New steps

“The show must go on” is a common motto underlying
any kind of performance art, and that saying is especially true
this year for the seventh annual Lotus Steps, a production by the
UCLA Chinese Cultural Dance Club. Despite recent losses of outside
staff support, the CCDC’s show will go on to be performed on
Saturday at 7 p.m. in Royce Hall.

The members of CCDC choose the theme of Lotus Steps each year
based on the dances incorporated in the program as well as the
general mood of the club. This year, the theme of
“Celebration” reflects the shift to a student-centered
production.

“It is a celebration; a new beginning. We thought it was
fitting,” said Christina Chung, a fourth-year ecology and
evolutionary biology student who assumed the role of artistic
director this year.

“The club has changed quite a bit in the past year through
a shift in leadership. Before, we had an outside artistic director
and she would choreograph a lot of dances,” said Tiffany
Keng, CCDC public relations production manager and a UCLA alumna.
“This year, it’s all student-run; it’s all
student-choreographed dances.”

In previous years, the ensemble was directed by Josephine Louie,
a UCLA alumna, who choreographed and oversaw many of
production’s pieces. With her retirement from the club last
year, undergraduate students in CCDC have had to step up to fill
that role. The club finds this to be a positive shift, allowing for
growth and change within the group.

“We’re definitely excited. I think it’s a very
good thing,” Chung said. “It lends to a sort of
immortality for the club, so we aren’t relying on the ability
of outside help.”

As one of the undergraduate students who stepped in to help lead
the direction of the club, Chung taught most of the dances and also
organized the way the show would be run this year.

Following the central theme of “Celebration,” many
of the dances are festive traditional pieces that reflect various
areas of Chinese culture.

Karen Tzong, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student,
taught two of the dances performed in Lotus Steps. One piece
incorporates traditional Mongolian movements into a contemporary
style, while the other is a traditional dance from the Yi
tribe.

“The Axi Moon Dance is a festival courting dance ““ a
celebratory dance,” Tzong said.

The opening piece of the production is a Royal Court Dance that
includes traditional movements and the use of fans.

“It is the more traditional dance that people associate
Chinese dancing with,” Tzong said.

The largest cast dance, with 24 student dancers, is the Formosa
dance.

“It reflects the rustic traditional life of the Taiwanese
people, and incorporates a variety of different props: hats,
handkerchiefs, wooden shoes,” Chung said.

CCDC’s dance production incorporates other student and
community groups as well. Envision Vocals, a student gospel choir,
will collaborate with the dancers in a piece titled
“Friendship.” African and Chinese cultures will blend
together through modern dance and an a cappella song sung in
Mandarin.

“We collaborated with Envision Vocals, as one of
CCDC’s dancers is also in the group. They all have this
passion and talent for a cappella,” Tzong said.

Young dancers between the ages of 4 and 10 will also be dancing
in Lotus Steps. Each girl was adopted from China, and they are all
members of Families with Children from China. Their affiliations
with both FCC and CCDC help to strengthen their cultural ties.

“As an outreach program we incorporated them into our club
a few years ago and they’ve been dancing with us
since,” said Chung.

Through the collaborative nature of Lotus Steps, CCDC hopes to
share Chinese culture with those less familiar with it.

“Our main mission of CCDC is to share Chinese culture
through dance,” said Tzong. “By being involved and
doing these performances I’ve learned a lot about the dances
and I hope that we are able to convey that to the
audience.”