New Zealand is a long ways away... from New York.

Fulbright grants are all about international exchange between the USA and a multitude of other countries around the world. For the majority of the world's population, the freedom to travel is an oft unrealized day dream. Rarely do I forget the privilege I have to toil away at tasks that earn me a living, with knowledge I didn't always know I gained by being me, and the distance between countries has been an awareness nurtured in me throughout my life. Gratefully, travel continues to be a part of my work and life.

2008 detail from performance shot of me in "Esplanade"

I was born and grew up on the third largest island in the West Indies, Jamaica. Like many island born children, my dream was always to travel and see the world. As a member of the "baby boomer" generation I also benefitted from the advances in air travel and its growing global infrastructure. I remember being told by my parents that it took upwards of a month to travel between Jamaica and Hong Kong when they were children. As a child, my first time on an airplane was a relatively short flight from Jamaica to Miami, and the first time I flew to England, I clearly remember taking three flights: Kingston, Jamaica to New York, USA to Gander, Canada to London, United Kingdom.

By the time I was a teenager, trans-Atlantic flights were common place. The first time I flew to New Zealand from New York City, back in 1999, I was able to change planes in San Francisco and cross the Pacific in a single flight. I imagine that the 24 hour travel day for that excursion was probably similar to my first trans Atlantic crossing some thirty year earlier. For this project, Fulbright have booked my tickets through a partner travel agent, and my flight can only be described as a trans-world nonstop flight from New York City direct to Auckland! I can't say that I am looking forward to the estimated 17 - 18 hour flight, but I do appreciate that this is actually possible. To date, the longest single flight I have taken has been about 14 hours from New York to Tokyo. In under a hundred years, commercial passenger travel from the New World to the Far East has gone from an average of about 45 days by ship to under 24 hours by plane.

It seems like such a cliché to say that knowing our past is one of the best ways to appreciate our present and to guide our choices and understanding for the future. However, in my field of concert dance knowing the past, for creative artists striving to excel and to contribute to its present and future, is rarely as simple as picking up a well researched book. For me, dance as an expressive and performative Art, does speak about the historical eras in which it was created. And yet, legacy (of a choreographer that is no longer alive) works created in past times as performed by dancers today can connect with the zeitgeist of the now. 

As a performer, I benefitted from learning and performing early 20th century ballets and modern dances, as well as growing up training in Afro-Caribbean dance forms. All of that experience informed my participation in new creations, not only because of the technical articulation honed on my body by the varied demands, but for the dramatic clarity and specificity I learned from dancing those foundational works. To me, every dance I had to learn was a new experience, whether or not they had been created on (or for) a dancer before me. With age came confidence and efficiency to build new work and try new approaches as I came to understand what I knew, and what I needed to know more about.

The artistry that transcends skill in dance is no different than other performing arts, and that lies in the observer seeing both the role being danced as well as recognizing the individual performing. These perceptions hold space simultaneously, not only for individual performers, but for the uniquely evocotive works of Art themselves which speak of their creators, whether in the aesthetic of choreography, the brush strokes and colors of painting, the harmonies and tonalities of music, and even the words and phrases of written dialogue.

Advances in technology and understanding of our world and engineering sciences have given us a global transportation infrastructure which also furthers the reach of Fulbright programs as conduits of learning and diplomacy. These advances could not have happened without knowledge and application of all that came before, and they have also opened global access to interact in person.

Advances in technology have also pushed access and learning of dance choreography as an art, in ways not imaginable even forty years ago. In particular is the day-to-day use of video and a growing archive of recovered or AI enhanced footage. However, I have found that nothing replaces the critical eye and knowledgable coaching of an experienced teacher or "stager", working with as much historical data as is available. Staging legacy dances of Paul Taylor means honoring how we imagine the artistic choices Taylor would make seeing the current dancers in the studio, and pushing today's artists to embody a role (abstract or character driven) with all of their talent and abilities.

I continue to acquire, digitize, annotate, record any and all data that might support more than a reconstruction of a particular dance. Performances need to become a statement of Art in and of themselves. I want the data to help shape how the work is viewed compositionally, artistically, and ultimately in how it appeals or challenges today's audiences as the dance may (or may not) have been intended, and how it is performed.

One of my history teachers in college, encouraged me to look at world history through the Art that was created and consumed by different cultures through various eras. Taking this perspective provided insight to how stratified a community might be, or how Art might actually have foreshadowed a general understanding of physics/technology, or how a society managed itself through wars differently from natural disasters, and so much more.

