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Third-year chemical engineering student Jessica Lee rehearses for the Chinese Cultural Dance Club

When it comes to the issue of misconceptions of Chinese culture and dance, Josephine Louie, artistic director of “Lotus Steps, 2004,” recounts the time when the bare midriff of a child dancer performing in the show was brought into question.

“The mother came up to me and asked, ‘Do we need to show bellies of the girls? That’s really flashy.’ I told her that’s the way (dancers in the Dai tribe) dressed. They’re more free-spirited, and (their costumes) show much more skin,” said Louie. “China has 56 minority tribes that we can identify that can be categorized in to seven categories. It shares a commonality with America; China is a melting pot too.”

Teaching audiences about China’s multi-cultural make-up is a vital part of “Lotus Steps, 2004,” a showcase of 15 regional dance styles, which will be performed by dancers from UCLA’s Chinese Cultural Dance Club on April 27 at Royce Hall.

“China is a diversity within a diversity; people aren’t aware of that,” said Louie, one of the founders of the club. “When CCDC used to get invitations, the first thing they say is that they want to see lion dance or fan dance. That’s the scope of understanding of what Chinese cultural dance is. We have so much more to share.”

The club invited the Philadelphia AME Choir, an African American gospel group, to perform “Handful of Earth,” a song about the immigration experience, in Mandarin Chinese, pulling out all the stops for its first show at Royce.

This year’s Royce performance represents the culmination of the club’s six-year climb to prominence. With five members in 1998, it has now ballooned to a 68-member organization.

“We were not an official student group (in 1998), just a group of people who liked to get together and dance,” said Louie. “We were out in Lot 6 all the time. We didn’t have access to facilities, so we were dancing in hallways and parking lots.”

From the very beginning, club members were determined to one day dance on the Royce stage, a goal inspired by apathetic audiences at their early shows six years ago.

“The first ever performance was out in Bruin Plaza – ‘An Afternoon With CCDC.’ Afterward, when they showed me the video tape, I thought ‘For so much work, you guys deserve more than just dancing on a stage with passing traffic. If you really want to do a performance on an annual basis, then let’s make that our goal,’” said Louie.

But first, the club had to step up its dance quality. With Louie’s demanding approach to instruction, the dancers improved to a level where their subsequent performances succeeded in attracting more experienced dancers. This snowball effect – better performances leading to better dancers, and so on – has helped the club build a strong reputation.

“The odd thing is that most of the newcomers this year were experienced dancers. We now attract people who are experienced in dance, whereas two years ago we attracted people who didn’t know dance at all. People who see our show now tend to think that we’re on a more professional level,” said production manager Theresa Chen, a UCLA graduate.

Despite the emphasis on producing a performance worthy of Royce, Chen makes it clear that the club is very open to newcomers and dance beginners.

“We always tell people at the beginning of the year that there’s no dance experience necessary,” said Chen. “The only thing required is that they share the love for Chinese dance. We start training in September so throughout the year they’re learning various dance techniques. They can come in without knowing anything and be able to perform in Royce Hall at the end.”

In fact, the club currently has almost no veteran dancers and lacks anyone from World Arts and Cultures.

“We have a lot of engineer majors,” said Louie. “If you’re willing to learn, we’re willing to teach. A lot of times, I actually get more accomplishment from somebody, who is completed discombobulated when they come in, walking out so much better.”

“I felt awkward and embarrassed in the beginning solely because I had never danced in my whole life, but Josephine was very nice and encouraging. She didn’t make us feel out of place and taught (the beginners) with a tremendous amount of patience,” said dancer Winnie Aoieong, a fourth-year economics and mathematics applied science student.

Now that the club has made it to Royce, the next logical step is to stay there. Louie also plans to spread Chinese heritage throughout the community – something she believes is not pursued aggressively enough.

“(CCDC) puts up a Chinese culture show, and Chinese people come and watch it and nobody else knows about it,” said Louie. “Over time, the Chinese people don’t appreciate it because they’ve seen it too many times, and other people still don’t know what we do. We want to have more outreach in the community.”