10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography

Greetings, and welcome to Northrop! I’m delighted that you are joining us during the 2023-24 Northrop Season. In true Northrop fashion, this season brings a breadth of preeminent artists to the Twin Cities, offering audiences the chance to revisit long-time favorites, discover new gems, and even catch two world premieres of works that are part of the Northrop Centennial Commissions program. I hope you will explore everything we have to offer across dance, music, film, and this year’s Spotlight Series, Moving Through Injustice.

The performances that you see onstage are just one facet of each artist’s engagement with Northrop. In support of our mission to cultivate intersections between arts and education, there are a plethora of opportunities to dive more deeply into the artists and their work. Community roundtables, performance previews, workshops, classes, Q&A’s, and more offer insight into artists’ histories and processes, and give context surrounding the works you will see. Make sure to visit the “Learn More” section on each company’s event page on Northrop’s website to find interdisciplinary thematic connections, discover resources that provide more information on the performers, art forms, and artistic processes, and explore questions that will help engage you in conversations and reflections. Each of these elements are intended to complement and add new depth and dimension to the way you see the performances. I encourage you to visit the website now and often, as new engagements and resources are added throughout the year. While you’re there, explore the many other events happening at Northrop including concerts, lectures, comedy, and more!

Thank you again for joining us during the 2023-24 Northrop Season. I want to give a special thank you to our subscribers and donors. Your support is more important than ever before. Through your attendance and contributions, you help to ensure that Northrop can continue to bring world-class artists to the Twin Cities community. Thank you.

Gratefully,

Kari Schloner

Executive Director

Greetings and welcome to Northrop,

We are thrilled, honored, and grateful that you are joining us for this performance. Northrop presents some of the greatest dance and music performers from all around the world and has been doing so for almost 100 years! We are happy that you are a part of our community who supports this amazing work and helps us achieve our belief that the arts are essential to the human experience. We are committed to cultivating intersections between performing arts and education for the benefit of all participants now and for generations to come.  

Northrop has been an integral center for the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota arts community for close to a century and we need your help to continue to do so. We hope you can be a champion and advocate for Northrop by sharing your experiences at Northrop with your friends, family, and community at large, as well as supporting our work financially when you can. You can learn more about how to support Northrop here.

As Chair of the Northop Advisory Board, we are delighted to share that we are growing in our work to increase the impact of Northrop on the stage, in the schools, and in the community. If you are interested in learning more about being part of the Northrop Advisory Board, learn more here or contact Cynthia Betz, Director of Development, at betzx011@umn.edu.

Thanks again for joining us and don’t forget to say “Hi” and introduce yourself when you are attending a performance. I can’t wait to meet you!

Jeff Bieganek

Northrop Advisory Board Chair

American arts leader and acclaimed choreographer Edwaard Liang is the new artistic director of The Washington Ballet. The 48-year-old is only the fourth person, and first person of color, to lead the organization. He is also the first Asian American to lead a major American ballet company.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, and raised in Marin County, CA, Liang began his dance training at age five with Marin Ballet. After studying at the School of American Ballet, he joined New York City Ballet in 1993. That same year, he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and won the Mae L. Wien Award. By 1998, he was promoted to soloist. In 2001, Liang joined the Tony Award®–winning Broadway cast of Fosse. His performance in Fosse was later televised nationally on PBS’ Great Performances series (Dance in America: From Broadway: Fosse) and subsequently released on DVD. By 2002, Liang was invited by Jirí Kylián to become a member of the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater 1.

Over the last decade, he has created work for the Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Kirov Ballet, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, and The Washington Ballet.

Liang’s appointment concludes a year-long international search led by a Search Committee of The Washington Ballet’s Board of Directors, in coordination with David Mallette and his team at Management Consultants for the Arts.

“Edwaard brings to The Washington Ballet a deep commitment to the art form, a passion for continued learning and an authentic interest in our community. He is part of our DNA. I look forward to the collaborative energy Edwaard brings to the organization and the future we will foster together,” said Karen Shepherd, interim managing director and Liang’s administrative counterpart.

“The Washington Ballet is a remarkable organization that I’ve felt drawn to since I first worked with the company in 2008. We share the same values: a commitment to world-class dance; a powerful drive to program dance that can respond to the needs of many diverse and varied communities; and a genuine desire to evolve the art form thoughtfully. What an exceptional honor and opportunity to live, work, and lead the future of ballet in our nation’s Capital,” said Edwaard Liang

Karen Shepherd is the interim managing director for The Washington Ballet. She has over 20 years of experience in arts management and arts education for both nonprofit and for-profit sectors of the arts industry.

In her role, Shepherd leads the government, foundation, and corporate fundraising initiatives for The Washington Ballet in addition to providing strategic oversight and operating plans for community impact programming.

