Today we’d like to introduce you to Cheng Imm Tan.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As a little girl, my heroines were the female martial artists that I saw in Kung Fu movies. It was so inspiring to see a woman who looked like me, being a strong, skilled martial artist.
I wanted to learn Kung Fu when I was a child but my parents did not think it was appropriate for girls to be physically active or strong. Besides, we could not afford the fees for me to take classes. However, to my family’s displeasure, I was a tomboy and loved sports. I ran track, played a variety of sports in school and eventually represented my school and state in softball tournaments. We were a good team and won many tournaments. My family did not ever come to watch any of the games except to bring me there and drop me off. Just before I left for the United States, (I am originally from Penang, Malaysia), I was training for the national team.
I came to the U.S. to go to college in the fall of 1978 and then did my Masters of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School. At Harvard, I did a field education placement at a domestic violence shelter in 1982. Seeing that Asian families who were fleeing violence in their home having a very hard time at a mainstream shelter because of language and cultural barriers, in 1986, I started the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry where I was an ordained Community Minister. In about 1993/4 the first and only shelter for families escaping domestic violence, was established. It is still today the only domestic violence shelter program for Asian families. Around 1995/6, I also started Ricesticks and Tea, the only Asian Food Pantry program that distributes culturally appropriate foods to Asian families facing poverty and hunger. The project is still going strong today.
In 1998, Mayor Menino, Mayor of Boston asked me if I would help him start the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians, a new city department dedicated to the concerns of the diverse immigrant community in Boston. In Nov, of 1998, I started the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians, the first Office of its kind in the country, which has won awards for being a national model. Around 2000, I started a program called English for New Bostonians, bringing funders and communities together to meet the need of the immigrant communities for English classes. This program has now spun off as an independent organization.
Somewhere in late/early nineties, I took Tai Chi and Pushing Hands martial arts classes for a few years. When my instructor left the Kung Fu school I was at, I decided to look around at other Kung Fu schools. They all looked very male dominated. Then, one evening while at a Chinatown community event, I saw a lion dance close up. I had seen lion dance ever since I was a kid, but now I saw it with new eyes. I could see that the dance was martial arts based and used many martial arts stances and I thought to myself “I can do that, I can do the lion dance”. I persuaded my Asian women friends that it would be cool and empowering to start an all Asian women’s Lion Dance Troupe.
Lion Dance was traditionally forbidden to women. Women were not allowed to learn or perform the lion dance. In many instances, we were not even allowed to touch the lion heads because females were seen as inferior, even “dirty” and weak. I saw starting an Asian women’s lion dance troupe as an opportunity for Asian women to learn and perform an art forbidden to women; to showcase Asian women’s strength, break stereotypes and to give Asian women a supportive space to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones to live a “bigger life”. In February 1998, Gunk Kwok was born.
My husband, who is my partner in crime, helped to recruit a guy who used to be a Kung Fu instructor and a lion dancer. He taught us for about a year and a half and then became too busy. My husband and I traveled to Asia – Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia to learn more lion dance. Master Mah in Penang, Malaysia became an instrumental teacher from whom I learned a lot for several years. I returned and strengthened the troupe with new techniques and information.
After a few years of lion dancing, I decided that I really wanted to start a dragon troupe. So, back we went to Singapore to learn under the “Dragon Master” of Singapore and I brought the skills of dragon dancing back to the Troupe and changed our name from Gund Kwok, Asian Women Lion Dance Troupe to Gunk Kwok, Asian Women Lion and Dragon Dance Troupe.
Today, over 19 years later, Gund kwok, which comes from an ancient Chinese saying that “The scarf does not give in the bushy eyebrows”, meaning women are just as good as men (Gunk Kwok is the scarf that only women used to wear under their clothing) performs all over greater Boston all year round. We are a regular highlight at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem at their Chinese New Year festivities for many years and have been performing for the MFA’s Chinese New Year festivities as well. We are a regular at Chinatown’s Chinese New Year celebration, August Moon Festival, Spring Festival, many other festivals, events, weddings, birthdays etc.
We are still the only Asian women’s lion and dragon dance troupe in the nation!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As a troupe, we have accomplished a lot but no, it has not been a smooth road. Some of the struggles include:
1) Recruitment of Asian women -this is not a sport that many Asian women feel that they can do. Even women who work out often feel that they are unable to lift, hold and perform the lion dance
2) Juggling work, family and lion dance – being a troupe member is a commitment. We do strength training for 30-45 mins before we even start practice. Members are encouraged to attend 75% of practices and be punctual and perform at least 12 times a year. Many of our members are professional women and mothers – who have a hard time making it to Chinatown and find parking on time. Punctuality in particular is a challenge.
3) Evolving Troupe Structure & supporting leadership – Because I started the troupe as a peer with everyone else, not having yet mastered the skills of lion dance, and because I was not able to give the troupe full time attention as I was working, especially when I had children, I had to take time off to be with my children, it was hard to give the troupe the kind of consistent leadership needed, resulting in highs and lows.
Please tell us about Gund Kwok Asian Women’s Lion and Dragon Dance Troupe.
We are the only Asian women’s lion and dragon dance troupe, specializing in teaching and performing lion and dragon dancing to women with the goal of giving Asian women access to this traditional art. In addition, our goal is to encourage Asian women to use the physical challenge of lion and dragon dancing to push ourselves beyond our comfort zone to master new skills and break barriers for ourselves. We have been able to showcase to the world that Asian women can perform high quality/high standards lion and dragon dance. I am very proud to know that our performances are a highlight for many people and they look forward to our performances.
I am also very pleased with the teamwork and community we have built as Gund Kwok. Everyone pitches in and we get things done.
I think what sets us apart from others is that we are the only Asian women’s troupe with a specific mission of Asian women’s empowerment at its core and I am proud that we have been able to live up to it.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite toy from childhood was a Kung Fu sword. One favorite memory is pretending that I am fighting bad guys and chasing them over roof tops, as I jump from table to chair, to table and getting yelled at by my mom 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: c/o 1 Nassau Street, #1809
Boston, MA 02111 - Website: www.gundkwok.org
- Phone: 616-529-4092
- Email: Info@gundkwok.org
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