ECAASU 2009: Distinct Worlds, One Vision | Hosted by Rutgers University

DANNY CHO
Danny Cho is an unapologetic comedian who rants about unusual events from his life. He went to school as the only Asian American in East Los Angeles. He recited the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish. His Chinese best friend's closet smells like moth balls. He even dealt with sexual molestation on a recent sky-diving trip.

Two years ago, Danny was just another business consultant stuck in a nine-to-five job, spending his time figuring out how he can miss work and then playing up the different scenarios in his mind. He came up with two solutions: either get drunk and swerve the lanes of Beverley Hills in front of a cop, get arrested and miss a couple days of work, or quit and become a comedian. He chose the latter.

While attending UCLA, Danny started performing stand-up at countless numbers of colleges, as well as Kollaboration, the biggest Asian American talent show in the nation. Through the power of Youtube, Danny soon became a star among the Asian American community, and soon thereafter, landed the role of Pongo, the fat, mute Thai movie critic on Mad TV alongside Bobby Lee. Next up was a call from Hollywood, landing Danny a role on the Superbowl's Bud Light commercial.

Danny has performed at countless universities and clubs across the US and recently released his first 1 hour DVD titled, "Watch Your Step."

GILES LI
Photo provided by Derek Srisaranard

Giles Li is a spoken word performer based in Boston. He is affiliated with community groups both locally and nationally to work for social change.

His experience and leadership within Asian American communities has led to his having been quoted as an expert on Asian American community issues in many publications, including the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and Oakland Tribune. Most recently, he appears in the book The Snake Dance of Asian American Activism: Community, Vision, and Power.

In 2007, he was one of three featured artists in the documentary film Art Beyond Borders, produced by TSI at Harvard University. He can also be heard on CD releases from renowned spoken word performers Yellow Rage and Bao Phi, as well as his own defunct spoken word duo re: verse.

He has shared stages with Pharoahe Monch, Willie Perdomo, Helen Zia, Yuri Kochiyama, Louis Reyes Rivera, Giancarlo Esposito, Beau Sia, Bruce George, and a bunch of other people you've never heard of.

hereandnow
hereandnow was founded in 1989 by John Miyasaki with a group of young Asian Americans frustrated by the lack of non-stereotypical roles in plays, musicals, television, and film. hereandnow is a compelling Asian American theatre company that has performed across the nation for the past 17 years, and uses the collective voices of its diverse cast to reach out to the audience through universal themes of the show: that everyone comes from a unique experience, and that all people have stories to share. From its humble beginnings at East Los Angeles College, hereandnow has grown and toured to over 200 different colleges, theatres, and festivals.

In addition to hereandnow's regularly touring show, the group has taken on the role of producer, having put up three successful runs of "Romeo and Juliet Pinoy/Pinay Style," with sell-out crowds and wonderful reviews from the Rafu Shimpo and the L.A. Weekly, as well as a run of the world premier play "Fentor," written by Jason Fong. hereandnow started to break new ground in collaborating work early in 1999 in cross-genre performance by working with "Visiting Violette," a Silverlake-based modern rock band, by creating new theatrical vignettes inspired by their music, and vice versa. The two groups performed in two shows at the Edison Center for Performing Arts in East Los Angeles in 1998. They were also commissioned by the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations to create a collaborative work for their annual Day of Remembrance commemorating the plight of the Japanese Latin Americans taken from South America and imprisoned during World War II.

In the winter of 2001, hereandnow produced a run of their latest touring show "Boba Stories: Tales from the hereandnow Kitchen." Later that year, hereandnow produced the world premier of "A Nickel's Worth," the story of a Chinese American family dealing with divorce.

KELLY ZEN-YIE TSAI
Photo provided by Kevin Kane

"Raw, evocative, insightful...Kelly is a contemporary visionary who is helping to change the world, one poem at a time." — Celeste Hamilton, Action Without Borders/Idealist.org

KELLY ZEN-YIE TSAI is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based Chinese Taiwanese American spoken word artist who fights for cultural pride and survival through how she spits and how she lives. Touring extensively worldwide, she has featured at over 300 shows across the continental United States, Hawai'i, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Kenya, and the Netherlands.

Kelly has rocked stages at venues like the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the House of Blues, the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and three seasons of "Russell Simmons Presents HBO Def Poetry." She has shared stages with Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, DMX, Michael Eric Dyson, Wyclef Jean, Tracy Morgan, Amiri Baraka, and many more.

Past projects include her award-winning spoken word video ("By-Standing.." dir. by Karen Lin) and her viral spoken word video ("Black, White, Whatever" dir. by Jazzmen Lee-Johnson), which was featured on Youtube.com the day before Barack Obama's historic election and quickly garnered over 200,000 hits. Her poems and essays can be found in We Don't Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists (Seal/Avalon), We Got Issues! A Young Woman's Guide to a Bold, Empowered and Courageous Life (Inner Ocean) and The Spoken Word Revolution Redux (Sourcebooks).

For poetry, calendar, mailing list, and online store, check out Kelly's URL's at:
Official Website: www.yellowgurl.com
Youtube: www.youtube.com/kztsai
MySpace: www.myspace.com/yellowgurl_poetry
Facebook: Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai

BAO PHI
Born in Vietnam and raised in Minneapolis, Bao Phi has been a performance poet since 1992. He is a two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and was a National Poetry Slam individual finalist.

He has appeared on HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam, and a poem of his was published in the 2006 Best American Poetry anthology edited by Billy Collins. He was featured in the award-winning documentary film The Listening Project, was nominated for a Facing Race Ambassador Award for community service, and was selected as one of Minneapolis Saint Paul City Pages' Artists of the Year for 2008.

He has been a featured performer from coast to coast, from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe to University of California Berkeley, and continues to tour the nation performing for primarily Asian American audiences.

Currently, he works at the Loft Literary Arts Center as a community collaborations and spoken word programmer working in communities of color.

TIM BE TOLD
Combining elements of soul, pop, rock, gospel and blues, Tim Be Told has emerged in the Charlottesville music scene with their own unique sound.

After tracking their debut album "Getting By" in the Summer of 2007 and playing their first show a mere few months later, the band has gone on to perform at various East Coast venues such as the Knitting Factory, Jammin Java, and the Satellite Ballroom. Recent winners of UVa’s 2008 Battle of the Bands, Tim Be Told (Tim Ouyang, Luan Nguyen, Andrew Chae, Jim Barredo, and Parker Stanley) continues to grow a loyal and passionate fanbase both in Virginia and beyond.

With each show, the band gains new listeners with their infectious guitar hooks, captivating melodies, and driving rhythm parts; but most importantly, they hope that their music will cause people to view life through a different lens, one of honesty, hope, redemption, and change.

FR3SH DANCE TROUPE, LLC
Since its inception in 2003, Fr3sh Dance Troupe has been a company dedicated to making a positive impact on the dance community.

By emphasizing progress and originality, Fr3sh creates a healthy and challenging learning environment for dancers, by creating artistically innovative performances and quality events, they inspire audiences, and by maintaining high standards of integrity and respect, build bridges for all members of the dance community.

The "3" in "FR3SH" represents the 3 promises made to each dancer when they become part of the FR3SH Family: "Formal Training", "Frequent Performance", and "Family".