JADE LIN, Executive Director and Executive Artistic Director
Ms. Jade Lin is the Executive Director, Executive Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the American Chinese Society. She received her B.A degree in music from the National Taiwan Normal University and also studied Piano Pedagogy at the New England Conservatory. She has been a piano instructor for more than forty years.
Ms. Lin studied traditional Chinese classical and folk dance and ballet for seventeen years with Ms. Ryueh Tsai, well recognized as the preeminent Chinese dance instructor in Taiwan. Jade has performed as a soloist in "Les Sylphides" and "Giselle", and as a principle dancer in "Romeo and Juliet" and the second act of "Swan Lake". Having choreographed and directed prize-winning Chinese dances in Taiwan. Ms. Lin received many National Cultural Award in Taiwan, Republic of China, for her outstanding achievements.
Ms. Jade Lin had been the Artistic Director and choreographer of the Traditional Chinese Dance Troupe of the American Chinese Art Society located in Woburn, MA from 1984 to 2008. Over the years, she has taught traditional Chinese dance to students in many Boston institutions, including Lexington Chinese Language School, Newton Cantonese Chinese School, Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association, Harvard Asian Dance Troupe, and the ACAS Dance Studio. Since 1999, Ms. Lin has been the Director of the ACAS Chinese Dance Summer Workshop and she has also conducted the Children's Angel Chorus of the American Chinese Art Society, from 1985 to 1996. Since September of 2009, Ms. Lin has become an Executive Artistic Director of the Tradutional Chinese Dance Troupe.
Ms. Lin has long been renowned in the Greater Boston area for her exceptional contributions to traditional Chinese dance. In 2009, she became the first recipient in the Boston area of a prestigious "Hai-Hwa High Honon aweard" in recognition of her outstanding contributions to advancing the artistic heritage and promotion Chinese culture in Chinese communities. She received 2007 Outstanding Achievement Award from Chinese Culture Connection and the 2002 Community Service Award of The Asian American Unity Dinner, Inc. to recognize her exemplary "devotion, dedication and skills in introducing Chinese art and culture to those residing in the Greater Boston area, particularly to children". She was selected by the Newton Women's Commission for recognition in a photo exhibit highlighting women as a major contributor in the field of Cultural Arts in year 2000, and also received a "Pride of Newton Award" to recognize her excellence in the arts in 1995. In addition, she received an Official Citation for Outstanding Contributions from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Senate and a Citation for Contribution to the Cultural Exchange from the Massachusetts House of Representatives in July, 1989. She was invited to serve as one of the choreographers for the 25th anniversary season Mandala Folk Dance Ensemble in 1990 and she choreographed "The Great Tea House", a new musical drama produced by Millennium Music Center in Woburn that premiered in May , 2001.
GRACE KAKI CHAN, Artistic Director & Choreographer
Ms. Grace Kaki Chan began studying dance and performing as a dances while attending SKH Bishop Mok Sau Tseng Secondary School in Hong Kong where she was exposed to a broad spectrum of dances from both the Asian and Western cultural traditions. After three years with the Mok Sau Tseng's Dance Group and garnering numerous high honors, Ms. Chan participated in a performance at the farewell ceremony for the British Governor of Hong Kong. After immigrating to the U.S., she continued to study and perform Chinese classical and folk dances in addition to taking other classes in ballet, hip-hop, Irish step dance and modern jazz. She also took part in a six-city cultural exchange dance tour through Mainland China and had a solo performance at Hong Kong's Dance Expo 1998. Ms Chan has also performed on “Asian Focus”, a Boston TV weekend program and for the Discovery Channel's TV advertisement of its "The Forbidden City" program. Ms. Chan won the Best Chinese Minority Dance Award at the 9th North American Chinese Dance Competition held bi-annually in Vancouver, 2004, as well as the Highest Overall Score Award, Best Minority Dance Award, and the Most Authentic Chinese Dance Award at the 10th North American Chinese Dance Competition in 2006.
