Local non-profit STArt Film Studio has a mission to foster a diversity of voices and cultures through film, and particularly focuses on cultivating Chinese-language film. This month, STArt is teaming up with the Admiral Theater in West Seattle to present a screening of Luka Yuanyuan Yang’s film Chinatown Cha-Cha.
The 2024 documentary spotlights 92-year-old Coby Yee, who follows up a career as burlesque dancer and part-owner of the Dragon Lady nightclub in San Francisco with an encore tour with senior troupe Grant Avenue Follies across the U.S., Cuba, and China. “I wanted to research about Chinese women in 20th century performing arts, because I’ve always been interested in stories of Anna May Wong, and I think there must be many more untold stories of women like her,” Yang said. “This led me to discover the vibrant history of San Francisco’s Chinatown nightclub scene.”
The film begins with a recap of yellowface, an early film practice in which white actors portrayed Asians, and then moves to a 1940 segment of Chinese dancers in Chinatown nightclubs, followed by historical clips that romanticized Chinatowns. Then we’re introduced to Coby Yee and her fellow dancers, as well as the behind-the-scenes dressing room routines and the logistics of the performer’s touring lifestyle.
Yang is a photographer, filmmaker, and visual artist based in Beijing, who also utilizes artist books and performance, but she said the decision to present her research on Yee through documentary film came naturally. “I flew to Las Vegas to see them perform at the Burlesque Hall of Fame, where I witnessed 92-year-old Coby Yee dancing,” Yang said. “When I saw her spinning on stage in her self-designed green costume with incredible grace, I knew immediately that film was the only medium that could capture this living legacy.”
Chinatown Cha-Cha isn’t Yang’s first documentary to feature Coby Yee. In 2019, in Coby and Stephen Are in Love, Yang featured the relationship between Yee and her dance partner Stephen King, a white man and experimental filmmaker two decades younger.
Now, in this more recent documentary, we see the Grant Avenue Follies dance, but they also highlight their fundraising activities and performances for veterans, along with their goal of inspiring other seniors to stand up and dance. Interspersed with the Follies in action, Yee reminisces over old photo albums and vividly tells the story of how she became and progressed as a dancer and club owner.
As Yang followed the Grant Avenue Follies tour, she found herself serving as a tour guide and show manager, as well as documentary film director. “The transnational tour became a powerful framework to build bridges across generations, cultures, and languages,” she said. “It was about creating opportunities for diaspora Chinese communities from different continents to reconnect with each other and with their rich performing arts history from the early 20th century, when these transnational connections were so vital to their cultural survival and expression.”
Despite these multiple roles, Yang couldn’t have done it all without the help of creative producer and long-time friend Lou Wang-Holborn. “Luka was this really cool high school lead singer of a college shoegaze band,” she remembered. “I was really close to this band.”
Wang-Holborn got the request just as post-production was beginning. “I still remember the day Luka called me asking me to join her as the producer,” she said. “How cool is that you got to make a film with your best friend!”
About a dozen years ago, Wang-Holborn had relocated to New York City and became part of the local Chinatown community. “As a Chinese immigrant, I was really interested in this part of the Asian American story,” she said.
One of the most prominent themes of Chinatown Cha-Cha is the Chinese diaspora. “From 1882 until the 1950s, due to the Chinese Exclusion Act and racial discrimination, Chinese Americans were largely confined to Chinatowns,” Yang relayed. “This segregation led to Chinatown becoming a popular tourist destination. Entertainment spaces like the Forbidden City nightclub became unique sites of cultural fusion and transnational exchange.”
Cultures meshed both in Yee’s club heyday and during the encore tour. “These venues allowed performers to blend Eastern and Western elements in creative ways, challenging stereotypes while asserting their own identities,” Yang explained. “Through our tour, we witnessed how these historical connections continue to resonate today, as we brought together Chinese communities from different parts of the world who share this common cultural heritage.”
Despite these inspirations, the creative team faced numerous challenges while making this film. “Becoming a mother during the editing stage gave me new insights into women’s experiences across different life stages,” Yang said.
Financing the film’s production also required tenacity, as well as the support of another producer based in China. “We started a crowdfunding campaign in both the U.S. and China in 2021, which received a big reception and support,” Wang-Holborn reported. “It’s a validation that helped us build our first audience. Many of the supporters showed up at our screenings.”
Yang echoed her producer’s views. “Crowdfunding unexpectedly brought us tremendous community support and media attention,” she agreed.
And seeking the rights to use archival pieces and musical selections was also time-consuming. “We spent over a year dealing with it,” Wang-Holborn said. “We also worked with a fair use lawyer and music supervisor to help us navigate the process.”
But an even bigger obstacle was to come. “In 2023, I was diagnosed with stage one cancer, and remarkably, we received the national screening permit during my first week in the hospital,” Yang shared. “We raced to complete the film before my first chemotherapy treatment.”
Now, Yang’s health has rebounded. “After my recovery in 2024, the film’s theatrical release in China became a celebration of resilience,” she said, “much like the story we were telling about the Grant Avenue Follies.”
But the work wasn’t over when the film was received its debut. “We launched our impact campaign ‘Generations In Step Tour’ in time for the AAPI Heritage Month, to bring generations together within the AAPI community through film, dance, and dialogue, creating meaningful discussions on identity, belonging, and activism,” Wang-Holborn said. “By spotlighting elder performers who defined Chinatown’s golden era, the campaign preserves their untold stories and inspires younger generations to honor and continue this rich legacy.”
Yang has been pleased with the audience response to Chinatown Cha-Cha. “We’ve noticed that Chinese audiences tend to have more emotional responses with tears, while American audiences connect more with the humor in the film,” she said. “These different reactions reflect how the story resonates across cultural contexts, touching on universal themes of identity, aging, and resilience while speaking to specific cultural experiences.”
Overall, the varying reactions have been positive. “What consistently moves viewers most is Coby Yee’s vibrant spirit, creativity, and undeniable charm,” she said. “At 92, her grace and passion for performance deeply touches people across cultural boundaries.”
Ultimately, Yang says that her film is more than just a historical document. “It’s a celebration of the resilience and creativity of Asian American women across generations and a testament to the enduring connections within the global Chinese diaspora,” she elaborated. “Through Coby Yee, the Grant Avenue Follies, and their transnational tour, we see how art and performance can preserve cultural memory while creating new possibilities for expression and understanding.”
The team considers this especially important now, in a time when many Chinatowns are facing difficulties. “These stories remind us of the importance of preserving and celebrating these vibrant communities and their contributions to both local and global culture,” Yang emphasized. “The film demonstrates how performance can transcend geographical boundaries and generational gaps, weaving together the past and present of diaspora Chinese communities worldwide.”
Chinatown Cha-Cha will be presented, followed by a Q&A, on May 18 at Admiral Theater, 2343 California Avenue Southwest, Seattle.
