Celebrating 15 years of inspiring and captivating audiences, the J CHEN PROJECT has carved its place as a driving force in exploring identity and belonging through dance. With a team of talented dancers and dynamic collaborators, the company has joined hands with leading cultural institutions to elevate the arts and broaden horizons. This remarkable journey is a realization of the dream of its founder, Jessica Chen, whose life could have taken a vastly different course.
Born in California as a first-generation Chinese American, Jessica's roots stem from her parents' immigration from Taiwan. Her parents' chance meeting through a mutual friend resulted in her mother starting a new job at her father's company, where he welcomed her on her first day with a lunch invitation.
Preschool presented Jessica with her first challenge in communication, as her Mandarin-speaking family and social circle left her with little exposure to English. This language barrier made her the only one in her class unable to communicate with her peers, leading to feelings of anxiety and difficulty forming friendships.
Jessica's journey to find her place in the world was given a fresh start when she began attending Saturday Chinese School. In this supportive community, she discovered her passion for dance. Jessica was mesmerized by the language of dance to tell an entire story with movement. She was instantly hooked. This new form of communication captivated her, and before long, she found herself thriving in her dance class, discovering a newfound sense of purpose and belonging.
As she practiced her routines, she became more confident in herself. It was easier to make friends and talk to her classmates. Her anxiety disappeared, and she finally knew who she was.
Dance became an integral part of Jessica’s identity. It was a part of her that she could build her personality around. In middle and high school, she was The Dancer, and she took comfort in knowing that that was who she was.
However, she felt she had to give up dance when it was time to go to college. Jessica enrolled at the University of California in Santa Barbara as a Business Econ major. While dance was her identity, she pursued a business degree in hopes of adding structure to her life. Her parents hoped for that same structure for her. They wanted her to live a good life, earn a good income and be sustainable. Dance, in their eyes, was not a sustainable industry, and she started to doubt her life as a dancer.
But even though her major was business, that did not mean she stayed away from dance. Jessica joined the collegiate cheer team in an attempt to find some movement in college. When that wasn’t enough, she took a dance elective. She was hooked by the first class. Throughout the rest of her college career, Jessica signed up for every class in the Dance Department she could fit into her schedule. Her professors welcomed her into classes, and she studied modern dance with Tonia Shimin, Nancy Colahan, Christopher Pilafian, and more.
After graduation, Jessica knew she had to pursue dance one more time. It was the only thing that genuinely made her happy. So, after canceling her LSAT score, Jessica moved to New York City to train at The Ailey School. The plan was to give herself a year, a graduation present, to focus on dance and get some of that creative spirit back into her life before returning to her law path.
But she never went to law school, and she never retook her LSATs. After a life-altering conversation with her roommate, she decided to stay in New York City and find a way to make it work. She would find a way to keep dancing. At this point, the idea of going to law school was well behind her. It was time to focus all of her energy on her dance career.
Jessica continued to be enchanted by the way that dance is a language. She found herself being able to speak more freely through her body than through her words. While she is still fluent in Mandarin and English, dance is her language of choice.
Since 2006, Jessica's career as a dancer has flourished. She is the Artistic Director and Choreographer of J CHEN PROJECT, a 501c3 nonprofit contemporary dance company, where she creates new dance works. Her choreography credits include The Portal at Minetta Lane Theater (Off-Broadway), INTERSTATE at New York Musical Festival (Off-Broadway), Cliché at The Cutting Room (NYC), The Kennedy Center's 'Voices of Change' (D.C.), Fiddler on the Roof at Timberlake Playhouse (IL), and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (NYC).
The global pandemic brought New York City and Jessica's dance career to a halt in 2020. The extended lockdown resulted in the closure of businesses and in-person events, including dance performances and theaters.
For over a year, Jessica and her dancers could not perform in front of a live audience. Everyone in the culture and arts, from directors to actors to dancers, was forced into a hiatus until it was safe for the public to watch in-person performances again.
Three years later, the J CHEN PROJECT is proud to announce that our doors are open, and we are on stage again!
We recently performed at New York City Center Studios as part of the AAPI Dance Festival produced by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and the Asian American Arts Alliance. Our next performances are on March 30th and 31st. There we will perform fan favorites, such as “You Are Safe.”
Tickets for AAPI HEROES: MYTHS AND LEGENDS are on sale now. Our show in January was sold out and we hope to see the same turnout in March. We hope to see you then!
Link to purchase tickets 🎟️
https://jchenproject.ticketleap.com/aapi-hereos-myths-and-legends/
The J CHEN PROJECT is open to commissions for the rest of 2023. If you or an organization would like to request a performance in 2023, please reach out to jchenproject@gmail.com
* AAPI HEROES: MYTHS AND LEGENDS is funded by the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) through the NYS AAPI Community Fund. JCP Programs are made possible with funds from NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Amerivision Inc, and Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund.
* “You Are Safe” was commissioned by the Museum of Chinese in America as part of their exhibition Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism.
*“RECLAIM” was commissioned by the New York Chinese Cultural Center, and created in residence at the Museum of Chinese in America.
