Chinese Performing Arts
There are numerous individuals and groups in the Knoxville area that are
very talented in Chinese Music, Dance, and other performing arts. The
proximity of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, each with strong Chinese communities, as well as the
Confucius Institute at UTK and Confucius Classrooms at PSCC and King's Academy
ensures that new talent is always arriving in this region. Furthermore, the
numerous Chinese and international festivals in the region attract new talent as well.
Please see the links below for information on some of the local performing groups.
Chinese Dance
There are a number of opportunities to participate in Chinese dance groups for girls and women of all ages.
East Tennessee Chinese School
As part of its Chinese culture curriculum, the East Tennessee Chinese School (ETCS) has dance lessons each Sunday morning from 11:30am - 12:30pm at Pellissippi State Community College. Currently, the younger students are learning traditional Chinese dance from Coach PAN Ying, while the older students are learning Chinese Hip-Hop dancing from Coach Belinda Loi. These dance groups regularly perform at the East Tennessee Chinese New Year Festival, as well as other cultural festivals in the area. For more information, please contact the current ETCS Cultural Director LIU Hong via email at jliuhong at hotmail.com.
Dance Miracle
Formed in Autumn 2010 by YANG Hongtai, this group is comprised of University of Tennessee graduate students who choreograph and perform a variety of Chinese dance styles including Traditional, Hip-Hop, and Modern. They regularly perform at the East Tennessee Chinese New Year Festival, as well as other cultural festivals in the area. In 2013 they won Second Place at the UTK International Dance Competition. For more information on Dance Miracle, please contact Coach BI Meng via email at mbi at vols.utk.edu.
Traditional Chinese Dance
The University of Tennessee has a number of students and visitors who perform traditional Chinese dance in solo or small group performances. Currently, BI Meng is organizing these dancers, including BAI Xue, CHEN Chunyi, JUN Liu, and others, for performances throughout the area. In Fall 2014, BAI Xue recently performed at the CI@UTK Autumn Moon Festival and the UTK International Festival. For more information on these dancers, please contact BI Meng via email at mbi at vols.utk.edu
Knoxville Chinese Dance Ensemble
The Knoxville Chinese Dance Ensemble, established over ten years ago, has
performed traditional Chinese dances at numerous festivals in
East Tennessee. One of their recent performances is shown in
this video:
Lady Buddha with a Thousand Hands Dance performance at Univ. of Tennessee March 2010
To arrange for the troupe to perform at your function,
please contact Director LIU Di via email at diliu at mindspring.com.
To have your Chinese Dance group or performance posted on this page,
please send an email to
coordinator@knoxvillechineseculture.org.
Chinese Music
The University of Tennessee has a number of students and visitors who play traditional Chinese instruments including erhu (Chinese violin), guzheng and guqing (Chinese zither), pipa (Chinese lute), and others. Recent performances include the Knoxville Asian Festival (LI Wenshu - erhu) and the CI@UTK Autumn Moon Festival (guzheng and pipa), and the East Tennessee Chinese New Year Festival (WANG Jing - guzheng, LI Wenshu - erhu). Currently, BI Meng is organizing these performers; for more information, please contact her via email at mbi at vols.utk.edu.
Other Performing Arts
The East Tennessee Wushu Team and
the East Tennessee Tai Chi Team regulary perform
demonstrations of Chinese Martial Arts, and sponsor cultural displays and interactive
lectures on Chinese weaponry and martial arts.
Please check back here soon for information on other Chinese performing arts in the area.