Art and artistes in general are still vilified in many cultures, while revered in others. Yet it has proven to be an ever present factor of human civilization. Dance, while mostly non-verbal, is still most powerful and impactful when experienced in live performances, and it isn't always the new that transcends the need for explanation or understanding to have an impact or make a statement.

This blog (FNZdance25.blogspot.com) is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author (Richard Chen See) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.

Fulbright New Zealand & Fulbright-Nehru in recent decades.

 One amazing thing about Fulbright grants is that no specific outcome is required for proposed projects. As a Fulbrighter, I have been asked to interact beyond my host institution with the country of my grant, and to share my experience as a grantee. Fulbright says it hopes that grants will spark longer term institutional connections between the USA and the host countries of its 49 Global Commissions by the personal relationships created and strengthened through their programs. This leaves open infinite potential for any funded project to evolve and reach beyond the imagined, original scope. 

2008 studio shoot, Richard Chen See. Photo: Lois Greenfield

In 2018, I received a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award fellowship, and I spent six months in India visiting and teaching with more than a dozen different institutions. Earlier this year, 2025, I was back in Mumbai teaching an independently funded intensive workshop for an institution with whom I first connected on that Fulbright. The intervening years have included mentorship and ongoing professional networking, where I have seen dancers and teachers that I met in India, thriving on global stages, and coming to the USA to study. The remarkable thing is that there is no substitute for being in a country building relationships with people in person. No matter how much the worldwide digital infrastructure has improved, there is a warmth and a wealth of non-verbal, non-visual cues that is needed to build enduring connections and find common interests with people around the globe.

India was the first place where I understood how much Fulbright Fellowships could also bring families and generational curiosity together. A small percentage of the Fulbright-Nehru fellows, to which I belonged that year, were actually repeat Fulbrighters to India, under the same commission, with many years between their grants. Once you have received a grant, it is not possible to apply to participate in another Fulbright grant program for at least two years. The application also lets you know that preference is given to individuals whom have never received a Fulbright. Still, patience and dedication to their fields allowed a few exceptional individuals the opportunity to renew their ties between India and the USA more than once with assistance from Fulbright and a second project. 

Becoming a Senior Fulbright Scholar (under which the Professional Excellence Award falls) is a lengthy process in itself, and a few have had previous grants as Students and/or Scholars. In my case, before I received my Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, I had completed a Specialist project with Fulbright New Zealand in 2011. I rejoined the Specialist roster in hopes of possibly doing a project back home in Jamaica. When that didn't work out, I put out feelers to Australia, Germany, Austria, India, Barbados, as well as to New Zealand once again. I could not be happier that Fulbright New Zealand approved this project which brings me back to Aotearoa, fourteen years later. This time I will be based in Auckland, whereas previously I was in Wellington. 

Approaching Fulbright for potential support for more than just research in the dance field, has meant thinking about how dance is studied in academia and why I might be a good candidate. Dance as a Performance Art in higher education around the world, is still a very young field. Yet it has long been included amongst the Fine Arts. I think that part of this "late blooming" acceptance into academia is the lack of a universal written methodology for recording choreography; added to this was how slowly film and video entered into the capturing and archiving of dance around the world from a critical, rather than entertainment perspective. Academia relies on a document or artifact to be left behind for future generations to analyze and critique, and maybe offer new approaches.

Composition Study, 9 May 1937. Collection Museum of Modern Art, New York

One of Pablo Picasso's studies for Guernica. 

Autograph manuscript of "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" BWV 639 from the Orgelbüchlein

A page of music written by Johann Sebastian Bach.

We are all familiar with how music can be notated, and plays have scripts. Most non-dance invested individuals have no idea that there are a number of dance notation methodologies, and most dancers and choreographers are not literate in the likes of Labanotation or Benesh. In fact, a lot of choreographers through the ages have devised their own personal versions of notation to help them both consider a creation (think of the sketches that visual artists do prior to starting on a major piece) or to record on paper how we move in space (think of a musical autograph where a composer has transcribed a tune he has played on an instrument).

I have the privilege of working for Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, and I am also one of the keepers of the archival documentation for dozens of Paul Taylor's dances which were created between 1954 and 2018, when Taylor died. 

A page out of Paul Taylor's notebook choosing and combining musical selections. PTDC Archives

Reconstructing one of Taylor's dances is a process of reviewing what documentation there is of his original concepts, the world premiere of the work, subsequent productions, and current documentation to not only reproduce the choreography, costume, scenic and lighting designs, and musicality, but to make it live in the performance of the artistes to dance the work.

