Dancing for Solidarity

A friend, Phyllis, mentioned to me that she and about 10 friends formed a club in 1957 called the Chanels. The members, she said, were in junior high school, earned straight A's, and they all played basketball.

Why the name, I asked? After the perfume, Phyllis said.

The Chanels blossomed, expanded their membership, became co-ed, and existed until the 1970s. The Chanels were responsible for a considerable number of public dances.

I am gauging that the founding members were likely to have been born within a few years after their parents were released from the internment camps. Could the stigma of the camps have influenced the girls' desire to form a sisterhood?

Young Chinese Americans also had cause to seek solidarity, because American laws ruled against the Chinese. When the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, it gradually enabled Chinese families to take root. The second generation, such as myself, became teenagers and young adults in the late 1950s - 1980s. And all Asian groups slowly gained geographical mobility after the prejudicial restrictive real estate covenants were outlawed after 1948.

Every culture and generation has its social gatherings. Even the younger people locked together in World War II internment camps held dances in order to lift their spirits towards normalcy, as portrayed in the contemporary Japanese American musical production "Camp Dance." What set Asian Americans apart, particularly in the post-war years, was the stifled Asian representation in media, motion pictures and television, until Asian American music bands began to form.

Following the impact of the Beatles and the British Invasion that rocked rock and roll in 1964, alas young, impressionable Asian Americans were finally up close and personal with performers whom they could identify.

There was the brief and exciting splash on the small screen from 1966 to 1967 when the charismatic Bruce Lee played Kato, the martial arts crime-fighting sidekick to the Green Hornet.

My adulation was short-lived, and the disappointment of the show's departure was not remedied by the 1972 show, "Kung Fu" starring David Carradine.

This sequence of tv offerings probably fueled the popularity of Asian American dances in the 1970s. I proudly felt the rising star of the band Hiroshima and recognized the authentic melodies of the koto string instrument. Their original music blended the west with the east, an auditory metaphor for young Asian Americans who sought to reconcile their own personal west with their east.

Disco music eventually supplanted the live band experience. Cory S., known then by the moniker "Disco LA", was a successful deejay. Cory wrote to me:

I first started deejaying back in 1977 during the "Disco" days and was the house DJ for the then popular Asian American night club known as the "Asian Blend" located in W. L.A. on Pico Bl. off of Bundy. I was also the DJ for the 1st Nisei Week Disco Dance contest during Nisei Week back in the late 70's.

I have many years experience working as a DJ dating back to college radio stations KLA at UCLA and KSUL at Cal State Long Beach. I served 4 years as radio announcer for Armed Forces Radio during my stint in the U.S. Army from 1970-74.

Though the live bands grew out of favor, Asian American crowds were still congregating and Asian American deejays were the dance compatriots. My friend Judy recalls attending those dances in the 1980s, but it was all DJ music.

After disco was proclaimed "dead", Southern California eventually saw the rise of two new clubs: Orange County Sansei Singles, and Tennis Connection. Many members of these clubs hail from the generation that drove the dance scene of the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

Tennis Connection was formed in 1988 by a handful of friends who enjoyed tennis. Twenty years later, the club has kept an average membership roster of over 140 people, primarily Asian Americans. I have been the club treasurer for many years. Last Saturday night, we held our annual holiday party in Torrance. Steve Kikuchi, of High Resolution, has been our longstanding deejay. High Resolution has maintained a successful deejay presence on the Asian American social circuit for at least 15 to 20 years.