Prior to joining TWB, Shepherd served as head of Maryland campuses for Levine Music overseeing all aspects of campus management, budget, and educational and performance programming at the Strathmore and Silver Spring Campuses serving more than 800 adult and youth students with 100 faculty members and more than 200 events annually. As an integral member of the Senior Team, she participated in school-wide strategic planning efforts, implementing two successful strategic planning initiatives, and frequently represented Levine at Council meetings and public events. Shepherd spearheaded and managed all aspects of Montgomery County expansion for Levine Music developing 9,000 square feet of raw space, including contract negotiations, architectural design coordination, program development, and strategic planning.

Equally as comfortable in the for-profit sector, Shepherd was a manager in the Instrumental and Conductors Division at IMG Artists in New York, serving as the primary liaison to presenting venues across the U.S. and Europe, managing logistics and bookings for artist clients, and maintaining close working relationships with world-renowned artists such as Itzhak Perlman, the Emerson String Quartet, Sir James Galway, and Leif Ove Andsnes.

Currently, Shepherd serves on the Children’s Health Board of Children’s National Hospital as well as on the William & Mary Libraries Board. She is a frequent grant reviewer for the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. In the past, she was a member of the Young Fellows Board of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City where she helped grow the board and secure gifts for capital campaign projects. Shepherd received her bachelor’s degree in Music (violin) and German from William & Mary and a Certificate of Business Management from the Mason School of Business at William & Mary.

Since his appointment as artistic director in 2010, Graham Lustig has revitalized Oakland Ballet Company and helped the organization reclaim its position as a leading San Francisco Bay Area arts institution and premier dance company. Lustig’s stewardship has brought the company a reputation for presenting community-based programming that makes the art of dance relevant, accessible, and engaging to the diverse community Oakland Ballet serves.

For the past twelve seasons, Lustig has presented his critically-acclaimed production of The Nutcracker at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre, as well as an annual spring season rooted in contemporary works creating partnerships with local artists. In 2016 he began presenting Luna Mexicana, a celebration of Día de los Muertos, and Dancing Moons Festival, the first Asian American Pacific Islander ballet showcase in the nation, which received an Isadora Duncan Award in 2021. Under Lustig’s watch, Oakland Ballet has grown its Discover Dance Program to provide in-school and in-theater arts programming for nearly a dozen East Bay school districts, reaching more than 15,000 East Bay students each year. He has also curated the You Can Dance! Program that brings movement based learning into the schools.

Trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, Lustig danced with the Dutch National Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet before embarking on a freelance choreographic career that has included operas, ballets and musicals. He serves as a founding member of the Artists Committee of Americans for the Arts, and has served numerous times on the Dance and Policy Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.

A former dancer with New York City Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, Edwaard Liang has built an international reputation as a choreographer. Over the last decade, he has created work for the Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kirov Ballet, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre and Washington Ballet.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan and raised in Marin County, CA, Liang began his dance training at age five with Marin Ballet. After studying at the School of American Ballet, he joined New York City Ballet in 1993. That same year, he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and won the Mae L. Wien Award. By 1998, he was promoted to Soloist. In 2001, Liang joined the Tony Award® winning Broadway cast of Fosse. His performance in Fosse was later televised nationally on PBS’ Great Performances series – Dance in America: From Broadway: Fosse, and subsequently released on DVD. By 2002, Liang was invited by Jiri Kylian to become a member of the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater 1. While dancing with NDT 1, Liang discovered his passion and love for choreography. Since establishing himself as a choreographer, his works have been performed by dance companies around the world and he has won numerous awards for his choreography including the 2006 National Choreographic Competition.

In 2013, Liang was named Artistic Director at BalletMet where he continues to choreograph new works for companies both domestically and abroad. In 2017, he received an Emmy® Award for his short dance film, Vaulted. In 2018, he created a new ballet with Roberto Bolle for the opening of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In June of 2024, Liang will continue his career as artistic director with The Washington Ballet.

Brett Ishida is the artistic director and main choreographer of ISHIDA Dance Company, based in Austin and Houston, TX. Early this year, ISHIDA was the only company named in Dance Magazine’s prestigious “25 to watch” for 2023.

Ishida is a Japanese American who grew up on a citrus farm in California’s Central Valley. Ishida’s love for dance started early. At age fifteen, Ishida moved away from home after receiving a full scholarship to the Kirov Academy. She went on to study at the School of American Ballet in NYC, and then danced with Boston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, where she first choreographed, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, in Montréal, with whom she toured around the world. At Les Grands Ballets, she collaborated in new creations with choreographers and performed principal and soloist roles in repertoires by Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Jirí Kylián, and Ohad Naharin, among others.

