“˜Lotus Steps’ to feature Chinese culture, history

  Chinese Cultural Dance Club (Front left to right)
Michelle Shen, Cherry Yen, (back)
Stephanie Chang, Aileen Chow,
Katie Ngan, Theresa Chen and
Victoria Meng perform a traditional dance as part
of the Chinese Cultural Dance Club.

By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Dance, dance, revolution!

Many groups have a difficult time organizing even one large
performance annually, but the Chinese Cultural Dance Club has one
each quarter. CCDC will present “Lotus Steps Spring
200l” today at the Northwest Campus Auditorium.

“It’s called “˜Lotus Steps’ after the
small, fast walk that you use in Chinese dance,” said Theresa
Chen, a first-year business economics student and member of the
Chinese Cultural Dance Club. “It looks like you’re
gliding.”

Nancy Lu, a fourth-year international economics student and
external affairs director of the club, is satisfied with the
group’s success since its foundation in February 2000. Among
other venues, the club has performed at the Los Angeles Times
Festival of Books, the Children’s Festival and was invited to
perform at the Democratic National Convention last summer.

“I think that we’ve been asked to perform so often
because what we do is very specific,” Lu said.
“We’re non-profit and we tend to be more focused on the
educational aspects than a lot of other on-campus
organizations.”

The club teaches dance classes at all skill levels, offering
workshops on introductory, intermediate and advanced dancing
techniques. Although the club’s original goal to promote
Chinese culture through dance remains the same, CCDC has also
expanded to become more diverse.

“It was a women’s dance club since the
beginning,” Lu said. “Men were hesitant to join at
first. Now there’s a men’s class too, and there are men
on the staff. We’re making more progress toward
diversity.”

CCDC is unusual in that it is the only Chinese dance group in
the Los Angeles area to offer a men’s class.

“Lotus Steps Spring 2001″ includes performances by
both the men’s and women’s groups, all geared to
educate the public about Chinese society and culture.

“Every performance is accompanied by a description that
tells you the history behind it,” Lu said. “That way,
the history is taught to the audience in an entertaining way. They
can listen as they watch.”

The Chinese Cultural Dance Club learns one new dance per
quarter, and the club has added two new dances to its repertoire
since “Lotus Steps Fall 2000.”

The show is choreographed by the club’s artistic director,
UCLA alumnus Josephine Chen. Chen graduated in 1995 with a degree
in mechanical engineering and currently works in the aerospace
industry with the Raytheon corporation. Although her major seems to
have been far removed from dance, she has extensive training in
dance outside of UCLA. She studied Chinese cultural dance under
Wang Shin-Yue, the former artistic director of Beijing University
of Arts and Culture, and Lu Yu-Lin, the former principal performer
of Taiwan Arts and Cultural Exchange Ambassadors. She also received
classical ballet training from Nadzehda Koscuik of the Kirov Ballet
Co., and Paul Maure, former principal dancer of Ballet de
France.

The first new dance in the show will be “Walk in the
Park,” performed by the level one beginners’ class. The
dancers perform with small pink and white silk fans, traditionally
carried by upper-class women in China.

“The fans are almost see-through, with pretty images on
them,” Lu said. “The costumes are beautiful and very
elaborate, gold embroidery on

fuchsia silk.”

The level two class will perform the second new piece
“Spring,” using feather fans.

Lu described another one of the pieces as a work in progress, a
Mongolian dance in which the dancers wear bowls on their heads.

The final dance piece will be “Dark Clouds in the
Sky,” a dance that also tells a story.

“It’s a happier song with an upbeat tempo,”
said Stephanie Chang, second-year business economics student and
CCDC member. “It plays out humorously ““ it’s a
rainy day outside, so all the farmers are hiding beneath straw
hats, trying to pick the crops so they can get inside.”

The evening will also feature two solo dance performances, a
kung fu demonstration by the men’s class and a fashion show.
The fashion show will showcase eight costumes from different
periods of Chinese history, including Taiwanese aborigine and Han
Dynasty garb.

“There are over 5,000 years of Chinese history,” Lu
said. “China has always been going through different empires
and dynasties, so the styles are always changing.”

Lu explained the meaning behind her solo performance.

“In it, I’m a bird doing fast movements, turns and
jumps, and generally being playful in the forest.”

The event is sponsored by the Bradley International Center, the
International Program and the Office of Residential Life, among
other groups.

“We hope that people go away having learned
something,” Theresa Chen said. “But we also hope that
they enjoy the demonstrations. It’s not just a presentation
but also an educational experience that shows something about
Chinese culture.”

DANCE: The Chinese Cultural Dance Club performs
“Lotus Steps Spring 2001″ at the Northwest Campus
Auditorium today at 7 p.m. Entry is free. Doors open for general
admittance at 7 p.m., earlier for VIP seating. To reserve VIP
seating, RSVP to [email protected].