Chen Dance CenterAbout Us

Chen Dance Center

Founded in 1979 by Dian Dong and H.T. Chen — husband and wife, and creative partners in every sense — Chen Dance Center is one of the rare American arts institutions built from the ground up by two practicing artists who were also life partners. What they created together was the expression of a shared artistic vision, a commitment to the Chinese American community, and a belief that contemporary dance could carry the weight of history, identity, and belonging. That foundation, built over nearly five decades of creating award-winning choreography, teaching the next generation, and sustaining a community in the heart of Chinatown, is what gives Chen Dance Center its distinctive character and its enduring resilience.

The Center currently operates through two active public-facing programs. H.T. Chen & Dancers is a professional contemporary dance company creating and touring original choreography that speaks to the histories, complexities, and living present of the Asian American experience. The company performs at major venues regionally and nationally — with recent engagements including Jacob's Pillow and La MaMa Theatre — and serves as the artistic engine of the organization's educational mission. Each academic year, the company's professional dancers bring Eight Strokes and the Moving Word Series into public school auditoriums across New York City and nationally, offering live performance, calligraphy, video projection, and interactive engagement to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Endorsed by Lincoln Center Institute and cited by educators as the field trip of the year, the program reaches schools across all five boroughs and beyond. Through an ongoing residency at PS 42, now in its 20th season, the company provides direct dance training to 200 Chinatown students per week. Chen Dance Center's recognized authority in Chinese American cultural education further led to an invitation to contribute to the development of Tracing Footsteps: Into the Heart of Chinatown — Hidden Voices, a K-12 curriculum now embedded in the NYC public school system through the Dance Education Laboratory and the NYC Department of Education.

In January 2020, a five-alarm fire destroyed the Center's historic home at 70 Mulberry Street — the physical studios, neighborhood school, and theater that had been the heart of the organization since 1980. Chen Dance Center has continued its artistic and educational mission without interruption throughout the displacement. The City of New York has committed $170 million to rebuild 70 Mulberry Street, with completion anticipated in 2030. A $2 million capital campaign will restore and expand the Center's neighborhood school and professional theater upon return, ensuring that Chinatown's premier contemporary arts institution is fully equipped to serve its community for the next half-century. Join us in the campaign to restore Chen Dance Center at 70 Mulberry Street. 

Since the devastating fire in 2020 that displaced the organization from its permanent home at 70 Mulberry Street, the Chen Dance Center has been using its studio at 6 East 1st Street (located between Second Avenue and the Bowery) as its sole surviving dance and rehearsal space.

Chen Dance Center Team

Dian Dong Chen, Artistic Director & Co-Founder
Yeeli Chen, Program Director
Evelyn Chen, Communications & Development Manager
Ellen Luo, Strategic Advisor

Board of Trustees

Rita Gail Johnson, CHAIR
Kevin Benson, Treasurer
Thomas E. Lim, Secretary
Stephanie Chun
Kimberly Doo
Renouard Gee
Cho Young Kim-Wiles
Elizabeth McPherson
Nancy Ng
Ellyn Chan Roberson
Irina Verona
Marla Yoss

HONORARY ADVISORS

Felix D’Arienzo, Jr.
Mariko Sanjo

Shirley Ubell, Honorary Chair Emerita 

SPONSORS

NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs, NY State Council on the Arts, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, NYC Council District 1, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, CAF America/NIKE FUND