Julia Zhou is a senior at Princeton University majoring in East Asian Studies and pursuing certificates (minors) in Statistics & Machine Learning, History & Practice of Diplomacy, and Dance. She started Chinese dance during her post-high school gap year in Yunnan, China, and continued learning in the US with Xuejuan Dance Ensemble and Princeton’s Triple 8 Dance Company. She loves the unique insight into classical and ethnic culture and history which Chinese dance provides, and hopes that this website can make this art form more accessible! Besides dance, Julia enjoys drinking tea, writing, taking photographs, and dreaming of her next trip to Asia. 

Favorite Dance Styles: Classical Shenyun

BBT Order: Straight-up Matcha with red bean + tapioca pearls

Xuejuan Feng, director of Xuejuan Dance Ensemble and president of Greater Washington Chinese Dance, holds a B.A. from the Beijing Dance Academy and an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Individual Performance Award in the 11th Metro DC Dance Awards for her performance and choreography of the solo "Snow". She is a member of the International Dance Council, the Chinese Dance Association, and the Pan American Chinese Dance Alliance. She is the associate director of the Taoli World Dance Competition in Washington D.C. Xuejuan Dance Ensemble has performed widely in the Washington DC area, such as participating in the Kennedy Center's National Dance Day Festival, presenting a full Chinese dance concert on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and leading the Chinese dance workshop at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

TinhVan Diep started as a parent at Xuejuan Dance Ensemble (XDE) and gradually became the de facto in-house historian, documenting as many events as she could. Over the years, she has helped XDE prepare and present showcases that both inform and entertain audiences new to Chinese dance. As a Chinese American from Vietnam, TinhVan believes that preserving and embracing one’s own cultural heritage can enrich our lives and promote cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. Her background in health literacy and doctor-patient communication continues to guide her approach in presenting the art of Chinese dance to mainstream audiences.  

Favorite Dance Styles: Can’t decide yet

BBT Order: original

Carissa Kwan began her dance journey at the age of four, receiving training in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, lyrical, and Spanish dance at the Carter School of Dance in Severna Park, MD and passing exams for Cecchetti Grades I-IV. In 2013, she pivoted to focus on Chinese dance in order to further explore her culture through the graceful, yet powerful language of dance. While a student at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), Carissa had the opportunity to teach and perform various styles of Chinese dance as president and artistic director of Tianyi Dance Team, as well as perform in "Ghost Bride," a professional dance production directed and choreographed by Rose Xinran Qi as part of UMD's Fall 2020 MFA Dance Thesis Concert. Currently, she is a dancer with the Xuejuan Dance Ensemble in Herndon, VA and has developed and presented age-appropriate and culturally enriching educational Chinese dance showcases for events such as the 2020 Lunar New Year Celebration at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, the 2022 Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods Program at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, the 2023 Lotus and Water Lily Festival at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, the 2023 Dance Sanctuaries Workshop at Kennedy Center’s REACH Studio, and many other community functions in the Greater Washington metropolitan area. In her day job, Carissa is a biostatistician at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Favorite Dance Styles: 傣族, 蒙古, 古典, 現代

BBT Order: Moge Tee - Mango Tea w/ Cheese Foam; Gong Cha - Lemon Wintermelon w/ Basil Seeds and Pearls

Jessica Lin is a rising high school senior from the Washington, DC area. She has been learning Chinese dance for 11 years and is currently part of the Xuejuan Dance Ensemble in Herndon, VA. Jessica has performed widely at venues around the US, including at events hosted by the Chinese Embassy, the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, and Bucknell University’s Department of Theatre and Dance. She was also featured at the opening reception of the special exhibit, “Chinese Dance: National Movements in a Revolutionary Age, 1945-1965,” by Professor Emily Wilcox (College of William & Mary), as well as the documentary “How Chinese Folk Dancers Continue to Practice During Quarantine” by Atlas Obscura. Jessica is a frequent participant of the Taoli World Dance Competition (2016-present) and has been awarded Elite Platinum, Judge’s Choice, and Taoli Spirit awards, in addition to receiving the highest scores in her age and dance category. She hopes to pursue Asian studies and Chinese dance in college, and has attended pre-professional dance programs such as the Kennedy Center Dance Lab (2021-23) and the Virginia Summer Residential Governor’s School for Visual & Performing Arts and Humanities at Radford University (2022). Outside of dance, Jessica is president of her school’s Chinese Student Association and plays violin with the orchestra. She also enjoys watching Chinese dramas and Studio Ghibli movies, and eating Thai/Korean/Chinese food. 

Favorite Dance Styles: 汉唐，蒙古，维吾尔

BBT Order (for giggles): ShareTea-Mango Green Milk Tea w/ mini boba ; Kokee-Rose from San Francisco w/ lychee jelly

Laura Garofalo is a Chinese American adoptee whose passion for Chinese dance stems from her desire to explore and share her Chinese culture with others through the universal medium of dance. For the past nine years, Laura has been teaching Chinese dance in Maryland to students from preschool through college. Currently, she dances and assists with classes at the Xuejuan Dance Ensemble in Herndon, VA. She is also an alumna of the Madison Chinese Dance Academy in Rockville, MD. Laura has performed throughout the Washington, DC area, including at events hosted by the Chinese Cultural and Community Services Center (CCACC) in Montgomery County, MD, as well as at the Freer Gallery in Washington, DC as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Chinese New Year Celebration. Laura has also helped develop and present Chinese dance educational programs for organizations in the Washington, DC area, including the Sidwell Friends School in Bethesda, MD, and the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods at Wolf Trap National Park in Vienna, VA.

Favorite Dance Styles: 傣族

Lauren Dravis Chen began dancing at a young age with early training in tap, jazz, and other Western styles of dance before narrowing her focus to ballet. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Conservatory Program at the Metropolitan School of the Arts with high marks in artistry and performance before taking a hiatus from dance to obtain her degree in Linguistic Anthropology and Asian Studies. Lauren discovered Xuejuan Dance Ensemble in 2021 and has been training and performing with them as a Chinese classical and folk dancer ever since. She is passionate about the preservation of traditional forms of folk dance and aspires to revitalize and promote more styles of cultural dance in the future.