Ah-Lan: President / Founder
Ah-Lan, founder and director of Ah-Lan Dance, is a dancer and teacher of Chinese traditional dance. With 25 years of experience, Ah-Lan created the Ah-Lan Dance program, 7 years ago, with the goals of sharing the beauty and diversity of Chinese traditional dance with dancers and audiences in the Bay Area, and getting dancers of all ages in the East Bay involved in a variety of dance and fitness activities.
Ah-Lan began her life in dance as a child of five in her hometown of Hangzhou, China, where she was trained as a performer of traditional Chinese dance. Her early studies led to leading roles with the Hangzhou and Guangzhou Performing Arts Troupes, and she performed with these famous ensembles in their performances across China in 1980’s. In addition to her development as a dancer, she gained broad experience in production and stage management as the artistic director, dance soloist, and MC for these troupes.
The teaching of dance to young people has been of the greatest importance to Ah-Lan beginning with her first position as dance teacher at Hangzhou’s famous Da Guan School for the Performing Arts. Among the honors awarded to her as a teacher were a student dance competition First Prize for choreography for the dance “The Golden Osmanthus,” awarded when she was just 19; and the official selection of her students to perform in cultural exchange programs with Japan in 1988.
Ah-Lan left China for Japan in 1988 and taught Chinese there until she decided to continue her education studying international business. She came to California in 1993 and raised a family while working at Stanford University.
Ah-Lan founded her Ah-Lan Dance program in Albany seven years ago. Her program welcomes dancers of all ages, including Kindergartners just learning how to move their bodies, adults dancing for the first time, and teenagers perfecting the art of dance. Dancers trained at Ah-Lan Dance have auditioned and competed at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival as well as dance competitions in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Yaqi Wu 吴雅琦, Artistic Director
One of the most distinguished teachers and choreographers of Chinese dance active in the United States today, Ms. Yaqi Wu received a BFA in Dance Education and an MFA in Choreography from the Nationalities University of China in Beijing.
Focusing on promoting Chinese Folk Dance and Classical Dance beyond China’s borders for the past 5 years, Yaqi has served as director of ArtEast Dance Studio and engaged with several other dance studios serving over 1000 students all over the US and worldwide. Through her teaching and leadership, Yaqi has taught many new adult dancers to become more healthier and confident on stage, and trained and mentored numerous young students to become award-winning Chinese dance artists.
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Ni Yang 杨妮, Senior Chinese Dance Instructor
Graduated from the School of Dance at Minzu University of China with a Master’s degree in Choreography. Yang Ni is good at the systematic teaching of Chinese folk dance, Chinese classical dance, modern and contemporary dance and ballet. She also serves as a senior instructor of the Chinese National Folk Dance Grade Examination, and the director of the Cultural and Creative Arts Committee of the Minzu University Association. She has won the Excellent Performance Award in the Youth Group of the Eighth National “Tao Li Cup” Dance Competition, the Bronze Award in Creation for the participating works in the Ninth National Dance Competition, and the Gold Award for performance and creation of dance competitions in five provinces and cities in North China, Hebei First Prize in Provincial Dance Competition, Second Prize in Performance in Beijing Dance Competition Pas de Deux, Almighty Award and First Prize in Technical Skills in the 8th “Xinren Cup” Dance Competition of the School of Dance, Minzu University of China.
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Luna Zhuo 卓兰, Chinese Dance Instructor
From a lineage steeped in the rich history of the Genghis Khan family, her forebears reveled in the artistry of dance. She too discovered her voice within the rhythmic world and started professional training when she was 6. She is currently enrolled in the dance MFA program of Saint Mary’s College and also serves as an instructor of the Chinese National Folk Dance Grade Examination. As a dance blogger, her dance training videos have 10k+ likes online. Although dance is most important in her life, she also has a computer science bachelor’s and an MFA in 3D Animation.
Luna has been performing around the world. Her performances include the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in Beijing (春晚 ChunWan), which has the largest audience of any entertainment show in the world, and the Chinese-Russian College Students Art Festival in Moscow. She received a Gold Award in Belgium for the 25th International Folk Art Festival and went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the “Mongolian Dance Show” for a month-long residency. She was also awarded a Gold Award in the Chinese Xiaohe Elegant Demeanor Competition and the First Prize in the “Lucheng Cup” Dance Competition in Inner Mongolia.
