duet inspired by the Legend of the White Snake highlights empowerment, especially for women, while "Tiger and Water Lilies" contrasts strength and beauty, blending contemporary ballet with Asian dance forms. "Unfolding," a collaboration of Nai-Ni Chen with a Korean Janggu performer in the early 2000s, explores life’s continuous change, echoing the I-Ching’s philosophy of transformation and reflecting on the symbolism of the Snake. The evening culminates in "Dragon Festival," where the dragon—symbolizing prosperity and balance—descends from the heavens, blessing the community with good fortune for the coming year. The Snake, revered in Chinese culture for its agility and wisdom, reminds us to embrace personal growth and adaptability, making this celebration a reflection on transformation, unity, and cultural heritage.

The Company will premiere a new dance for the Year of the Snake, Dances of the Golden Snake. The new dance will be created by Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Director of Traditional Dance and Preservation, Ying Shi.

Lion in the City is based on the traditional Chinese Lion Dance, which is the most popular dance performed in the Chinese New Year Celebration. The Lion Dance is a prayer for peace on earth as a child is able to play with a ferocious beast in harmony. There are many styles of the Lion Dance in China. Last year, the Company was celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop and memorializing the pioneering spirit of Nai-Ni Chen, who began working with Rokafella and Kwikstep in 2017, developing a dialogue between her contemporary/Chinese movement style and hip-hop. This dance was originally commissioned by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in 2023. It is being repeated by popular demand.

Snake Duet (working title) is a new dance based on one of the most important legends about the snake in the Chinese tradition, the Legend of the White Snake. It is a love story about a powerful magical White Snake and her best friend the Green Snake coming to seek eternal love on earth but their journey suffered oppression and rejection for their identity. Long believed to be a story that advocates for women’s status in the traditionally male-dominated, ancient Chinese society, this dance shows the solidarity between the two snake women and their bond of sisterhood.

Tiger and Water Lilies was originally commissioned by Ballet Met in Cleveland. Nai-Ni Chen created Tiger and Water Lilies for ballet dancers, with movements that are within the range of contemporary ballet and yet emphasize some of the key aspects of Asian dance movements. The male and female dancers represent contrasting ideas of motion vs. stillness, animal vs. plant and strength vs. beauty.

Unfolding is a dance based on the common heritage of the Chinese and Korean people. On the Korean flag is the symbol from I-Ching, the Book of Changes, which describes the laws of the changing universe in ancient China. I-Ching says, “The Tao is ever changing, alternating, moving without rest.” As nature unfolds at a vibrant pace, so does our life’s journey. This dance was originally commissioned by Dancing in the Streets in New York and premiered in the gardens of Wave Hill in the Bronx.

Dragon Festival is based on the traditional Chinese Dragon Dance. The Dragon Dance is the most spectacular folk dance performed in the Chinese New Year Celebration. The Dragon carries auspicious powers and nature’s grace. The Chinese Dragon is a spiritual and cultural symbol that represents prosperity and good luck, as well as a water deity that nurtures harmony. It controls rainfall, rivers, and ocean. Dragon favors pearls and usually chases after them. In this dance, Dragon descends from heaven, blesses the earth, swims down the ocean, and is offered a pearl by the pearl goddess. Blue flags symbolize water to bless for enough rainfall for the coming year, and colorful ribbons are a prayer for the prosperity of the community. For those fortunate to see this dance in the Chinese New Year, their coming year will be filled with peace, harmony, and good fortune.

When: January 25 and 26, 2025 at 3 PM

Where: Goldstein Theatre, 153-49 Reeves Avenue, Flushing, NY 11367

Tickets are $20 with no fees and can be purchased online at http://kupferbergcenter.org/ or by phone at (718) 793-8080.

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