Welcome to the Rochester Chinese Dance School!

 

School History

The name of the school shall be Rochester Chinese Dance School (or CAAM CDT Rochester Center). The school was established in 2005 in cooperation with CAAM Chinese Dance Theater in Twin Cities and parent volunteer in Rochester. The school is a branch of CAAM Chinese Dance Theater.

Since 1992, CAAM Chinese Dance Theater has served families and delighted audiences with some of the best locally-produced Chinese dance in the country. CAAM CDT is a community-based organization under the artistic direction of a world-renowned choreographer and teacher. A division of Chinese American Association of Minnesota (CAAM), the Chinese dance theater performs to 17,000 live audience members annually. In running a dance school, presenting annual concerts, and performing outreach programs, CAAM CDT has become the largest Chinese dance organization in the Midwest.

 

Mission Statement

Rochester Chinese Dance School (as branch of CAAM CDT) is dedicated to preserving and celebrating Chinese cultural heritage through the universal language of dance, and strives to maintain a dance school for youth and community development and to create a professional dance theater of national stature to enrich the cultural life of Rochester.

Parent Council

The Parent Council of the Rochester Chinese Dance School is a volunteer group consisting parents of current students. The council responsibilities include acting as a liaison between parents and the school, hosting recitals for each semester, organizing performance shows in Rochester local community, and assisting in collecting tuition and paying rental fee etc. The Parent Council comprises the Chair, the directors for each dance class. The Parent Council is reformed each September and serves a one-year term.

 

 

Principle’s Biography

Lili Teng In a career that has spanned more than 40 years and across two continents, Lili Teng has distinguished herself in dancing, teaching and choreography, with many of her works winning national awards in China. Earlier in her career, she was a lead dancer in such productions as Thunder Top Pagoda (Lei Fen Ta), Flowing North Xian River (Xian Jiang Bei Qu), White Hair Lady (Bai Mao Nu) and Salute to the Li Man Mountain (Li Man Song). She turned to teaching and choreography in the 1970s, directing many national and provincial television dance shows, including the dance drama Hwai River Legend (Hwai He Fon Qing), the opening ceremony of the National Short Performance Competition and the 1999 National Mid-Autumn Opera Show. After she arrived in the United States in 1999, she continued to create and choreograph dance dramas and taught young students at CAAM Chinese Dance Theater. Her artistry comes through in Descendants of the Dragon and Beloved Land, two major productions that won rave reviews when they premiered in the Twin Cities. Her cumulative skills and artistry shine through her newest work in CAAM CDT, Quintessence, which features classical dances evoking the beauty and harmony in nature and its relationship with people. Teng choreographed the Happy Evening by the Spring River, in which the young couple bids farewell. It is a graceful and tender dance, a segment in dance drama, Butterfly Lovers. She also choreographed the dance, Little Wu Dan, which features the mighty prowess and heroic characters of Chinese Kung Fu. Teng was the principal of CAAM Chinese Dance Theater, where she taught classes to dancers ranging in age from 4 to 16.