The Min Languages form the basis of Taiwanese, Hokkien, Teochew, and Hainanese. For most of the 20th and 21st centuries, Min languages have been looked down upon as dialects: students received corporal punishment for speaking their home languages at school throughout the Chinese speaking world, from Singapore to California. Even within the hierarchy of non-Mandarin Chinese languages, Min languages play second fiddle to Cantonese, with the dominance of Hong Kong media. In artistic and dance traditions, Min peoples are often depicted as insular, uneducated, and uncouth. 

Min Bridges seeks to change that. We’ve developed a series of original choreographies and reworkings of Min songs and folk, classical, and contemporary dances from throughout the countries where Min peoples live, which show the diversity of Min-speaking cultures wherever they may be, but in an elevated and respectful fashion that shows Min people not as two-dimensional stereotypes, but complex and modern societies with hundreds of years of historical interactions-of serving as cultural bridges, to the benefit of all their communities.

This show reminds us of our centuries long history of coexistence, and how Min peoples have acted as a bridge between cultures, enriching all of us whichever side of the sea or strait we may come from. By delving deeply and elevating Min stories and the internal diversity of Asian and Asian American communities, we break the homogenization and dehumanization which is the prerequisite of violence, and replace it with bridges of love. 

Bay Area Independent Chinese Dancers is a collective of Chinese dancers, choreographers and allies who use traditional arts to tell our original stories firmly rooted in our own experiences of the Bay Area and throughout the world. Our conservative art forms introduce traditional audiences to new ideas about belonging in the larger community, while our engagement with local history and current issues bring new audiences to Chinese dance. We are the premier home for Chinese dancers to pursue independent, boundary pushing, solo and small group work that doesn't fit in conventional studio environments.

Our goal is not to replicate the traditional studio model, but to focus on original choreographies and solos that fit better around a working adult’s schedule. We believe that after 20 years, our dancers have the technical skill to tell their own stories, and if they base it on their lived experiences in the Bay Area, that voice will shine even brighter.