She later graduated from UCLA earning a BA in Literature with emphasis in Creative Writing (Poetry), and an MA in Montessori Education from St. Mary’s. She felt that by combining those two worlds from her past, she could be a new voice in contemporary dance and started ISHIDA in 2019. 

Previously Ishida created a new work on The Washington Ballet titled home-coming which received critical acclaim. In The Washington Post, Pulitzer-prize winning dance critic Sarah L. Kaufman deemed Ishida’s work which “tackled a deeply poignant, poetic theme” to be “remarkable.”

Ishida’s work intertwines reflections of ancient, timeless themes of Greek philosophy and poetry with subconscious memories which shape who we are and where we are going. Her company, ISHIDA, creates “memory houses” for audiences where themes and characters build relationships and familiarity that might pull at our heartstrings in imitation of life’s enigma.

Choo San Goh was a world-renowned choreographer and ballet dancer. He studied at the Singapore Ballet Academy at age ten, and began experimenting with choreography in his teens. Choo San Goh earned a BA in biochemistry at the National University of Singapore, but left halfway through his honors term and traveled to Switzerland with a student dance company. From there, Choo San Goh received a two-year scholarship to study British ballet in Amsterdam. 

He earned the creative arts grant for choreography from the Dutch government in 1973 and 1975. The Dutch National Company did not have any residencies available, so Choo San Goh moved to the United States, and began work with The Washington Ballet. Choo San Goh created 14 ballets in his 11 years as a resident choreographer for The Washington Ballet. He continued to collaborate with numerous American and international companies–earning him a distinguished place on the world’s stage. 

On Nov 29, 1987 Choo San Goh died of complications from AIDS at 39 years old. He left behind $500,000 to fund grants and scholarships for choreographers and dancers from all over the world. His legacy is still felt today, living on in his works, and the support he has given the next generation of dancers and choreographers.

*The Dancers of The Washington Ballet are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists (AFL-CIO) for the purpose of collective bargaining.

Lawrence Chen 

Lawrence Chen (he/him) grew up in Southern California, studying ballet, contemporary, and hip-hop under the care of Victor and Tatiana Kasatsky and their faculty from the age of thirteen. He went on to compete in the YAGP, placing in the Top 12 Pas De Deux in the New York Finals of 2014 as well as in the Top 3 soloist at regional venues for several years. At Pomona College, Chen obtained a BA in chemistry with mathematics, took on collegiate ballroom, and performed as a principal dancer for the Inland Pacific Ballet under the watchful eye of Victoria Koenig. In addition to dancing with the Oakland Ballet Company, Lawrence teaches ballet and tutors high school STEM subjects. At OBC, he has performed as the deer dancer in Graham Lustig's Luna Mexicana and in the title role of The Nutcracker. Lawrence has also been featured in new works by choreographers Caili Quan, Megan and Shannon Kurashige, and Phil Chan, a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface. This is Lawrence's third full season with the Oakland Ballet.

Karina Eimon 

Karina Eimon (she/her) is from the Bay Area and trained with Ayako School of Ballet. Under the tutelage of Ayako Takahashi, she placed in the top three of YAGP SF for five consecutive years. In 2014 during her senior year of high school, she was invited to compete in the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS, where she was offered a trainee contract with Ballet Memphis. From there, she joined Milwaukee Ballet II then danced with Colorado Ballet. Eimon joined Oakland Ballet in 2019 and has performed the Princess in Phil Chan’s Ballet des Porcelaines, featured roles in Jangala, Luna Mexicana, and The Nutcracker, as well as works by Benjamin Briones, Seyong Kim, Alyah Baker, Sean Dorsey, and Bobby Briscoe. Passionate about sharing her love of dance and movement, Eimon is a ballet teacher and certified GYROTONIC® instructor.

Logan Martin 

Logan Martin (they/them) is a trans non-binary individual from Silverdale, WA. Logan trained at Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy and has danced professionally with Pennsylvania Ballet and Ballet West. In 2017 they stepped away from performing to honor themself and to focus on their mental health. They returned to dance in Jan 2022, performing as a guest artist with various companies and schools in the Salt Lake City area. Martin joined Oakland Ballet Company with excitement in fall of 2022 and has performed the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, the Sorcerer in Phil Chan’s Ballet des Porcelaines, Duet from Exquisite Corpse by Phil Chan, Guardians by Graham Lustig, Boots by Grayson McGuire and Shiori Kamijo, and Club LC by Bobby Briscoe.

