Fort Lee News

In addition to her compositional talents, MJ Songstress is also a skilled dancer, and for the music video for “Carousel” director Sage Love chose to highlight MJ’s natural grace in the video.'

NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY has announced The Bridge classes February 1-5, 2021. Interested dancers can join the class by registering on Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's website. The Bridge Class schedule are as follows: Monday Seyong Kim (Ballet) at 11am, Tuesday Yuka Notsuka (Kinetic Spiral) at 11am and more.

Accomplished musical theater and screen star Robert Bannon has released his debut single, providing an inspiring, unforgettable soundtrack to a tumultuous year. Bannon's powerful rendition of Bette Midler's 'From a Distance' written by Julie Gold is a highly emotional and inspiring performance that sums up 2020 perfectly, providing an unforgettable, uplifting soundtrack to a tumultuous year. The track spotlights Bannon's emotive, rich, soaring voice and vocal flourishes as he sings of a hopeful, peaceful and prosperous future.

The Institute's aim is to bring together dancers, choreographers and directors around the world to experience the master teachers of color whose practices are embedded in the community and are focused on advancing the art of dance that transform the personal, environmental and metaphysical spaces. 

Robert Bannon has released his debut single, providing an inspiring, unforgettable soundtrack to a tumultuous year. Bannon's powerful rendition of Bette Midler's 'From a Distance' is a highly emotional and inspiring performance that sums up 2020 perfectly, providing an unforgettable, uplifting soundtrack to a tumultuous year.

Beloved Broadway production supervisor Arthur P. Siccardi has passed away at 89. Arthur P., II was one of the best-loved figures in the American theater, with a distinguished career as a production supervisor that spanned five decades working with the biggest stars, directors and producers on some of the best-known shows in Broadway history.

The Bridge, Nai-Ni Chen's Virtual Dance Institute of boundary-breaking dance experiences and Free One-Hour Company Class is open to all dancers at an Intermediate to Advanced Level with Guest Master Artists and Company Dancers September 21-25, 2020 at 12pm EDT on Zoom.

The Angelica and Russ Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts on the Ramapo College campus is pleased to name Nai-Ni Chen Dance Companyof Fort Lee, New Jersey, as one of the winners of its Leaning into the Unknown competition.

The National Endowment for the Arts recently announced the recipients of its 2020 National Heritage Fellowships. Onnik Dinkjian of Fort Lee is among the nine recipients to be honored this year. These lifetime honor awards of $25,000 are given in recognition of both artistic excellence and efforts to sustain cultural traditions for future generations.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company keeps its dancers in shape by conducting regular Company Classes online from Nai-Ni and Company dancers' living rooms using Zoom. After a few weeks, Company members and Nai-Ni invited former dancers of the Company and friends to join through Zoom. At the same time, company dancers translated their online dance teaching skills to serve K-12 students and students with disabilities in underserved communities. Dance has brought them rays of hope and joy in their confined environment.

The Leonia Chamber Musicians Society, Inc. performs their final season concert, a a?oeBeethoven Birthday Celebrationa??, on Sunday, March 22, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. at Presbyterian Church in Leonia, located at 181 Fort Lee Road in Leonia, New Jersey.  The nonprofit chamber organization, based in the borough of Leonia, performs the celebratory concert in honor of the 250th year of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth and features two great works of his chamber music.

A friend let me know that Thursday's performance of 'Always. . .Patsy Cline' had been canceled due to the illness of its star, Debra Wagoner. Wagoner played the crossover hit maker for Virginia Rep in 2012, and for the Ohio Shakespeare Festival in 2006. I feared there would be a cancellation Friday night as well.

The Leonia Chamber Musicians Society, Inc. (LCMS) salutes pioneering American woman composer and piano virtuoso Amy Beach in the organization's second concert of the 2019-2020 series. The LCMS presents 'Harmony in Life', a recognition of three composers who overcame life's struggles to write beautiful music, on November 24, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church in Leonia, located at 181 Fort Lee Road in Leonia, New Jersey. The society's members --Theresa Norris, flute; Marsha Heller, oboe; Roy Lewis, violin; Maggie Speier, viola; and Daryl Goldberg, cello -will be joined by guest artist violinist Janey Choi.

The Leonia Chamber Musicians Society, Inc. (LCMS), a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization based in the borough of Leonia, New Jersey, announces the launch of its 2019-2020 season.

New shows on sale at bergenPAC: The New York Cantors, presented by Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2019 at 3 p.m.; bergenPAC Presents A Christmas Carol on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019 at 1 & 4:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019 at 1 p.m. Tickets go on sale Friday, Aug. 23, 2019 at 11 a.m. at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling bergenPAC's Box Office at (201) 227-1030.

Jersey NEW Moves!, a joint program of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and Dance New Jersey, has returned  for its fifth year, giving six young Garden State choreographers the opportunity to create and present new work while they are mentored by established artists.

The National Park Service in partnership with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company presents the Ellis Island Asian American Heritage Festival on Sunday, May 19, 2019, with ceremony and performances starting at 12 noon at The Great Hall of Immigration at Ellis Island, located on the second floor of the main Ellis Island building. A full schedule of performances of one hour by nationally renowned artists and performers will celebrate the 2019 Asian American Heritage Month with the National Park Service.  The festival will showcase traditional and contemporary Asian American Music and Dance, with notable performing artists from the community in New York and New Jersey including the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Kindling Sindaw (Philipines), Vietnam Heritage Center, the Kalagangothri Foundation (India), and H?lau Hula O Na Mele '?ina O Hawaii'(Hawaii).

BALAM Dance Theatre (BALAM) premieres its new Out & About series program, Dances of Love: East and West, in Fort Lee, New Jersey.  This entertaining, family friendly program will be presented at the Fort Lee Public Library, located at 320 Main Street, on Sunday, April 28 from 2:00-3:00 p.m.  The event is free and open to the public.

Bergen County Players (BCP) continues 86th season with Tennessee Williams' 1948 Pulitzer Prize winning drama, A Streetcar Named Desire.

Restaurateur Alexander Duran of Son Cubano and culinary titan Chef David Burke bring modern American-Asian-Cuban fare to Fort Lee, New Jersey with the opening of VENTANAS Restaurant and Lounge at The Modern.