DanceWatch: Dancer Ching Ching Wong says good-bye

"Ching Ching Wong has danced for NW Dance Project for the past seven years. When she and I sat down this past weekend to talk, we estimated that she had danced approximately 70 new dances in her seven years with the company. If you’re wondering if that’s a lot? It is. It’s a whole lot. Wong’s contribution to the company is immeasurable.

This weekend she will be performing with NW Dance Project for the last time just days before she leaves on a self-directed world tour to teach and perform with her boyfriend of seven years Joe Reynolds and Korean violinist-looper and composer Joe Kye.

But before she exits Portland, Wong will perform a new solo choreographed by Katie Scherman with Kye and the Bravo Orchestra at Alberta Abbey on October 27 at 7:30 pm here in Portland. She will launch her website on October 25 as well as a fundraising campaign. Chingchingwong.com

Wong is half Chinese on her father’s side and half Filipino on her mother’s side. She was born in Manila but grew up in Southern California, and at the age of 13 moved in full time with her dance teacher Alia Harlan, the director of Allegria Dance Theater and stayed until graduation. Wang says that she was raised in a dance studio.

Seven years ago, after graduating with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and a minor in Education and Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine, Wong moved to San Francisco with the intention of staying. She auditioned for every dance company she could get her hands on but no success. Somewhere in there she auditioned for NW Dance Project, and artistic director Sarah Slipper hired her. She turned 22 during her first month in Portland dancing with the company."