From leading the annual Chinese Karaoke night to teaching Chinese dance, Lilia Cai stands at the heart of many cultural traditions on campus. For Cai, the performing arts are vital to sharing culture, building confidence, and connecting with the campus community.
Growing up in Shanghai, Cai was a passionate and competitive accordion player, singer, and dancer. Despite eventually forsaking the accordion to focus on school, Cai continues to share her love for the arts with Andover.
“I grew up in a public school in Shanghai and I grew up with a lot of extracurriculars because at the time in public schools, the arts were really supported by the government. So I was actually a competitive accordion player until I was in middle school. Then my academics got too much so I stopped playing accordion. So singing and dancing actually is stuff I did on the side because my main passion was the accordion,” said Cai.
Chinese Karaoke Night, often a booming event on campus, began as a small gathering with little attendance. Cai reflected on its humble beginnings, taking the event from a class assignment to a beloved celebration.
“[In] the beginning years, [Chinese Karaoke Night] wasn’t as well attended. It was just like Chinese kids, and they feel like they’re forced to come because it’s a Chinese department event. They have fun, but almost in a way they were like, we don’t want people to see us because it’s so bad, you know? But over the years, maybe because we have more Chinese kids here now, in some ways kids are now more and more appreciative. We may not sound that great, but it’s really fun to do. And our friends are all coming to support us,” said Cai.
Cai also teaches Chinese Traditional Dance, a sport that’s not only physically rigorous but incredibly expressive, tying back to deep cultural roots. Because the dance emphasizes breathing and energy, she guides students through the fundamentals of breathing and movement, helping them connect to the choreography. Cai also found this method to bring a more meditative quality to the activity.
“Then also just teaching Chinese dance is also not just about teaching like a dance… There are, you know, so I don’t just teach one dance, but I also teach the foundational body movement and the breathing. If you don’t learn those, ultimately you’re just imitating the movements. But the breathing, it’s almost like, it’s almost like mindfulness in a way – teaching your body to move the movements, going along with breathing, like all of that. And then feeling the music and the energy of the dance is so embedded in Chinese culture. All of that is beyond just the body movement, but also it’s sort of like a 360 degree appreciation and immersion of an aspect of Chinese culture,” said Cai.
For Cai, these performances have brought out some of the most meaningful moments for her, most notably connecting with her daughter, Kaya. Since their performance together at Chinese Karaoke a few years ago, the two have made it a tradition to perform duets annually. Cai also believes the arts are a great opportunity for students to see another side of their teacher.
“When Kaya was in eighth grade, the day that she came here for the interview, it was actually a karaoke night. So we sang together. And ever since then, it’s been a tradition to sing duets. For me and Kaya, for her to be singing with her mom, this is just like a really meaningful, memorable experience. But also for the kids, it’s great to see their teacher being involved and willing to do what we ask the students to do, and then also just like sharing our culture with them in a really authentic kind of way,” said Cai.
