press
InDance, April 2021
Soft Power: An Interview with Asian Babe Gang
by Yayoi Kambara, InDance, April 2021
“I’ve become aware of artists calling themselves the Asian Babe Gang (ABG)*, and it made me nostalgic for my STEAMROLLER days. Maybe it’s their shared pleasure in art-making, collaborative spirit, and the fact they meet in their homes. Or is it because they kind of look like me in my twenties? Or maybe it’s because the ABG collaboration tube top manifesto, a video to express the revolutionary potential of tube tops as the site of the revolution, was made specifically for me? If I am their audience, they are making work for someone like me, shouldn’t they be fundable?
I caught up with Asian Babe Gang (Malia Byrne, Kim Ip, Rose Huey, Nina Wu, Aiano Nakagawa, and Melissa Lewis) to learn more about their shared work.”
To access the full article, click here.
Life As A Modern Dancer, October 2020
of our bodies, in time
by Audrey Johnson, Life as A Modern Dancer, October 2020
“The work, in an excellently smart mirroring effect, also reflects to us how we witness our own bodies. A powerful work, Nakagawa and Stockton ask viewers to witness their bodies moving, living, being in their wholeness. They invite us to interrogate how as a Western culture we are primed to project expectations onto dancing bodies and denounce indulgences of pleasure: in the work, (and then later in the Q&A) Nakagawa and Stockton remind us that those projections are white supremacist and colonial projects, that which we must fully and actively resist.”
To access the full review, click here.
Dance Teacher, July 2020
Cultivating Power In Young Dancers
by Sarah Chenoweth, Dance Teacher Magazine, July 2020
“Nakagawa’s teaching philosophy centers on children’s power to express and be themselves. Her students’ individual choices are taken seriously and validated. She focuses on “consent and agency,” she says, and urges dance teachers of all ages and styles to “reflect on how you can cultivate a culture of freedom. Ask yourself: ‘What am I socializing these children for? Is it to be able to best copy another person? Or is it to be able to know themselves on a deep, deep level?'””
To access the full article, click here.
Dance Teacher, December 2019
Why Is Dance Good for My Toddler? Interview with Aiano Nakagawa
by Rachel Caldwell, Dance Teacher Magazine, December 2019
“It’s no trade secret that dance is excellent for physical, mental and emotional health. However, there are specific developmental milestones that make it all the more valuable to young children. Whether it’s fostering their independence or helping them to develop motor skills, dance can help support children’s growth in myriad ways.
Teaching artist Aiano Nakagawa specializes in early childhood education, teaching a range of classes for children ages 0 to 7. Here, she shares what is going on for 0- to 5-year-olds developmentally and why dance is such an asset to this age group.”
To access the full article, click here.
SF Chronicle, November 2016
'Out of Earth' stirs up the dirt at Safehouse
by Claudia Bauer, The San Francisco Chronicle, November 2016
Intimate grappling transitioned to freeze-frame poses and weighted, momentous crawling. Stomping on all fours, embracing and thrashing their hair, Weckler, Aiano Nakagawa and Jesse Wiener seemed trapped in primeval tar. Near the end, Ragon rubbed herself with the filthy rag; thus defiled and purified, she became a sprite in a balletic solo unsullied by the dirty realities of life.
To access the full review, click here.