Student Interview
Interviews:
Interview with Allison Deng (Lunar New Year Show)
By: Irene Chen
New Utrecht’s Chinese New Year Show has always been recognized as the most popular event in the school. During the show, Asian students get to showcase their talents and heritage. Some of the performances include singing, K-pop dancing, and Chinese traditional dancing, the crowd’s favorite. In last year’s handkerchief dance to this year’s fan dance, Allison Deng blows everyone away with her outstanding facial expressions and tricks. Today, we get an insight into her dance career: how it all started and progressed!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and how you began dancing?
Hi my name is Allison Deng, and I have been participating in the Chinese New Year Shows. I am known as the “solo dancer,” and I have been dancing for more than a decade. I started dancing and singing on stage when I was three years old. When I was around five or six years old, my grandma began bringing me to the New York Chinese Cultural Center (NYCCC), a non-profit organization, which is where I have been dancing for at least ten years. Throughout the years, I’ve met many wonderful teachers who have taught me the traditional foundations that I needed to succeed.
Image Courtesy of Allison Deng
Image Courtesy of Irene Chen
What do you think is a common misconception about Chinese traditional dance?
I think that people would confuse it with other dances. So, they would think that because they have a dance background, it would be easy for them to do Chinese traditional dances. But Chinese traditional dances are a different case because they have different foundations that you need. Let's say you have ballet as a foundation, in order to succeed in traditional dance, you need to learn how to use your body movements, facial expressions, and show elegance.
Chinese traditional dance focuses deeply on elegance and telling a story through your face and your body. I previously had a club before the Chinese New Year Show, but because of some problems, my club got pushed and combined into the Dance club. Dance club is very general, broad, and is just for fun, so it’s harder for more people to distinguish and practice just for the Chinese New Year Show. Plus, it’s hard for Chinese traditional dances to switch over to more Western-styled dances because we are so used to doing everything elegant, where hiphop focuses a lot on powerful movements, where we aren’t used to doing.
If you had to choose between group and solo performances, which one would you prefer more?
I would prefer solo performances. I think that solo performances are easier just for me because I may not be professional but at the same time, I feel like I have a higher expectation for myself so I wouldn’t expect other people to hit my standards, so it’s just easier for me and them. Group performances are fun to do because you guys go through a lot together. But if I do solo performances, I don’t have to spend as much time on myself and instead I can use that time to focus on the group dance I am in charge of. Solo performances you don’t have to worry about being in sync with anyone or the spacing you have to figure out. So my priority is always about teaching my group instead of myself, because it’s new for them and it takes time for them to get comfortable and get used to the new dancing style.
Image Courtesy of Allison Deng
Out of all the Chinese traditional dances you have performed, which style is your favorite?
I have three favorite styles and I’m gonna talk very in depth about these three. So, my favorites are Tibetan, 东北秧歌 (handkerchief), and Miao/Hmong. The characteristic feature of Tibetan dance is the body being tilted forward accompanied by bouncing from the knees. This rhythm helped them daily when they had to carry water buckets from long distances, from mountainous rivers to their homes. They would also have treacherous roads in the Himalayas and had to travel on slanted mountains, so in the Tibetan dances, you would see moves where they extended the arm or leg. Tibetan dance, especially for the males, are known for their energetic techniques, this includes rigorous jumps and turns, and it has a lot of yelling. Because Tibetan dance is known for their year long temperatures, powerful sandstorms, expensive grasslands and pastures, they wore long loose coats made of sheepskin, so in the day when it’s hot they can roll up their sleeves, and during the night they can unroll it. The coats have very long sleeves, fur, rainbows patterns, and bells.
My previous performance was the handkerchief, and this requires a lot of practice because this is not focused on the elegance and body movements, it's all focused on the tricks that you can do with the handkerchief.
