Lenora Lee is a San Francisco based dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of Lenora Lee Dance. Through long- term research and strong roots in Chinatown, Lenora Lee Dance unfolds stories of early Chinese immigrants, and challenges of building a new life in America. As 2013 Artistic Fellow at the San Francisco de Young Museum, she saw the possibility of bringing her latest work to the museum lobby, Wilsey Court. With multi-surface projections specially designed for the architecture of the museum and video shooting in various locations, she faced the challenge of dancing in multiple environments while listening to what the environment might tell her. Here Lenora Lee discusses her experience creating dance in non-conventional spaces.

Heath Orchard

WL: When you were the resident artist in Djerassi, how did the landscape and the large-scale installations affect your work?

LL: I was involved with the Djerassi Resident Artist Program March – April 2013. I have lived in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York and have not spent extended periods of time living in nature and peaceful surroundings. My time there was incredibly rejuvenating and a wonderful space to begin my latest project “Rescued Memories: New York Stories”. Prior to arriving for the program, I knew that I wanted to have multiple video shoots in various locations in addition to in New York City. The natural surroundings in Djerassi became part of a vision I had in manifesting a section of the work.

From the first time I saw Roland Mayer’s Dialog sculpture, I was fascinated by it. The creation of wooden cage / cocoon like structure gave a sense of forced confinement within a vast ocean of surrounding grassland and nature. I thought whatever we might come up with, it will feel like a surreal entrapment in the mind and in the heart. I knew I wanted to shoot footage in and around the sculpture.

Heath Orchard

WL: You were the artist fellow at the de Young museum last year and designed site-specific multimedia for your latest project “Rescued memories”. What challenges do you face with site-specific performance? What was your favorite part about it?

LL: In 2013 the de Young Museum invited me to be part of a very unique year-long Artist Fellowship that they have had with artists of varying disciplines for the last several years. I felt honored and that I had been given a rare opportunity to experiment with scale and location, and to be able to mount an innovative performance experience in their museum. At the beginning of the fellowship I was excited about the prospect of creating a site-specific multi-media dance piece in their Wilsey Court. The architecture is beautiful and I saw the possibilities of their walls as large-scale projection surfaces and the architecture of their walkways, staircases and floor space as the expansive, extensive stage.

Staff at the de Young had said that the building was not constructed with the idea of hosting large theatrical productions, yet they were incredibly generous and supportive of our design ideas and in carrying the vision through, as they also did with previous Artist Fellows. They birthed this program and were bringing in artists to push the envelope of innovation within the institution. They are committed to realizing the artists’ visions.

Catherine Hung

I felt a tremendous amount of support and respect from the Public Programs and Education Department staff and worked with them closely throughout the year. I had never experienced this kind of administrative and commissioning support for a project and could not have done something of this scale in a non-traditional theater setting without it.

One of the largest and most magical parts of the production was creating a theater setting in Wilsey Court. As the lights were being brought in, the audience platforms built, and the video projection mapping equipment was being tested, I was in awe. For the year of planning and preparation, the greatest moments of wonder and amazement came then, as I witnessed the magnitude of what we – the design team, performers, de Young staff and interns, had been creating and implementing with intensity behind the scenes in rehearsal, on our laptops, and at our desks. With the over 30 artists involved and key de Young staff, interns and contractors, we made the magic happen in a huge way.

Highlights from the de Young Museum premiere of “Rescued Memories: NY Stories” https://vimeo.com/79858519

“Rescued Memories: NY Stories” 11/9 de Young Museum premiere – highlights (close) from Lenora Lee on Vimeo.

WL: You will join dance anywhere® this year. What do you think of dance anywhere®’s mission? Where will you dance on March 28th ?

LL: I am grateful to be invited to participate in this year’s dance anywhere festival. I will be performing a solo in downtown Chicago. The festival is a beautiful event, bringing visibility and awareness of dance, movement and performance to people everywhere. Its mission to inspire creativity and make dance accessible is important. These experiences are ultimately about understanding our ability to connect in a world that is increasingly fragmented.

For more information about Lenora Lee Dance visit her dance anywhere® page, dance anywhere® blog or lenoraleedance.com