April Rain Chinese Dance has been serving Austin for over 10 years. We teach a variety of Chinese dances: Chinese classical, Chinese Ballet and contemporary, and mostly Chinese folk dances. Our mission is to provide a high quality and fun learning environment for kids in our communities, to create proud, confident dancers and leaders, and to pass the Chinese tradition on to future generations.
The most essential part includes Chinese dance technique, the Ballet technique, flexibility stretching, strength, balance control and more. One can never look elegant and comfortable on the stage unless he/she masters all the fundamental technique practice!
Learn how to perform! Practicing over and over again is the only way to put all the movements together smoothly and to perfect a dance. Emphasis is put on the expression and involvement. An eye-look, smile, hand gesture, or even slight body movement can have big effect and changes the entire impression of a dance.
China is a large nation with 56 minority groups. Each minority has its different life style, costume and characteristic. We need to understand these details in order to grasp the nuance of the dance that represents each different minority.
Aimee has enjoyed April Rain dance so much. She loves Mrs Chen, and cant wait to go to class every week. I have noticed an increase in Aimee’s confidence, and we both have been embraced into the Austin Asian American community. We feel like one big family with lots of love. Thank you
Debbi and Aimee Keller
陈老师, 谢谢你给我们提供了一个与孩子们共娱共乐的机会。这次汇演办得很成功，充分体现了孩子们在你的指导下学习、成长。春雨就象一个温暖的大 家庭，不仅孩子们在学习的同时，得到了许多快乐，同时也给我们每个家庭也增添了许多乐趣。
Yiduo
Congratulations, Ms. Chen, on a wonderful production! It was a wonderful event and everyone did an incredible job. Thanks for all your dedication, skill, patience, effort and hard work. Thank you.
Carol Watts (and Zoe)
A mother from the audience came to see us during the intermission, her eyes still red from watching mother/daughter dance! She told me it just touched her heart seeing the little birds learning to fly and leaving the nest. As she was talking, her eyes became misty again that I had to give her a big hug!
Lei Gao
As much as I enjoyed the night, mother/daughter dance will be the moment that I want to rewind and go through again and again for the years to come. Thank you for coming up with such a lovely dance, one in which we felt so free to express the joy, one we are certainly to cherish forever.
I'm so glad you enjoy having them in your class. Our daughters think the world of you and love both the practices and the performances. We've been trying to figure out how to work Chinese language class into their schedules because they really love the Chinese phrases they learn from you. Your class has really helped them to understand teamwork and structured activities.
Russ
Thank you!
Mrs. Chen- I have been meaning to write and thank you for that beautiful picture of our daughter and your kind words. You and April Rain are so important to us. Such a great way to be close to the culture she was taken from when we adopted her. I so appreciate the warm relaionship she has with you. ANd thanks for the film clips and the pictures. They are beautiful- real keepers.
Pat
My daughter Cristina who is four and a half just recently started taking classes at April Rain. She tells me that of all her classes, this one is her top favorite. I put her in Chinese dance because she expressed a wish to dance with ribbons and fans after seeing various New Year performances around Austin over past years. She hasn't had much prior dancing experience and came into the class clueless but I have been impressed at her progress even after a few classes.
Juliete
Mrs. Chen does a wonderful job incorporating new children in her class, even the clueless ones. I like the way she pairs up the new girls with girls who know what is going on. Pretty soon, not only do the new girls have someone they can copy besides their teacher, but they also gain confidence early on and have fun too.
There is wonderful camaderie among the girls thanks to the welcoming atmosphere of the class. Then there are the marvellous props that add spice to the dances the children learn. Cristina, every bit into the dramatic and beautiful, really likes those props, especially if they happen to be one of her favorite colors (blue, yellow, purple, pink or green). She has blossomed under Mrs. Chen's patient instruction and continues to bloom. Mrs. Chen, you are very good with children. One can see that every one of those little girls looks up to you and holds you in affection. Thank you for making your class such a positive welcoming and fun experience.