Ping Chong

Ping Chong was born in 1946 and raised in the Chinatown section of New York City. He studied film-making and graphic design at the School of Visual Arts and the Pratt Institute. Ping Chong began his theatrical career as a member of Meredith Monk's The House Foundation. He collaborated with her on several major works including The Travelogue Series and The Games, for which they shared the Outstanding Achievement in Music Theatre Award in 1986. In 1972, Ping Chong gathered a group of artists at Meredith Monk's loft in New York City to create Lazarus, his first independent theatre work. Since then, he has created over fifty major works for the stage including Humboldt's Current (Obie Award, 1977), A.M./A.M. - The Articulated Man (Villager Award, 1982), Nosferatu (Maharam Design Award, 1985), Angels of Swedenborg (1985), Kind Ness (USA Playwrights' Award, 1988), Brightness, which garnered two 1990 Bessie Awards, Deshima, Chinoiserie and After Sorrow. In 1998 he created Kwaidan, his first full-length puppetry work, in collaboration with Jon Ludwig and Mitsuru Ishii. His work has been performed at such major New York venues as The Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival, The Joyce Theatre, La MaMa E.T.C., St. Clement's Theatre and The Central Park Summerstage, as well as at major museums, theatres and festivals in North America, Europe and Asia. In recent years he has expanded the range of his explorations to include video and visual arts installations. Today, Ping Chong is recognized as one of our country's most significant theatre artists, and a seminal figure in the Asian-American arts arena.

Muna Tseng

Muna Tseng was born and raised in Hong Kong, educated in Canada where she began her dance training at age 15 with Magda and Gertrude Hanova, disciples of Mary Wigman.  Arriving in New York, she was principal dancer for Jean Erdman’s Theater of the Open Eye from 1978-1985. 
She founded Muna Tseng Dance Projects in New York in 1984.  Acclaimed productions include: "Ambiguous Ambassador "a.k.a. " SlutForArt" and “98.6: A Convergence in 15 Minutes”  (director Ping Chong): 92nd Street Y NY premiere in 1999, US tours 1999-2002. "The Silver River" (Bright Sheng- composer, David Henry Hwang -libretto, Ong Keng Sen- direction): Lincoln Center Festival NY 2002, Spoleto Festival USA 2000, Philadelphia and Singapore tours.  "After Sorrow" (with Ping Chong & Company): La MaMa ETC NY premiere in 1997, US and Asian tours 1997-98. "The Idea of East" (composer Tan Dun, pianists Margaret Leng Tan, SouHon Cheung, architect Billie Tsien):  P.S. 122 premiere in NY in 1996. "The Pink" (with composer Tan Dun): Hong Kong and La MaMa ETC NY premieres in1994, co-produced with City Contemporary Dance Company of Hong Kong; US and Estonian tours 1994-97.  "MTPNC" (composer/video-artist Phill Niblock): Danspace NY premiere in 1992, German tour. "Water Water” and “Water Mysteries” and “Water Trilogy" (director Emmanouil Koutsourelis): Joyce Theater NY premiere in 1988, European tours. "Post-Revolutionary Girl" (composer Ana da Silva, painter Winston Roeth): NY premiere 1989, Asian and European tours. 

Christopher Caines

Christopher Caines was raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and trained principally with Claire Mallardi, Hanya Holm, Mary Anthony, at the Merce Cunningham Studio (modern), and with Marie Pacquette and Nenette Charisse (ballet). His musical studies include tabla, frame drumming, and both Western and Indian classical singing. He currently studies harmony and counterpoint at Mannes College. Early in his career, he danced for some 25 New York–based choreographers, and he has also worked as an actor, director/dramaturg, lighting designer, singer, drummer, and composer for dance and theater.
Caines began to make his own work in 1990; his early pieces included dances, site-specific pieces, and interdisciplinary multimedia performance works. He founded the Christopher Caines Dance Company in 2000, and has since made some 20 dances for the company. Noted for his musicality and musicianship, Caines has been called “the most musically sophisticated choreographer under 45 in the United States” (Mindy Aloff, Dance View Times). His commissions for groups of student dancers and musicians include dances created as the Ruth Page Visiting Guest Artist in Dance at Harvard University (1999) and as a visiting faculty member at Princeton University and Swarthmore College (2001–02).