Academy of Chinese Performing Arts

Had the honor of doing the lighting for their annual performances. The academy focuses on traditional Chinese folk dances. I can tell that teacher Chen is very passionate about his work and loves to see his performers improve themselves from the moment they step into the classroom. I’ve had a chance to work with a few of the teachers to bring their performances to the stage including Ms. Li and the ballet teacher Ms. Lin. I’ve seen the culmination of their work blossom at Ohlone College’s Jackson theater, De Anza College’s Visual and Performing Arts Center, and even on the road in China. Although I haven’t gone through the dances per se, I can tell that it’d be a very emotional and stressful process to undertake and that each and every one of the dancers put in countless measures of effort in order to help the collective.
You can see some of the numbers from June 2011 here:

Oh boy… lots of memories associated with this place. I took dance lessons for a little bit over a year here back in the day. They teach Chinese folk dance and ballet. As the title of the business states, the dancers here consist primarily of Chinese people. They teach all ages from little kids up to adults, and they hold several performances throughout the bay area.
I had lots of fun while I was taking classes here… I learned the snowflake dance and the red ribbon dance. I also had a few makeup lessons with the oh-​so-​asian chopstick dance class. The dance routines we learned were traditional folk dances, so there were not many actual variations since the dances depict a story. It was a great kinesthetic way to learn about the history of my culture and I met a lot of interesting people through lessons here.
Each of the folk classes learns one specific dance at a time, and then they perform and move onto another dance. There are specific warmups and such, and then you start learning your steps and placements in the group routine. So when you pick a class you are choosing the dance you will be performing at their next recital.
Have fun here!