Jazmine Quezada 

Jazmine Quezada (she/her) is from Ventura County, CA where she began her ballet training at age 11 with Ventura County Ballet and was the first to receive the Ron Noblin Full Scholarship Award. Jazmine attended American Ballet Theater’s New York summer intensive in 2011, followed by the Joffrey Chicago International summer dance intensive on full scholarship. In 2016 she moved to San Francisco to continue her training on scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School. There she performed with the San Francisco Ballet in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and in the leading role of Grace in Helgi Tomasson’s Meisten Mozart. Since joining the Oakland Ballet in 2018, she has performed the role of Luna in Luna Mexicana, the Sugar Plum Fairy in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, Elaine Kudo’s Duet and Phil Chan’s Quartet from Exquisite Corpse, created roles in works by Caili Quan, and Megan and Shannon Kurashige, and appeared in the dance films Brief Encounter, In Plain Sight, and What I See. 

Ashley Thopiah 

Ashley Thopiah (she/her) received her BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University. She began her dance training at the Christine Rich Dance Academy and furthered her training in summer programs at State Street Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. At Butler, Ashley performed corps, soloist, and principal roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, La Bayadere, Cinderella, and George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. As a choreographer, Thopiah has created two works for Butler University’s dance department, Jyoti and Ekta. Using both modern dance and Bharatanatyam, a form of classical Indian dance, she expresses the two distinct but intertwined aspects of her identity. During the summer of 2018, Ekta was performed in the National Opera House in Warsaw, Poland, across Prague, Krakow, Poznan, and Bratislava. Joining Oakland Ballet in 2019, she created the role of Coffee in The Nutcracker, as well as featured roles in The Birthdays, 4 Parts Jazz by Alyah Baker, Club LC by Bobby Briscoe, and Phil Chan’s Quartet and Seyong Kim’s Duet from Exquisite Corpse.

Heard in Momentum pas de Deux and Fives

Orchestra 
Prepared by STRINGenius/RDA Productions, LLC

Erin R. Freeman–Conductor

Versatile, engaging, and spirited, conductor and artistic leader Erin Freeman serves in multiple positions throughout the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia and maintains an international presence through guest conducting engagements. Freeman is artistic director of The City Choir of Washington, artistic director of Wintergreen Music, resident conductor of the Richmond Ballet, the State Ballet of Virginia, and director of choral activities at George Washington University. Freeman recently concluded successful tenures as director of the award-winning Richmond Symphony Chorus and director of Choral Activities at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Northrop Acknowledgments

The Northrop Advisory Board

The Northrop Advisory Board is committed to the growth and awareness of Northrop’s mission, vision, and the continued future of presenting world-class dance and music in our community. If you would like more information about the advisory board and its work, please contact Cynthia Betz, Director of Development, at 612-626-7554 or betzx011@umn.edu.

Thank you for supporting Northrop!

Making Legendary Performances Possible!

At Northrop, we believe in connecting great artists and ideas with our community and to a new generation of audiences. Your gift helps make memorable arts experiences possible by supporting extraordinary performances and new arts commissions, and helping ensure accessibility to everyone through live-streamed programming, outreach to diverse communities and subsidized student tickets. Our Friends are at the center of Northrop’s biggest ideas and brightest moments on stage.

Become a Friend of Northrop today! 
Donate online at northrop.umn.edu/support-northrop

Ways to Give:

• Annual Giving, a yearly gift amount of your choice.
• Monthly Giving, choose a recurring gift amount that works for you.
• Stock Gifts, Northrop accepts charitable gifts of stock.
• Planned Giving, consider a legacy gift by including Northrop in your will or trust, or by designating Northrop as a beneficiary of a retirement plan or life insurance policy.
• Matching Gifts, double your gift through your company’s matching gift program.

To learn more about supporting Northrop please contact:
Cynthia Betz
betzx011@umn.edu or 612-626-7554 

Friends of Northrop

A special thank you to our patrons whose generous support makes Northrop's transformative arts experiences possible. Make your mark on Northrop's future by becoming a Friend today, learn more by visiting northrop.umn.edu/support-northrop.

We gratefully acknowledge the support from Curtis L Carlson Family Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, project support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Givens Foundation, and event sponsors PNC Bank, and RBC Wealth Management.

Northrop's Aeolian-Skinner Organ

Thank you to the generous donors who continue to support programming for Northrop’s beloved Aeolian-Skinner Organ. It is because of you that this magnificent instrument’s voice will be enjoyed by many for years to come.

The Heritage Society Members

The Heritage Society honors and celebrates donors who have made estate and other planned gifts for Northrop at the University of Minnesota. 

• Nancy M. Allen*
• Jerry L. Artz
• John W. Follows*
• Stephen Gordon and Pat Gavan-Gordon
• Gail and Stuart Hanson
• Peter S. Lund
• Darlene M. Sholtis

*Deceased

This season’s listing is current as of 4/8/24

Please contact Trisha Taylor at taylort@umn.edu if you have any corrections or questions.