A community festival with Chinese pop music and salsa dancing in the heart of Chinatown
Chinatown celebrated community with Chinese pop music and salsa dancing.
Photo by Qianshan Weng
On Sunday, August 11, over a hundred people gathered at the intersection of Mott and Mosco Streets to participate in the Chinatown Block Party. Organized by the nonprofit Think about it! ChinatownThe event combined 20th-century Cantonese and Mandarin pop music with Latin American dances such as salsa and cha-cha, celebrating songs loved by members of the Chinatown community across generations.
The mix of Latin American dance and Chinese pop music was no accident, as the dance has long influenced places like Hong Kong. Pop stars like Sally Yeh, Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung often performed these dances both on concert stages and in films, and Bruce Lee was even the Hong Kong Cha-Cha-Cha champion in 1958.
While a newspaper kiosk converted into a DJ booth blasted legendary Chinese and Latin American hits, the historic heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown, home to old restaurants, an antique shop and a Catholic church, was transformed into a pulsating dance floor that invited the audience – experienced dancers and beginners alike – to dance.
The soul of the block party was a carefully curated setlist by DJs Rochelle “Yiu Yiu” Kwan, the curator of the Chinatown Records Project and Gia Fu, a music producer from Hong Kong. From the jazz tunes of Chang Loo from 1940s Shanghai to George Lam’s biggest hits from 1980s Hong Kong, the setlist was a nod to the temporal and spatial changes of Chinese popular music in the 20th century.
For people who grew up with these songs, listening to them brings back lasting childhood memories.
This is the case of Danny Cadet, a dancer at the street fair. Growing up in Queens, surrounded by friends from Flushing, Cadet was exposed to Cantopop music at a young age. For him, the street fair reminded him of childhood parties and gatherings with family and friends.
“We would get together, play pop music and just dance,” Cadet said. “What I like about it is that when the beat is right, you just dance with your heart out. I’m dancing here, just feeling the vibe and feeling it in me and through me.”
Even for people who were not experts in Chinese pop music, the event itself was a spectacle full of energy and excitement, with dancers taking turns showing off their skills in the spotlight to thunderous applause.
Pit Wa Chan was one of the oldest dancers at the party. A Cantopop fan, the 83-year-old Hong Kong immigrant is a near-never-before-seen presence at any Chinatown block party. Hong Kong pop star Alan Tam’s 1985 hit “Love Trap” blared from the stereo as Chan danced among the crowd, dozens clapping and cheering his moves.
The street party climaxed at nightfall with a karaoke of Cantonese songs, with the crowd passionately singing along to songs by Anita Mui, Beyond, Jacky Cheung and Hacken Lee.
Among those singing passionately was Winnie Cheng, a Chinatown resident who was born and raised in the neighborhood. Growing up with family from Hong Kong, Cantopop music was an integral part of her life. She sang these songs at family karaoke, watched TV shows that featured them, or danced to a Leslie Cheung video on a VCR. For Cheng, celebrating this music is an opportunity for community members to reconnect with one another.
“I think that’s what makes me super happy because now that we’re older, we don’t get together as often, but when we do get together, we do the same things,” Cheng said. “I’m glad this exists and it brings the community together.”
