喜 Delight: Rediscovering Comedy in Tradition Performers

Shawn has 11 years’ experience as a classical and folk Chinese dancer in Bay Area collegiate Chinese dance groups. Shawn is passionate about pushing the line between contemporary and tradition, challenging ahistorical unions of religion, nationalism, and normative gender. Shawn loves lifting up over artists, and giving them the space to express their own voice. Outside of Chinese dance, Shawn does Waltz, occasional contra, and serves as Save Cantonese's Policy Advisor. They also serve as an advisory board member for National Choreography Month San Francisco, a contract EP advisor for 2kAve, and works full time as a Senior Scientist for New Energy Risk, an alternative energy insurance company.

Stefanie is a dancer from Taiwan trained in Classical Chinese dance and various Chinese/Taiwanese folk dance styles. She started her journey in dancing at four years old, mainly training with Ms. Hui-Zhu Shi. Stefanie loves the fluidity, strength, and cultural values underlying the Classical Chinese dance style. In the future, she hopes to advance her training in Classical Chinese and Chinese/Taiwanese folk dance styles while working on fusion pieces that bring these styles and other styles (ie. hip-hop, contemporary, ballet) together. In addition to BACID, Stefanie is also a member with FeiTian Dancers at UC Berkeley.

Genevieve Hodge comes from an artistic background molded by 20+ years of dance and performance experience; she first trained in dance forms such as ballet, tap, and jazz, then expanded her repertoire to incorporate Classical and Folk Chinese dance forms and street forms such as hip hop, while building together her own style of open choreography - a blend of her various movement backgrounds. As an Artistic Director and board member for AFX Dance Company (a UC Berkeley competitive collegiate dance team) she co-led a team for 3 years, helping shape the vision, choreography, and logistical organization of their semesterly competition sets. Through their performances, she and her team enjoyed accolades such as “Best Theme” two years in a row at World Of Dance Orange County and “Most Creative” at Maxt Out. Currently, in addition to BAICD, she continues her performance work as a company member of Ballet Afsaneh, a critically acclaimed dance ensemble performing dances from the Silk Road networks of Eurasia (primarily Persian and Afghan dance) and as a teaching artist at the EOSP Introductory School of Dance.

Shirley previously trained at the Academy of Chinese Performing Arts and the Ramon Moreno School of Ballet. Shirley then went on to dance at American Repertory Ballet as a trainee under Eithan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy. While studying as an undergraduate at Stanford University, Shirley has danced with Cardinal Ballet, Stanford Chinese Dance, and performed as a guest artist with San Jose Dance Theatre.

Ariel Liu has practiced and performed classical and folk Chinese Dance for over a decade and dabbles in other dance forms such as jazz, waltz, swing, and salsa. Ariel was previously the president of Stanford Chinese Dance group. She is currently an active member of the Chinese Performing Arts of America (CPAA) dance troupe and performs at Spring Festival Galas and non-profit events around the Bay. She is grateful for the opportunity to explore solo projects and dive deeper into her Chinese roots with Bay Area Independent Chinese Dancers.

Erin grew up in San Jose in the Bay Area. Throughout elementary school, she enjoyed learning and performing Chinese dance at the local Chinese school. Now living in Oakland and after a long hiatus from dancing, Erin is returning to Chinese dance and excited to explore new techniques and styles.

Cynthia began dancing when she was five years old. She grew up learning ballet, tap, and jazz as well as traditional Chinese dance through the community Chinese school. In college, she danced on her school’s hip hop dance team, and then after college, was a member of Full Potential Dance Company, a bay area competitive dance team. Cynthia loves exploring her artistry through choreography and building community through performing and teaching. It has been a few years since she has studied Chinese dance, but she is very excited to dive back in.

Naomi (Qianxun) started learning traditional chinese dance in elementary school, where she got to develop flexibility and coordination for dance. Later she became a ballet student and was classically trained at École supérieure de Ballet du Québec for 3 years in Montreal, Canada. After her ankle injury, she carried on her dance life by exploring a new form of dance – hiphop. Currently, she is an active contemporary dancer in the UC Berkeley dance community, where she seeks to create choreography merging chinese dance, ballet and street dance together.

Arabella (she/her) is a Bay Area native who has over 15 years of dance practice, predominantly in ballet. She has most recently danced with Ballet Fantastique, UC Berkeley's Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies department (graduating with a minor in Dance & Performance Studies ), NachmoSF, and 4 Fish x Red Eye Productions. She is excited to expand her Chinese classical and folk dance practice after a long hiatus and connect to her roots by exploring the stories of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia.

Chevy began her dance journey with ballet lessons as a child. Her interest soon grew to include modern pop. In high school, she joined the dance team, exploring lyrical, jazz, and various technical styles. Chevy continued to dance through occasional freelance gigs during and after college, keeping it as a valued hobby. Notably, she performed in the Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Musical Theater Tribute at Istana Budaya in Malaysia. After moving to California, she took a break from dance. Now, she is excited to start again as a beginner in Chinese cultural dance, ready to embrace this new adventure and its vibrant expressions.

Nala Chen is a software engineer working in data privacy. She started dancing in college when she joined her school's Chinese dance team, Fei Tian Dancers, and is excited to have the opportunity to continue to study Chinese dance styles as a student dancer. In her spare time, she enjoys plucking the guzheng, crocheting dolls, and playing Genshin Impact.