I’m still dancing after all these years

When Beijing-born visual artist Luka Yuanyuan Yang was awarded a six-month residency in the United States through the Asian Cultural Council in 2018, she felt drawn to the story of a group of elderly women who challenged age stereotypes, leading him to spend six years chronicling their lives in a documentary called Chinatown Cha-Cha.

Since its theatrical debut last month, the 85-minute film has received widespread praise, as evidenced by its 8.4 out of 10 rating on popular review aggregator Douban.

Yang says his original intention was to explore how Chinese Americans succeeded in the entertainment industry during the 20th century, motivated by his fascination with Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American Hollywood star.

Sensing that there might be more women like Wong, whose talent had perhaps gone unnoticed for historical reasons, Yang began researching the subject and discovered a wealth of archival documents, documentaries and books on the subject.

Two discoveries that intrigued her the most were Arthur Dong’s documentary, Forbidden City, USA, and Trina Robbins’ oral history, Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs.

Both revisited the heyday of San Francisco’s Chinatown nightclubs more than half a century ago.

Yang’s research led her to the Grant Avenue Follies, a dance troupe mentioned at the end of Robbins’ book.