Miao is China’s fifth ethnic group. So this dance is fast paced and has a lot of free swings, spinning, clapping, swaying the head and hips, and small jump kicks. The dance combinations usually repeat but the main movements are usually swapped. The females would wear headdresses, necklaces, and bracelets with bells and charms, so when I did the dance, we used fake ones because the real ones were difficult to dance with because of their weight. So we had bells and tied them around our ankles, so everytime we moved, there would be jingling noises. We did Miao Water Girls (a subdivision of Miao) barefoot because we had to be in the moment of playing with the water. There were a lot of changes in the dance and a lot of acting and facial expressions. Silver jewelry means high social status and symbolizes prosperity and happiness and it is also believed to have the power to ward off evil.
Image Courtesy of Irene Chen
Image Courtesy of Irene Chen
What makes someone a great dancer? Is it their musicality, technique, etc?
I feel like technique does have part in being a great dancer, but at the same time, if you can’t do it with the emotions and feelings the dance is supposed to portray then I don’t think you’re good enough to do the dance. I can lack at my skills, techniques, and tricks, but I can show my emotions, I feel like that's what really catches people’s attention. This year I did a fan dance, there’s not much to it, there’s no tricks, not much technique that you need, but because I know and I have experienced my teachers using their expressions, that’s the only reason why people were like “she did so well.” I feel like they focused on my face more than anything else. But if you compare it to handkerchief, I don’t think they remember me because the handkerchief caught their attention instead of me. The handkerchief outshined me, but for the fan dance, I was the star!
What motivated you to participate in the Chinese New Year Shows?
I thought about this before coming to this school because I do have the foundations so there was not much I could lose. I talked to my friend and she encouraged me to give it a try and she knows I have my costumes and props, so she was like “Man you’re gonna get it!” So I was like, I should just do it because I only had a 50/50 chance. And I was surprised because they told us the results before I got home on the same day of the auditions. I am very grateful that I was able to be a part of the Chinese New Year Show because I got to meet so many new people and had the opportunity to share my own knowledge on Chinese traditional dance. Not only did I do my solo dance, but I got the opportunity to participate in a group dance.
Do you have any memorable Chinese New Year Show rehearsal moments?
Not solo wise, but I do have one during the group rehearsal. It was one of our member’s birthdays. We were having fun, but something or someone pissed me off so I gave a whole lecture at the end of the dance in front of everyone on the mic. I heard that some people were scared of me after the lecture, but I’m not scary, I mean business. But I think that’s the only time where I gave a lecture on dance. The group has been through a lot, there was a lot of crying, laughing, and at one point we all hated each other, but I’m thankful they didn’t give up and they pushed through.
Image Courtesy of Allison Deng
Image Courtesy of Allison Deng
What made you decide to teach other students about traditional Chinese dance?
At first, I didn’t want to teach highschoolers, I didn’t want to teach people my age or older than me. I wanted to teach younger kids because I feel like I have more patients with them. I’d expect more from highschoolers, while with kids, they’re still young. So we tried to get that to work. My advisor for my club tried to throw me into CPC to teach younger kids and she tried but it didn't work. So we started my own club and the club is focused on performing for the Chinese New Year Show, and I was surprised that a lot of people came. To this day, I still rather teach kids. I think that my first decision was right.
What was your experience like to take on a role as a teacher?
It’s been tough, kind of like a roller coaster of emotions. There have been many times where I have wanted to give up so badly. But you can always take a break but you can't stop because later all your work is gone, that’s what I kept telling myself at least. With the things that have happened, I am now grateful and have a new appreciation for my teachers. After everything, I get it, I get why they throw me in the front, because they care and they know that I want to dance. They throw kids that don’t care in the back. I always complain, I’m like “Why do you keep yelling at me and you don’t yell at them.” but I know they mean the best for me.
What do you plan to achieve in the future?
I want more people to know about Chinese traditional dances, because I feel like they’re not as popular as other dances and they’re slowly dying. I also want to teach younger kids and do mini demos at shows, if it works out. Our Chinese traditional group splits into two groups, so there will likely be two to three traditional dances next year. Next year’s show will have a dance that requires many techniques, tricks, and skills. I’m excited to be doing something different!
Image Courtesy of Allison Deng