Dancing Moons Festival Press & Reviews

See Dancing Moons Festival in the Press!

2025 Dancing Moons Festival – Angel Island Project

Press Release

Press Reviews

San Francisco Chronicle
The Los Angeles Post
The Guardian
World Journal - Angel Island Performance (Chinese)
World Journal - Paramount Performance (Chinese)
Bay City News
Dance Magazine
Pointe Magazine
Broadway World
KQED To-Do List
KQED Youth Takeover
East Bay Express
KTVU
NBC Bay Area
Nichi Bei News
KALW Public Media
Midbrow

2024 Dancing Moons Festival Press Reviews

San Francisco Chronicle
ODC

2023 Dancing Moons Festival Press Reviews

San Francisco Chronicle
Oaklandside
Channel 26 (Chinese)
Pointe Magazine

Listen to OBC dancers talk about Dancing Moons Festival on KALW!

Sights and Sounds: Ashley Thopiah
Oakland Ballet celebrates AAPI cultures with 'Dancing Moons Festival'

Dancing Moons Festival Reviews

“…the work illuminated one of America’s more shadowed stories”

“Through twelve dancers, a string quartet, and the haunting swell of a choir, the work illuminated one of America’s more shadowed stories, delivering it as a living, breathing, urgent call for recognition…this production by the small yet immensely powerful Oakland Ballet team sent a message of just how important the arts are to expressing so many of the things that words cannot.“
– Vita Hewitt, Midbrow, May 2025


“Bites of the immigrant experience served tastily”

“….a program packed with diverse and punchy snippets by Asian American choreographers – a sampling well worth seeing when this nine-member ensemble brings Dancing Moons across the bay to San Francisco’s ODC theater on April 5-6.“
– Rachel Howard, San Francisco Chronicle, March 2024

 

The “Dancing Moons Festival” highlighted a racially diverse group of ballet dancers that reflected the diversity of Oakland. Coupled with Chan’s mission to eradicate Orientalism on the stage, the wide range of music, costume and ballet styles allowed the performance to step away from the confines of Eurocentric ballet and demonstrate the full scope of what contemporary ballet can be.

– Edith Matthias, the Daily Californian, April 2023

Click here for the full review

 

“…This production is an eye-catching delight on so many levels. The dancers clearly relished their roles, and the duets which ranged from intimate to soaring were breathtaking. Some allusions to Asian identity are obvious, such as the story, music or costume. Others based on the interplay between the music and the choreography may emerge upon later reflection. These pieces by five Asian American choreographers stand on their own, while the richness of this community will become evident as the repertoire grows. Witness the emergence of a new chapter of Asian American history at the Dancing Moons Festival!

-Evelyn Lee, Oakland Asian Cultural Center Secretary, March 2023

“Innovation in any field traditionally comes from off-center—not the mainstream. In this case, empowering underrepresented voices to make new work is really exciting and interesting. Even being part of the festival last year and seeing the diversity in our offerings within just one racial group shows you how much untapped potential we have here to push the art form forward.”

– Phil Chan – Dancing Moons Festival Choreographer and Advisory Committee Member