Yung Lerner

Beyond the Bamboo Forest: the True Adventures of a Young Chinese Dancer Who Stepped into Her Dreams and Discovered the World. Yung Lerner

In 1970 Yung Yung arrives in New York City where it is rare to see a young Asian woman outside of Chinatown. Modern Dance icon Martha Graham has recruited Yung Yung while on a visit to Taipei where the brilliant young dancer's journey begins. Yung Yung, who could not imagine life beyond the bamboo forest, is suddenly free of the political dictator Chiang Kai-shek and the backstage parents she'd supported since early childhood. "In this memoir, we experience the fall and resurrection of a professional dancer/choreographer who, with the help of Martha Graham and an unconventional psychotherapist Shepard Hoodwin, escapes outer and inner tyranny" Mark Sackeroff (Temple University).