Event

Join us at Public Trust for Chinatown Cha-Cha, a film screening exploring the history of Chinese-American women nightclub performers and their lasting cultural legacy, on Tuesday, April 1st, 2025, from 5:30-7:30 pm. Following the screening, director Luka Yuanyuan Yang will engage in conversation with film scholar Lynette Shen about the project and its reception. Presented in partnership with the Cinema & Media Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania, with support from the Center for East Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, and the Center for the Study of Contemporary China.

At the remarkable age of 92, Coby Yee, a former starlet and owner of the illustrious “Forbidden City Nightclub,” reclaims her place in the spotlight as part of the senior dance troupe, Grant Avenue Follies. The troupe consists primarily of Chinese American women aged 70 to 90, many of whose ancestors were among the first Chinese immigrants to arrive in San Francisco from the late 19th to early 20th century. As second- and third-generation Chinese Americans born in the U.S., they witness the rise and fall of San Francisco Chinatown’s Cantonese opera theaters and dance clubs throughout the 20th century. United by their love for Chinese culture and dance, they rediscover the pure joy and freedom that dancing brought them.

The film Chinatown Cha-Cha (2024) documents the transnational tour of Grant Avenue Follies across the US, Cuba, and China and the diasporic understanding of their own Chinese American identities that ensues. In Havana, their co-performance with local Chinese Opera singers sparks a vibrant renaissance in the city’s dwindling Chinese community. In China, an emotive journey back to her father’s homeland allows Coby to reflect on familial memories and observe the startling transformation of urban landscapes. As Coby takes her final bow before her passing at 93, the Grant Avenue Follies dance on—preserving a legacy of resilience, artistry, and cultural memory.

Along with four short films and a historical archive spanning from the 1940s to the present, Chinatown Cha-Cha is the culmination of an extensive research project undertaken by director Luka Yuanyuan Yang on Asian American women in show business. Chinatown Cha-Cha not only resurrects a nearly forgotten past but also illuminates how performance, memory, and identity intersect across generations. The film speaks to the fluidity of identity and belonging, tracing how ‘home’ is continuously redefined across borders, time, and political landscapes.