Words and diagrams are only the beginnings of analyzing a dance for reconstruction. Dances live in the experience of both the performers and their audiences, and aligning unique qualities of individual dancers with their roles within a specific work, needs the directorial choices of an experienced stager. I don't imagine that many choreographers generate their early documentation with the thought of how future generations might use them. Such notes are just one factor in the creative process of choreographers, and many times these artifacts need more context to be constructively interpreted.

Paul Taylor's original map of a grid pattern for dancers to follow. PTDC Archives

When I was first asked to justify my career accomplishments by academic standards, I was asked for published writings and peer reviews. I considered each performance I gave in a dance to be as rigorous in its production as a published research thesis. Certainly, it had been taken from concept, to development (generating steps & phrases), through editing (rehearsals and coaching), layout design (costuming, sets & lighting), binding mounting production in a theatre or other site), and finally production (the performance(s)). There was never a dance in which I performed that had not had weeks if not years of evolution from its original genesis to its presentation on stage (or other venue).

Peer reviews were from those professional journalists whose careers centered on critiquing dance as seen by audiences with their considered experience comparing and contrasting dances of many different choreographers, cultures, and curators. The success (and evidence) of my participation was in being named and noted in critical reviews and articles. Ironically, these same evidences of exceptional contributions to our fields of professions, are also measures used to justify our professional credibility. 

I will write more precisely about my work and expertise as this project progresses and evolves. However, I wanted to shine a light on how Fulbright has been embracing that blogs and social media have become essential tools for educating the world about how their mission of global diplomacy continues to grow and evolve.

As a Fulbright New Zealand Specialist to Wellington, NZ, I was only asked for a final report on my experiences. As a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar to India, I was encouraged to either write my own blog or share posts on a blog managed by the United States-India Educational Foundation. For this Fulbright NZ Specialist project in Auckland, NZ, I have been given a separate "communications packet" that outlines methods and tips for content creation to share my experience and support from Fulbright on all social media platforms. 

By comparison to other current Fulbrighters, this blog may seem a little out-dated, but it suits my temperament and comfort level of online sharing, while reminding me that letting others share in my experience is a bonus of my project. 

2008 performance of Paul Taylor's "Esplanade"
Annmaria Mazzini, Richard Chen See, Orion Duckstein, Parisa Khobdeh. Photo: unknown

This blog (FNZdance25.blogspot.com) is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author (Richard Chen See) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.

How I came to Fulbright as a Jamaican dancer.

Growing up on the island of Jamaica in the 1960's, I got to watch and learn from the founding dancers of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC). Their standards were rigorous and reflected professional training in ballet and modern dance forms gained mostly in the UK and the USA. At the same time, the founding directors grounded their choreography in current island events, cultural history, and Jamaican folklore; blending in the Afro-Caribbean movement and rhythms of our island history. Yet none of these exceptional dancers might have been considered as "professionals" by today's definition. They all had "day-jobs" to pay the bills as university professors, bank tellers, school teachers, mechanics, fashion designers, visual artists, et cetera, but none could say that their performing careers were how they made-a-living.

1991 Richard Chen See in performance. Photo: James Murphy

My own advanced training that would lead to my professional career in the dance field had me moving England in 1977. Then as I sought to make dance my career, I would eventually land in the USA in 1981. My dance career here began in Florida, then California, and finally I moved to New York to join Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1993.

Ironically, my early performing career was filled with a good percentage of job offers in many different countries. However, it was my Jamaican passport that prevented a long term career in countries that sustained dancing as a legitimate and sustainable profession. As a young global itinerant dancer, I would become intimately familiar with consulates and geopolitical bureaucracy. As global communications have become ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives, I have enjoyed the privilege of maintaining, and building new, international connections. However, finding ways of affording to share my advantages and long-lived experiences both within and outside of the USA became a part of my professional ambitions. 

I was introduced to the Fulbright Specialist program as I completed my Masters of Fine Arts in 2011 having retired from performing in 2008. The terminal academic degree, my US citizenship, and my expertise in the field of performing arts over thirty five years at that time, all meant I was eligible to apply for and to be placed on the specialist roster, which was established in 2001. If accepted, specialists typically remain on the roster for three years, and may be paired with only one project at a time.

The unique aspect of the Fulbright Specialist program is that institutions outside of the USA must apply to their regional Fulbright comission with a project for which a specialist from the US could be paired with them to participate with their expertise. An additional difference with this program, from other Fulbright grants, is that the project be between two and six weeks in length, allowing full-time professionals to minimize leave as well as lengthy visa approvals for longer international stays.