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Aliya Kerimujiang 阿丽雅, Chinese Dance Instructor
Aliya Kerimujiang, from Urumqi, China, is a Chinese Uyghur dancer with a diverse background in dance. Her early training across Urumqi, Lanzhou, and Beijing introduced her to a variety of dance forms, including Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian, Han, Korean, Dai, Ballet, and Modern dance. She earned a B.A. in Dance Education from Minzu University of China, focusing on Asian Cultural Dance and promoting underrepresented communities through dance education.
At 18, Aliya moved to New York City and continued her education with an M.A. in Teaching Dance in the Professions from NYU Steinhardt and an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of California, Irvine. Her graduate research developed the Ecological Performance Practice, a framework for exploring Connectivity through ritualistic movement practices.
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An-An Nagase, Chinese Dance Instructor
An-An Nagase is earning her BFA in Dance major at San Jose State University. She has been a student at Ah-Lan Dance since the age of five, studying traditional Chinese Dance, Ballet, and Modern. In 2022, she had the honor of performing the main role in the gala Princess Wen Cheng. She is currently a member of San Jose State University’s dance company, University Dance Theater, under the direction of Chafin Seymour, and has gotten the opportunity to work with guest choreographers Cameron McKinney and Shlomit Fundaminsky. An-An has been teaching at Ah-Lan Dance since 2020, and is looking forward to continuing to work with her students in the coming year!
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Ally Chiang, Jazz Instructor
Ally attended Ah-Lan Dance Studio for 10 years before graduating in 2022. She is currently studying data science and economics at UC Berkeley. In the 2019 and 2022 studio galas, Ally played the lead roles of young Niu Niu and Princess Wen Cheng with An An Nagase. Ally was also on Albany Dance Company, her high school’s competition jazz team, for 4 years.
At the pandemic’s start, she started teaching jazz and lyrical classes on Zoom each week to raise money for the studio. She has always been passionate about both dancing and teaching and is extremely grateful to have worked with the sweetest and most enthusiastic young girls these past few years.
Ally’s goal as a teacher is to nurture passionate and well-rounded dancers who will continue to excel beyond what her class offers. Her greatest reward is watching them fall in love with dance and documenting their growth over the years.
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Molly Levy, Ballet Instructor
Molly has trained in classical and contemporary ballet, Horton, Limon, Graham-based modern, improvisation, Piso Movil floorwork, Continuum, Jack Cole style jazz dance, and more. She trained at Berkeley City Ballet and San Francisco School of the Arts before studying at The Ailey School & Fordham University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Summa Cum Laude in Dance Performance and credits toward a Masters of Science in Childhood Education.
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Esther Cardona, Ballet Instructor
Esther Cardona received her training from the School of Ballet Tucson and the University of Arizona School of Dance, as well as from Ballet San Jose, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and Bartholin International Ballet Seminar. She has performed with Ballet Tucson, Paradise Ballet Theater, Oakland Opera, Temescal Labs, the DanceWright Project, and Burklyn Ballet Theater; and has had the pleasure of being a guest artist for several youth ballet ensembles. Esther began teaching at the School of Ballet Tucson and has more recently been a faculty member at San Francisco Youth Ballet, Spotlight Arts Academy, Berkeley Ballet Theater, and Ballet Akademiet Aarhus, a satellite “talent center” for the Royal Danish Ballet School. She prioritizes developing artistry and enthusiasm alongside clean technique and healthy movement habits, especially for young dancers.
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Gabriella Wei, Ballet Instructor
Gabby Wei is a dancer, performer and choreographer based in the Bay Area. From a young age, Gabby trained with Ah Lan Dance in traditional Chinese dance, as well as ballet, jazz, modern, and contemporary. She attended UCSB as a dance major for one year before joining the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program in San Francisco which she currently attends. Since joining the Training Program Gabby has been able to work with dance artists such as Maurya Kerr, Chuck Wilt and Kayla Farrish. Gabby is honored to share her love of dance with her students and see them grow into unique and beautiful dancers!
Ah-Lan Dance 