Kickstarter

What is “Zero Hour”? Artistic Director Philein Wang collaborates with three Chinese American artists weaving together Dance, Music, Painting and Costume Design. Capturing a blend of China’s cultural heritage and America’s freedom of expression, “Zero Hour” examines the transitions in life and family which arise from young adulthood to motherhood. Each transition carries its own “Zero Hour” : a decisive point of action. Exploring the present as a blend of the past in a series of vignettes—mixing traditional Chinese songs with contemporary music, modern dance with hip hop, landscape paintings with abstract art—we see through the eyes of a young Chinese mother arriving in the U.S. in 1975.

What are you funding? We’ve raised money for theater and basic production. Your contribution will pay for the meat of the work -- two months of intense rehearsals, set, lighting and costume design to bring it all together.

What will this accomplish? With your help, we can make our 3rd home season a reality, at Mountain View Center of Performing Arts on November 5th and 6th. With your help, our home season will flower into a true home for us here in the Bay Area – in this area rich with the mixing of Chinese culture and technological leadership, a stronghold for Chinese-American arts can be established, providing opportunity and answers for all youth trying to understand how China fits into the modern world. Tell your friends about our mission and cause and Pledge now. Thanks!

What is Philein/ZiRu Productions? Philein/ZiRu Productions was founded in 2007 and since that time has distinguished itself as an organization that focuses on multi-disciplinary work, collaborates across cultural boundaries, and actively addresses the question of cultural identity in today's hybridized society.

Having received funding from the Zellerbach Family Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as corporate sponsorship in 2009, the company is poised for its third annual tour through China in late 2010.

Organizational Description

With a mission to create an artistic base for the Chinese American diaspora, the company is fiscally sponsored by Dancers’ Group and, in the past three years, has arranged a total of six tours and exchanges between the United States and the Greater China Region.

The company’s centerpiece is Wang’s own dance form, Tiger Hip Hop™/Tiger Motion, which is a highly stylized fusion of modern/ballet, Tai Chi, Wushu and hip hop that, in itself, highlights the intensely diverse cultural influences in the company. Casa Design magazine in China describes Wang’s dance form by saying, “strength and tenderness feed off each other to form the unique energy of this original dance.” Surrounding this movement is an organization that has distinguished itself through its focus on multi-disciplinary work, its collaboration across cultural boundaries.

Each tour and each new work brings together a co-production crew with contribution from both those based in the United States and those in China. Our ability to come together despite and because of diverse challenges strengthens our core values and invariably produces a moving experience worthy of repetition. As a result, our company has established a solid team of international performers and production staff members who come on board for our projects. Building relationships with artists, production staff, sponsors, supporters and arts enthusiasts in both countries is paramount to the success of our company’s vision.

This vision is to provide a long-term platform whereby artists can create and showcase work in multi-disciplinary forms on two continents. Appealing to supporters and corporations with strong ties to the United States, China and Taiwan, we seek to thrive in art where they have succeeded in business. Philein/ZiRu Productions aims to become the first self-sufficient global performing arts production company based in the SF/Peninsula Bay Area. Our priority is to create a foothold for those looking for a cultural home through the arts.