    Jamaica - Coat of Arms              Great Seal of the USA              New Zealand - Coat of Arms

Ever since I left Jamaica to pursue a dance career, I have done what I could to bridge international and economic barriers that might inhibit access to Dance that I did not know about, or maybe wasn't available, when I was growing up. 

James William Fulbright authored the Fulbright Scholars Act of 1946 which provided grants for academic international exchange at the graduate and post graduate levels. My reading of his goals for the Fulbright Commision was in the interests of international diplomacy through the lived experience of advanced intellectual exchange. 

Those of us who have performed as dancers around the world, have always known that Dance can be a non-verbal form of communication for both building understanding and sharing different persectives on life and culture. This is a gross oversimplification, but an evolution in the field of dance during my lifetime has been its elevation as an academic field providing access to academic based grants and jobs beyond a short lived performing career for the vast majority of dancers and choreographers.

To be a professional implies economic viability of the jobs available within a field. Understandably, in turn, dance directors and institutions need to be able to fund overhead and wages. The role that performing arts organizations hold in a country's gross domestic product (GDP) often reflects the resources available for international exchange. Added to this limitation are the comparative costs-of-living, currency exchanges, political unrest, and so much more. So being approved for a Fulbright grant of any kind, has been a welcome boon to building and continuing my professional dance connections with both New Zealand and India (you can visit my other blog on this site https://dancingkayak.blogspot.com/ ).

Emblem of India

This blog (FNZdance25.blogspot.com) is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author (Richard Chen See) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.

My Fulbright adventure in New Zealand!!!

 I am thrilled to be embarking on my third Fulbright adventure, which will be taking me back to New Zealand later this year. This is a Fulbright Specialist grant that will afford Black Grace Dance Company, based in Auckland to have me, Richard Chen See, in country for six weeks to engage in projects that will hopefully ripple far into the future of dance in NZ. I also hope to highlight a few of the human connections between NZ contemporary dance and American modern dance genres, particularly through the acclaimed choreographer, Paul Taylor. I rejoined the Fulbright Specialist roster in 2022, in hopes of participating in just such an opportunity!

Wearable art which I snapped a shot of back in 2016, my last visit to Aotearoa.

Fulbright does request that I post the following disclaimer, as I am not officially writing as a representative of Fulbright, but as an independent individual. I will try and remember to copy this at the bottom of each post going forward.

"This blog (FNZdance25.blogspot.com) is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author (Richard Chen See) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations."

My host organization will be The Black Grace Trust (aka Black Grace Dance Company) who applied for a Fulbright Specialist grant with a focus on the choreographic work of Paul Taylor. I have been intimately associated with Taylor's work for more than thirty years, and I have been reconstructing Mr. Taylor's dances for companies since 1999. That also happens to be the very first year I met Neil Ieremia, the artistic director and founder of Black Grace. Now, twenty-five years later, I will be staging one of Taylor's iconic dances, Esplanade, for Neil's company to perform in NZ and abroad. Esplanade is currently celebrating the 50th anniversary of its world premiere in 1975, and continues to garner acclaim from critics and new audiences globally.

Black Grace marketing photo from their 2022 visit to perform in NYC.

Alongside transferring a dance, I will be investigating with Black Grace the many ways that American contemporary dance training evolved, through the lens of the life and choreography of Paul Taylor (1930-2018). Contemporary dance, as it is considered today, builds on much of the modern dance choreography and training methods of Taylor's generation and earlier. Yet, Taylor uniquely eschewed the development of a singular "technique", in favor of observing and utilizing the abilities of dancers from vastly different backgrounds and training disciplines. This meant that to dance Taylor's varied works, the dancers had to also access skills that may not have been common to their specific training. This versatility in turn pushed the breadth of technique and performance craft for which Taylor dancers are recognized internationally. With Black Grace, I hope to participate in developing curricula that builds on what is unique to their heritage and culture as I learn more about their training methods. And we will broaden the versatility of the young dancers with exposure to the standards and demands expected of working dancers in America.

I am looking forward to sharing the journey with you, as Black Grace and I discover how this project builds bridges artistically and culturally into the future. I will also take some time to provide more context to my Fulbright Specialist designation, and the players who brought and bring New Zealand and the USA together in this confluence of dance and Art.

Performing Esplanade shortly before I retired from the stage in 2008.