The art of dancing has been passed on for thousands of years. As it has moved through the generations, flowing through the each era and dynasty, the dance style itself has been slightly modified to embody the traditional aesthetic pleasures of wonderfully crafted clothing with the beautiful dance movements and rhythms.

Junior Cynthia Zheng got involved in traditional Chinese dance and has been practicing for approximately four and a half years. “It’s a nice way to express [using] the body and it’s also very relaxing,” Zheng said. “You know how actors say they like playing other characters?  It’s a similar sensation to that when you’re dancing; you’re expressing the music.”

But dancing does not come easily to everyone, nor is it an art you can perfect in a day. Zheng spends up to three hours a week at the Twin Cities Chinese Dance Center, and up to ten hours per week near performance time. To her, Chinese dance is appealing because the people are nice and the costumes are beautiful, but reconnecting with her culture is also a major factor. “It’s nice to go back into some part of my culture and the traditions; you learn more about all of that while doing the dance,” Zheng said.

Freshman Elena Youngdale, who dances with Chinese American Association of Minnesota Chinese Dance Theater, agrees with Zheng: “My parents signed me up for dance when I was two or three years old and I’ve been doing it since then,” Youngdale said. But Youngdale further stated that Chinese dance is not that much different than ballet, aside from the costumes and some of the moves.

“My parents thought [Chinese dance] would get me more into my culture,” she continued. “At first when I started I treated it as extra classes and I thought it was really annoying. But now I’ve realized it takes me to a bunch of different cultural places.”

Zheng performed on Jan. 19 and Youngdale on Jan. 26 at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium in celebration of Chinese New Year.