“Zhongmei Li moves like mist across the stage,” wrote New York Times dance critic Jennifer Dunning. “Offstage, she looks like a small, fragile-boned bird. But there is steel in those bones.”
Dunning’s profile of the dancer/choreographer, Zhongmei Li, captured the combination of artistry and determination that enabled this engaging artist to arrive on the cultural scene with something never before seen by American audiences. Zhongmei brings to the world stage a fusion of styles that combines traditional Chinese dance forms and themes with modern techniques. Her creations are new dances that are appealingly fresh and provocative to Eastern and Western dance audiences alike.
Zhongmei was born in China. At the age of 11, she was one of 12 girls chosen from thousands of candidates throughout China to attend the Beijing Dance Academy, China’s most prestigious dance institution. There she studied Chinese classical and folk dance, dance drama, martial arts, acrobatics, and classical ballet. Recognized as one of China’s most talented and celebrated dance artists, Ms. Li is among the few who can truly capture and convey the beauty and strength of Chinese dance. With four national dance titles and performances throughout Asia, she has distinguished herself as a dancer of the highest caliber.
After a career as a principal dancer in her own country, Ms. Li came to the United States, winning full scholarships to study at both the Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham schools. She performed on Broadway in the long- running musical “The King and I,” and she earned a master’s degree in fine arts at the Tisch School at New York University before founding her own dance company, the Zhongmei Dance Company.
Highlights of the Zhongmei Dance Company include a premiere performance of Dynasties: China in Dance at New York’s Joyce Theater. The program was a vivid display of Chinese classical dance as it evolved over the centuries. The Company was welcomed back at The Joyce with and performed Silk River, which emphasized the variety of China’s folk and regional dances. She also created Portrait Enchantress, a striking interpretation and adaptation of a traditional Chinese ghost story. This original dance drama was choreographed and performed by Zhongmei with music written by Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz composer and trumpeter and Wynton Marsalis. The music is available as a CD this under the Sony Classical label.
Currently, Zhongmei is in the process of creating new works and performs as a guest soloist with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, among others.
