At first, forming a Chinese dance troupe was only an idea that floated around the minds of a few young girls. In the Fall of 2000, those girls created the Rutgers Chinese Cultural Dance Troupe with a group of ten girls. Since then we had many new members join and take on more complex and professional dances.
We have gone from the flag dance to doing ribbon dances, an ethnic dance from the XinJiang province, a fan dance, martial arts dance, and many more! Our dances are both professionally and student choreographed. On top of the cultural dances, we also include a modern American dance segment to our performances, which allows our Asian-American members to follow the mainstream pop culture as well.
Not only have the number of males in the troupe increased, but we have become more ethnically diverse, with Indian and Filipino students joining as well. We are a multiethnic group of students who share an interest in Chinese cultural dance, not a group of Chinese students interested in dance.
More important than dancing though, is the concept of making new friends. Outside of the time spent at practices and performances, we still find time to meet and hang out. We've held dinners and get-togethers to share laughter and good times. Although putting on a good cultural show is one of our main priorities as an organization, we know that enjoying the whole process is also just as important.
tl;dr? JOIN RCDT.