Muna Tseng

Muna Tseng is an acclaimed Chinese-American dancer/choreographer, author and lecturer who has lived and worked in New York since 1978. She founded Muna Tseng Dance Projects in New York City in 1984, has created over 40 productions and performed in over 30 cities and festivals in 15 countries. She has since 1990 been the director and executrix of her late brother Tseng Kwong Chi's photography archive. She is the chair of the ‘Current Practice’ subcommittee for the annual 'Bessies' New York Dance and Performance Award.^[1]

Biography

Muna Tseng was born and raised in Hong Kong. In Vancouver, Canada, she began her modern dance training at age 13 with Magda and Gertrude Hanova, disciples of Mary Wigman, as well as with Heather McCallum who worked with Anna Halprin. Tseng was invited to New York by Jean Erdman after graduating from the University of British Columbia. Tseng was a principal dancer in Erdman and her husband and mythologist Joseph Campbell’s Theatre of the Open Eye from 1978 to 1985, and was one of the first dancers to inherit many of Erdman’s seminal roles,^[2] dancing to originally commissioned music by John Cage, Teiji Ito, Lou Harrison, and Louis Horst.

She has taught as adjunct faculty at New York University in the Playwrights Horizons Program (1996) and the Atlantic Theater Program (2002-2004), she was also an adjunct professor at Rutgers University from 1980-1983. She was the founded and directed the Caumsett Summer Dance Residency program at Queens College from 1984-1987. She regularly teaches residency workshops in Tallinn, Estonia at Pollitalu Arts Centre, as well as in Bordeaux, France.

Tseng regularly lectures on her topics of expertise, which include; dance, performance, archiving and estate management. She has lectured at The Platform at Paris Photo,^[3]The Institute for Artists' Estates^[4], and OPEN Singapore^[5], among others.

Honors and Awards

BESSIE, New York Dance & Performance Award for Choreography/Creation with Ping Chong, SlutForArt, 1999.

Citation for Best Choreography, 2000-2001 theater season, Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, The Silver River.

Fund for American Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, Arts International, 2001, 1998, 1995, 1990.

Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, International Touring Grant 2011.

Meet the Composer, Choreographer/Composer Project, 1996, 1992, 1991.

New York Foundation for the Arts, Choreographic Fellowship, 1991, 1987.

National Endowment for the Arts, Choreographic Fellowship, 1988, 1987.

New York State Council on the Arts, commissions 1980, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85.

New York State Council on the Arts, Choreographer/Visual Artist Collaboration, 1985.

Citation for Outstanding Performances for Children and Youths, Kennedy Center, Washington DC, 1984.

Citation for Artistic Excellence, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 1984.

Citation for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts by Asian-Americans, City President of New York, 1993.

Selected List of Works

IT’S ALL TRUE: GRANDFATHER (Director, Author, Choreographer & Performer) in development at Baryshnikov Arts Center Residency March 27 - April 21, 2017

After Fukushima performed with Perry Yung, a 24 hour event to remember the tragedy, curated by Eiko, Danspace Project, March 2016.

High Rise / Medusa Muna Tseng (Choreographer & Director) a site-specific dance commission for New York City Parks Summer Events, on large scale sculpture by Charles Ginnever, Hudson River Park, June 2014

Stella: Danspace Project NY premiere 2011 (dramaturgy by Ong Keng Sen), residency TheatreWorks 72-13, Singapore 2010. The performer David Thomson was nominated for a Bessie Award for his performance in STELLA.

Water Water, Water Mysteries, Water Trilogy: La MaMa NY 2009, 2008, Jacobs Pillow MA 2008, Joyce Theater NY premiere 1988, London, Glasgow, UK, Switzerland, Sweden & Greece tours.

Ambiguous Ambassador a.k.a. SlutForArt and 98.6: A Convergence in 15 Minutes (directed by Ping Chong, recipient of the 2014 National Medal of the Arts): 92nd Street Y NY premiere 1999 (which won a Bessie Award), US tours 1999-2002 National Dance Project.

The Silver River (MacArthur-winner composer Bright Sheng, David Henry Hwang -libretto, Ong Keng Sen- direction): Lincoln Center Festival NY 2002, Spoleto Festival USA 2000, Philadelphia and Singapore tours.

After Sorrow (with Ping Chong & Company): La MaMa NY premiere 1997, US, Korea, Hong Kong tours 1997-98.  

The Idea of East (Oscar-winner composer Tan Dun, pianists Margaret Leng Tan, SouHon Cheung, architect Billie Tsien)  Performance Space 122  NY premiere 1996, London, Glasgow UK tour 1998

The Pink (Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun): Hong Kong and La MaMa NY premieres 1994, with City Contemporary Dance Company of Hong Kong; US and Estonian tours 1994-97

MTPNC (composer/video-artist Phill Niblock): Danspace NY premiere 1992, German tour

Post-Revolutionary Girl (composer Ana da Silva, painter Winston Roeth): Dia NY premiere 1989, Hong Kong, London, Glasgow UK, Sweden tours.

References