Grant Avenue Follies
Coast to Coast Cha-Cha with Grant Avenue Follies & Chinatown Records – a Chinatown dance party where vinyl meets nostalgic glamour.
Presented by Think!Chinatown and Chinatown Cha-Cha Film, this intergenerational Chinatown dance party brings together the elegance of San Francisco’s Grant Avenue Follies with songs and records from NYC’s Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 archive.
Pay-as-you-wish RSVP required!
Doors open at 8PM with a warm-up DJ set to set the vibe and welcome you in. At 8:30PM, we’ll gather for a special introduction to Chinatown Cha-Cha, followed by a live dance demo from the Follies—and then it’s your turn! Learn a few cha-cha steps and join in the joy. The rest of the night, YiuYiu瑶瑶 will keep the energy flowing with Chinatown grooves, stories, and dancefloor gems.
Come dance with us across generations, across Chinatowns, and across time.
Think!Chinatown is a place-based intergenerational non-profit in Manhattan’s Chinatown, working at the intersection of storytelling, arts, and neighborhood engagement. T!C is the team behind neighborhood cultural programs like Chinatown Arts Festival, Chinatown Night Market, Chinatown Block Parties, Chinatown Storytelling Festival, and more. Find more at www.thinkchinatown.org
Chinatown Cha-Cha is a documentary film by Luka YuanYuan Yang chronicling the journey of Chinatown dancers across time. The 92-year-old previous nightclub dancer Coby Yee decides to get back on stage again after joining the senior dance troupe Grant Avenue Follies. Together they go on a tour for the last time, bridging once isolated Chinese communities in the US, Cuba and China. Learn more at www.chinatownchacha.com
Grant Avenue Follies bring to life the legacy of San Francisco Chinatown’s golden nightclub era (1940’s to 1970’s). Originally comprised of four retired dancers of the nightclubs, they were following doctor’s orders to exercise for improved physical health. The Follies rediscovered the sheer joy and freedom of dance and reconnected with their roots. They give performances for benefits and at senior retirement homes to show “just because you’re retired, you don’t have to stay in your pajamas all day!” Warm up at www.youtube.com/@GrantAvenueFollies
Chinatown Records 華埠錄音 is a homegrown community effort to celebrate the sonic tapestry of music, memory, & history that comes with inherited family collections. Homebased in NYC’s Manhattan Chinatown, DJ historian yiuyiu 瑶瑶 takes on her childhood name to care for & activate the Chinatown Records archive of over 30 record/CD/tape collections inherited from her family & neighbors through Chinatown block parties, sonic histories, living room listenings, and beyond. Tune in at www.chinatownrecords.us