World Premiere of Convergent Waves: Boston with Lenora Lee Dance
April 23, 2022 – Saturday marked the finale of the three day run of Convergent Waves: Boston at Pao Arts Center. A project years in the making, Convergent Waves: Boston is a site-responsive, multimedia experience by Lenora Lee Dance that celebrates the contributions of activists and non-profit leaders and reclaims space by eliciting stories of community agency, resilience, and transformation. Inspired by rich narrative, this work represents a powerful call for community oriented development in the face of rapid change, making a collective statement for the preservation of community as neighborhoods across the country inhabited for generations face cultural erosion, loss of businesses, and displacement through gentrification. Convergent Waves: Boston highlights successes in preserving the cultural fabric and accomplishments of these communities.
During the performance, audience members were led by different dancers around the entire Pao Art Center space, through the gallery, classrooms, and invited to further engage with the performance through the offerings of props and printouts of historic community action flyers. As audience members moved through the space, voice recordings, personal photos, and newspaper clippings from local artists and community leaders were projected from speakers and digital displays, bringing to life the stories of community displacement, personal, and collective resilience.
As the Convergent Waves: Boston show closes, we want to offer enormous gratitude to the individuals and organizations that offered their stories and opened their personal archives to this performance. Their work inspires, and will continue to inspire, generations of community leaders, artistic innovators, and movement builders. Thank you to:
Cynthia Yee, educator, artistic collaborator, and writer at Hudson Street Chronicles, former resident of Hudson Street
Susan Chinsen, Associate Producer at ArtsEmerson & Director of the Boston Asian American Film Festival, former Managing Director of Chinese Historical Society of New England
Paul Lee, Housing Advocate and Retired Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP, Board President, Asian Community Development Corporation, Chair of the Asian Community Fund and Board member of The Boston Foundation, former resident of Hudson Street
Lydia Lowe, Executive Director of the Chinatown Community Land Trust, Former Co-Director and Executive Director of the Chinese Progressive Association
Angie Liou, Executive Director of Asian Community Development Corporation, Board Member of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
Tunney Lee (Rest in Power), Creator of Chinatown Atlas, Distinguished MIT Professor, Former Chief of Planning and Design for the Boston Redevelopment Authority
Yu-Wen Wu, Interdisciplinary Artist at Yu-Wen Wu Studios, based in Boston
Kenneth Eng, Documentary Filmmaker
Cynthia Woo, Director of Pao Arts Center
Convergent Waves: Boston is the first iteration of this project and future performances will continue to shed light on the stories of displacement and gentrification in communities across the country. It is touring to:
Los Angeles (Spring 2023)
New York City (Fall 2023).
There will also be a virtual screening of Convergent Waves: Boston presented by ArtsEmerson in Fall 2022.
Convergent Waves: Boston is supported by ArtsEmerson, Pao Arts Center, and by generous individuals. The creation, presentation of and production residency for Convergent Waves: Boston was also made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
Special Thanks to: Asian Community Development Corporation, Carmen Chan, Chinatown Community Land Trust, Chinese Historical Society of New England, Susan Chinsen, Ken Eng, Stephanie Fan, Amy Guen, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Harry Lee, Paul Lee, Tunney Lee, Angie Liou, Lydia Lowe, Cynthia Soo Hoo, Cynthia Woo, and Cynthia Yee.
Read More About Convergent Waves: Boston
Top Gallery Photography credits: LeeDaniel Tran (@leedanieltranphoto) at flickr.com/leedanieltranphotography