The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company along with the Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) are excited to announce the AAPI Dance Festival, held at Ailey CitiGroup Theatre, January 10-11, 2026. Tickets are $25 for each showcase and $40 for a two-day pass. They can be purchased online here.
Join Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company for the AAPI Dance Festival, an annual celebration of dance and choreography that highlights the artistry and innovation of choreographers of Asian descent, presented as part of the Dance Managers Collective’s APAP showcase at City Center and the Ailey Citigroup Theatre.
Produced in collaboration with the Asian American Arts Alliance, this edition of the AAPI Dance Festival includes a Rising Star Showcase at City Center Studio 5, spotlighting emerging Asian-American choreographers.
On Saturday, January 10 at 1:45 pm, the matinee program presents four distinctive works: TAKE Dance’s 10/18/2022; Sugar Vendil’s Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia, a memoir of a Filipinx American childhood that interweaves music and movement; Barkha Dance Company’s icchā / desire; and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Celestial Motion: Rhythms from the Silk Road and Beyond.
That evening at 7 pm, the Rising Stars Showcase spotlights emerging talents with six fresh pieces: Gotham Dance Theater’s World of Gotham; Who Am I? by Maya Kulkarni featuring Aishwarya Madhav; Stephanie Shin & Artists’ On the Subject of Bananas; Jie-Hung Connie Shiau & Artists’ How To Make A Really Cool Frog; Chieh&Yoyo-Compound Playground’s Taipei’s Sky; and Umami Playground Dance Inc.’s NYC, a vibrant collective blending street, club, and contemporary dance styles.
The festival culminates on Sunday, January 11 at 4:15 pm with a closing program of four evocative works: Naomi Funaki’s Ikigai, excerpts from a new tap dance exploration presented as part of the Uptown Rhythm Dance Festival; Sun Kim Dance Theatre’s Alien of Extraordinary, a dance theatre piece born from the labyrinth of the U.S. artist visa system; Nava Dance Theatre’s Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies, using bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the U.S. after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act; and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Mirage of the Spirit: Mystic Vision of the Forces in the Shadow.
Three programs, thirteen fearless works, one unmissable weekend celebrating the future of AAPI dance.
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