But if you’re thinking this was your typical beautiful dance recital on a Friday night — think again. Brilliantly organized by Joffrey West’s very own Artistic Director Alice Alyse, the event kicked off with a glamorous Hollywood red carpet which received the arrivals of many Tinseltown actors, celebrities and renowned professional dancers. It was glitz and glam all the way through.

A Meeting of the Choreographers

The Joffrey West performance showcased the works of So You Think You Can Dance choreographers Mia Michaels and Mandy Moore, Cirque du Soleil IRIS Artistic Director Denise Biggi, Joffrey West Artistic Director Alice Alyse, and our very own DanceLova Dance Academy Artistic Director Ivy Chen. The amazing choreographic works by Asha Di Ningrat, Dante Sevin, Anna-Marie Holmes, Julie Bour, Jonathan Sharp, and Josie Walsh also made the show truly breathtaking.

The Work Behind The Beauty

“The highlight of the night was watching the students demonstrate to the audience the result of their hard work. We had fine students who trained diligently for weeks to make the night a remarkable one,” said Ivy Chen.

Chinese Dance Debuts With Su Tung-Po

Chen, who is also the founder of a new dance academy in Irvine, CA, trained 24 dance students of the 200 who performed that last night. It was the first time Chinese Dance was showcased by Joffrey. Her work, Ripples of a Dream was inspired by the poem, The Battle of Redcliff written by Su Tung-Po during the Song Dynasty in 11th century China.

The dance synergetically-merged the forms of both Chinese traditional dance and contemporary dance, incorporating beautiful long whirling white silk Shuixiu, or ‘water sleeves’ with subtle techniques from Western dance forms.

PERFORMANCE VIDEO IN HD: Work #2 – Ivy Chen’s Ripples of a Dream

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The result is a red carpet full of big-name dance choreographers and Hollywood celebrities, of course. From SYTYCD choreographer Mia Michaels to Modern Family star Sofia Vergara, to even Spanish artist Domingo Zapata, Joffrey West was rockin’ last night, the celebs were out, and the cameras were flashing.

ABC News, Splash Magazines, The Fashion Court and Los Angeles Confidential Magazine were among the news outlets there at the Valley Performing Arts Center covering the glam event and the cultural dance performance.

In the midst of making her rounds, ICN TV Network interviewed choreographer Ivy Chen. They asked her about her dance piece Ripples of a Dream, the Joffrey West students she trained, and about Chinese Dance.

[In Chinese & English]

Even @SofiaVergara tweeted from the event: “With the artist @domingozapata and my new bailarinas!!! In luuuv !”

The red carpet was followed by a cocktail party and a night of 11 amazing dance performances choreographed by Denise Biggi of Cirque du Soleil IRIS, Ivy Chen of DanceLova, Asha Di Ningrat, Dante Sevin, Anna-Marie Holmes, Alice Alyse of Joffrey West, Bessie Award winner Julie Bour, Jonathan Sharp of ABT, Josie Walsh of MYOKYO, Mandy Moore and Mia Michaels of So You Think You Can Dance.

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When New York City-based Joffrey Ballet School invited Chen to teach a group of eager-to-learn dance students the art of Chinese Dance as part of Joffrey West’s summer dance training intensive, it was naturally an honor well-received by the Irvine-based dance instructor.

The Real Challenge

Seconds after accepting, 30-year-old Ivy Chen knew that she now faced the challenge of fully-preparing a group of students ages 12-25 for Joffrey West Program’s culminating performance. The real challenge? The performance was in four weeks, and not one of the students had ever trained in Chinese Dance — some had never even seen it before.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO: Students’ Progress After Just 2 Weeks

As a member of the the program’s high-caliber faculty which included Mia Michaels and Mandy Moore both of So You Think You Can Dance, Joffrey West Artistic Director Alice Alyse, choreographer Josie Walsh and other renowned professional dancers, Chen certainly was not alone in this 1-month mission.

Every Dance Has A Story

“I was aware that time was short. And to make it even more challenging was the fact that Chinese Dance movements were unfamiliar to all of them. So I decided to give them a quick Chinese history lesson,” said Chen. “Shortly after that,” the Taiwanese-born Chinese instructor explains, “I introduced them to the actual dance movements and Shuixiu — the white ‘water sleeves.’ This was important because the evolution of Chinese Dance is deeply rooted in China’s long, majestic, romantic and at times turbulent history.”

Two Dozen Move Forward

24 of the 200 dance students were later selected by Ivy Chen to perform at Joffrey West’s performance. “I was blessed to have such hard working students. They were able to nail down the piece I choreographed for them within the few weeks time, and were ready to shine both individually and as a team on stage as they so much deserved.”

New Update…

The 24 students performed the dance on the evening of July 27, 2012 at CSUN’s Valley Performing Arts Center. Watch how the 24 students rocked the stage!

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