Atlanta Chinese Dance Company

		Company History
		Meet the Director
		Meet the Dancers
		Choreography and Costumes

Established in 1991 as a non-profit organization, the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company was created to promote the development, advancement, and appreciation of Chinese dance and culture in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. Prior to the founding of the company, dancers have been performing throughout Atlanta under the direction of Ms Hwee-Eng Lee since 1986. As the Artistic Director, Ms Lee has led the company in many outstanding productions, including performances at Dekalb College (1992), Georgia Tech Robert Ferst Center for the Arts (1993, 1995,1996), Rialto Center for Performing Arts (1998,1999), and Gwinnett Civic and Cultural Center (2000, 2002, 2003). They can also be seen annually at the Festival of Trees, as well as international festivals at local colleges and universities.

Dancers from the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company participated in the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics and Paralympics, and more recently, were featured in the 1998-2002 performances of the Nutcracker with the Atlanta Ballet.

Since its inception, the company has seen tremendous growth, and continues to broaden its appeal. Performances include classical Chinese dance styles, ethnic folk dances, and adaptations of modern dance dramas. The quality of the choreography, dancing, and costumes delights both Chinese and American audiences. The future of the company is filled with much promise and talent.

Ms Hwee-Eng Lee, the founder and artistic director of the company, was born in Singapore. She started ballet at the age of six, and later became interested in Chinese dance. Ms. Lee received her ballet training from Singapore Ballet Academy under the direction of Goh Soo Khim, and has received several dancing certificates from the Royal Academy of Dancing, London, UK.   At the age of sixteen, she began choreography, and taught Chinese dance techniques at the Singapore Experimental Studio. Later she became a ballet instructor at the Singapore Ballet Academy. In 1978, Ms Lee immigrated to the U.S. to earn BA and MA degrees in Economics from Boston College. She continued to study dance (jazz and modern dance), and was appointed as a ballet instructor at the State University of New York at Cortland in 1981. After dancing with the East-West Dance Theater in Boston from 1983-1985, she returned to her Chinese dance studies in 1984 with instructors from Beijing, China.

Since 1986, Ms Lee has been teaching Chinese classical and ethnic folk dance in Chamblee, Georgia at the Chinese Cultural Center.  Along with her students, she has performed in many events throughout the metro Atlanta area.  Her other contributions include organizing both the 1989 and 1990 Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) fundraising performances at Dekalb College, where she received standing ovations.  In 1991, she founded the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company and successfully led the following performances: March 1992 at Dekalb College;  October 1993, April 1995, and October 1996 at Robert Ferst Center for the Arts; May 1998 and 1999 at Rialto Center for the Performing Arts; and September/October 2000 at the Gwinnett Civic and Cultural Center.  She also led the company to perform in the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.  Ms. Lee also had the honor to choreograph the Chinese variation of the Nutcracker for the Atlanta Ballet in December 1998.  In 1999, 2000, and 2003, Ms. Lee served in the arts panel for the Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs.  In addition, she was honored as the Lexus Leader of the Arts in July 2001.  Ms. Lee is a member of the Resource Council for Woodruff Arts Center's Celebrate the Diversity of the Arts program.

The seventy plus dancers in the company range in age from five to fifty. They include both ethnic Chinese and Americans who live in the Metro Atlanta area. There are also Chinese dancers who are adopted by American families.  Most of the dancers are students in Metro Atlanta schools.  All students study with Ms. Hwee-Eng Y. Lee in the official school of the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company.

Great effort is made to maintain the artistic integrity of the Chinese style in the dances. Ms Lee has choreographed many of the dances herself and she also carefully selected the dances to maintain as many of the original movements as possible for her students. Many movements within the dances represent styles, which are hundreds of years old. In fact, each dance in the performance represents a different dance style or time period in Chinese history.

Careful research is also done regarding the costumes, which are designed to be historically accurate. Attention is given to the color, material, adornments, and props for each costume. The exquisite costumes of the Manchu Dance are fashioned after the royalty of the Qing dynasty (the last dynasty of Chinese history). The platform shoes and tall headdresses, which have been brought from the People's Republic of China, accurately reflect the period they represent.

The Bamboo Forest of Yunnan was choreographed by Tang Yebi, a professor in Dai dance at the Yunnan Institute of Nationalities.  The majority of the costumes and props were made in Kunming, Yunnan.