Ms. Chan was a dance instructor with the Kwong Kow Chinese School. She also taught Chinese folk dance classes at the Lexington Chinese School and for the Classic Chinese Dance Group. Ms. Chan co-founded Dance Revelasian in 2003 and has been serving as its Artistic Director. She was Dance Instructor and Choreographer for Tsai Fung Dance Troupe of the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association, the Dong Fang Dance Performance Arts, and the Lexington Chinese School. She has taken lessons at and received certification as a Chinese Dance Instructor from the Beijing Dance Academy
HANG DONG XU, Choreographer and Instructor
After graduating from Shanghai Dance Academy, Mr. Hang Dong Xu became a principal dancer of Shanghai Song and Dance Company and also taught at both Shanghai International Culture Study Institute and the former Shanghai Dance Academy. In 1998, he performed “Small Dagger Society” at the celebration marking the first anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the PRC sovereignty. He also performed in Malaysia and at the celebration marking Macao’s return to China. He performed a dance titled “Golden Dance with Silver Dresses” at the 2000 Paris Arts Festival. Recently, he has been a principal dancer instructor at Chinese Cultural Center in New York since 2003 in addition to being a principal dancer of New York Chinese Dance Troupe since 2004.
Since September of 2010, Mr. Hang Dong Xu has been an Instructor and Choreographer for the Traditional Chinese Dance Troupe and ACAS Dance Studio of the American Chinese Art Society.
Ms. CHRISTIN COLLINS , Hip-Hop Instructor
Ms. Christin started dancing at the Lexington School of Ballet at age four, concentration in ballet, character, and jazz. She has also received training from Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy, Dana Hall School, and Boston University. She has much experience in performing hip-hop, as well as multiple types of modern dance.
Ms. Collins choreographs for the studio and the stage, including recent work for elementary school and musicals. In 2005, Ms. Collins was a gold medalist at both the regional and national American Dance Awards competitions. She is currently a jazz teacher at the Lexington School of Ballet, a guest jazz and hip-hop teacher at the Brookline Academy of Dance, and an active performer at Boston University.
Ms. Collins is in charged of "Hip-Hop Training" classes in the ACAS Chinese Dance Summer Workshop 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
ALISON WONG, Assistant Instructor
Alison began studying ballet at the Lexington School of Ballet when she was five years old and has actively pursued her passion at Boston Ballet ever since. She was accepted into the American Chinese Art’s Society at the age of nine and has performed continuously with the troupe for nearly eight years. She is co-president and Assistant Director at her High School Dance Club which has professional teachers from Mass Motion Dance teaching various dance styles such as Lyrical, Contemporary Jazz, Modern, and Hip Hop. Alison also a member of Mass Motion Dance and participates in various dance projects and performances with the BoSoma Dance Company.
Alison was awarded the “Most Promising Dancer” Medal presented to recognize a contestant who is deemed “most talented for future success” by the judges of the 5th ACAS Dance Competition in 2011. She won the first place in the American Chinese Arts Society's 4th and 5th Chinese Dance Competition in 2009 and 2011, second place in the North American Chinese Dance Competition in 2008, and second place in the American Chinese Arts Society's 3rd Chinese Dance Competition in 2007.
Alison is currently an Assistant Instructor, Principal Dancer, and Vice Leader for the Traditional Chinese Dance Troupe of American Chinese Arts Society and is a senior at Belmont High School in Massachusetts.
Emily Chen, Assistant Instructor
Ever since she was first introduced to the world of dance at the tender age of four years old, Emily has found that with every new dance combination learned and every new dance genre explored, she is constantly reminded of why she fell in love with the art in the first place. Her beginnings are traced back to ballet and Chinese dance; from pre-kindergarten to ninth grade, every year she was enrolled in Chinese school dance classes. Having also attended ballet classes at the School of Performing Arts in Concord for 10 years, she established her roots and then went on to dance at the Lexington School of Ballet, where she is still currently dancing. At the age of nine, she was accepted into the American Chinese Art Society’s Traditional Chinese Dance troupe, and has been dancing and performing with the troupe for what is now her ninth year. At school, Emily is, and has been for the past three years as well, an active member in her school’s Dance Club which focuses primarily on hip-hop, jazz, and contemporary styles of dance. From 2007-2011, she worked as a dance teacher’s assistant at the Lexington Chinese School, and was then offered a teaching position at Tzu-Chi Academy, where she is still currently teaching as the dance instructor. In 2011, she won the first place of her dance category in the American Chinese Art Society’s 5th Chinese Dance Competition. After having been the vice leader of the American Chinese Art Society’s Traditional Chinese Dance troupe for the past two years, Emily is currently the dance troupe’s leader and one of the two assistant instructors. She attends Concord-Carlisle High School this year as a senior.