Business Spotlight: Imperial Ballroom
[Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of our original post here.]
Welcome to Chinatown spoke with Ming and Irene, husband and wife and award-winning dancers who started, and run Imperial Ballroom, and their daughter, Angelina. Imperial Ballroom, a Longevity Fund grant recipient, is more than just a place to learn a few moves - it’s been a source of community in Chinatown for 25 years and counting. To support Chinatown small businesses like Imperial Ballroom, donate to the Longevity Fund here.
Pictured (from left to right): Ming, Angelina, and Irene Chau (Photo credit: Derick Marquez, other photos courtesy of Chau family)
Tell us about yourself!
Irene: We are Ming and Irene, proud owners of Imperial Ballroom dance studio. I grew up in Malaysia and immigrated to the U.S. in 1989. Ming grew up in Vietnam and immigrated to the U.S. the same year. We teach ballroom dancing - we met through our mutual love of dancing. We’ve been bringing the Chinese community together through dance since 1995. We teach ballroom dancing, give private lessons and group classes, do social dances, and also do studio rental.
How did you two learn how to dance?
Ming: I learned how to dance in Vietnam and taught there too. After coming to the U.S. I married Irene and continued competitive dance, then I opened Imperial Ballroom with her.
Irene: After opening the studio, we stopped competing.
Angelina: She doesn’t want to say it, but she was his student before; that’s how they met, she was trying to learn how to dance!
Can you tell us more about the story about how you (Ming and Irene) met?
Irene: Growing up in Malaysia, I always saw people dance, but I didn’t have the opportunity because I was always working. When I came here and started working in Manhattan, a coworker friend started inviting me to ballroom dancing in Flushing, and Ming was teaching. I had a few lessons with him, and then we moved on to become dance partners and sought out coaches to teach us. We practiced hard and went for a few competitions. After we started this business, we couldn’t do more competitions, because they’re on the weekends when we’re busy. We decided to do Show Dance instead. We’ve danced in Chinatown in places like Jing Fong, Flushing East Manor (author’s note: now “Good Fortune Restaurant”), a few studios in Flushing, and we do a lot of other shows to advertise ourselves.
Ming: At age 12, I started doing social dance. I started dancing very seriously and continued it after I immigrated here. I worked at a warehouse before, but I continued to dance, and then I met Irene. We started dancing, teaching, and we opened the studio together.
Who asked who out?
Ming: Of course I asked her out! I sensed some chemistry between us and said that. There were some signals!
Irene: I don’t know! It’s been so long I forgot! But we really love dancing! We were dance partners first, that’s what brought us together. Every day at 9am, we had dance practice with one of our coaches, Tony.
Ming: At 11am, we came back to the studio, teaching.
Irene: On Sundays, we’d teach all the way ‘til midnight. We’ll come home so late because we were practicing and performing. When our older daughter Bella was born, the studio was the busiest it’s ever been and we didn’t get to see her grow up too much. Our kids grew up very independent.
Ming: We would work 12 hours a day.
Angelina, it sounds like you grew up in a more unconventional Asian household. Can you tell me more about that and how do you feel it shaped you?
Angelina: I think my parents are pretty unconventional - they’re artists and dancers and they willingly show affection all the time. I think growing up with artists for parents pushed me towards art. I had a lot of creative pursuits growing up - nail art, beading, knitting, painting, and drawing. They fostered a lot of creativity in me, and I was always very grateful for that.
They weren’t home all the time. It was tough, but okay; I had my sister, and we were very close growing up. My dad went to work very early and came home very late. By the time he came home, my sister and I were already asleep most of the time. But I remember when he would come back, he came to our room and opened the door to check if we were sleeping, and say “I love you.” I knew that even when he wasn’t home, he cared about us.
My mom, probably because we weren't always together, she always said “I love you.” She’s a very touchy person, always hugging and kissing us. My sister and I aren’t touchy people, but we bear it because she’s our mother. Yes, we maybe had a different childhood than a lot of other Chinese children, but there were a lot of positives that came out of it.
People might be surprised to learn a lot of your teachers aren’t Chinese.
Irene: There aren’t a lot of Chinese teachers. A lot of them are from Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, or Bulgaria. When we just started, it was just us teaching, until I was 8 months pregnant with Bella and I couldn’t dance on my feet. I said, “Ming, I can’t do it anymore, you have to find some help!” After Bella was born, I taught again, but I couldn’t pay enough attention to her, and Bella fell down the stairs. (Author’s note: she was fine!) That was a turning point, and I told Ming we needed to get other instructors.
Angelina: It was the downfall of her dancing career - down the stairs. (Laughter)
Why did you open a dance studio in Chinatown?
Ming: Before, I was teaching in Flushing, and I had students from Chinatown and Brooklyn.
Irene: We decided Chinatown was an ideal place.
Ming: We love Chinatown. It’s like home. Everyone is 同聲, 同氣. (Author’s note: roughly translates as, “of the same sound and same breath” or “all coming from the same place.”) Everyone speaks the same language and culture. And there’s Chinese food too. It feels warm.
Tell me about the kinds of people who are your students.
Ming: We have anyone from four years old, to people in their eighties!
Irene: Mothers bring their children on weekends, seniors come to exercise, adults come for social dances.
What do the seniors dance?
Irene: They social dance, Rumba, Cha-cha, Samba, Viennese Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Mambo, Salsa, they everything!
What are some of your favorite memories?
Irene: There was an 84 year old grandma. She didn’t know how to dance at all. We taught her to the point where she knew how to perform. She glowed from dressing up and being able to perform in front of people.
Ming: I love watching people learn from nothing to the point where they can perform. I also really appreciate seeing people get healthier from it since they’re moving a lot more.
Angelina: We have a lot of parties - Chinese New Year parties, Christmas parties, you name it. Students and teachers put performances on, and when I was younger I loved watching, especially my dad. It was always fun seeing everyone here.
How do you find dance instructors?
Irene: They find us. One of the ways they find us is through social media, sometimes they message us on Facebook, and we’ll tell them to come by. We’ve gotten people from Russia emailing us that they’d like to teach. They can stop by our studio, we will always welcome them.
Ming: We’ve been open for 25 years, so everybody knows us.
How has the pandemic affected your business?
Irene: We’ve been closed since March. We really miss dancing, and the students the most, they are like family to us. We were open seven days a week. This studio never closed.
You don’t get tired?
Irene: We didn’t get tired. Our studio never used to close. We love it - it’s exercise. Now we have nothing to do, and we’re tired.
Ming: If anything, our spirits are tired from being closed.
Now that we can’t have group gatherings, how does Chinatown as a community feel?
Irene: People are still afraid to come out. We tried to do private lessons, but people say they want to wait for a vaccine.
How will the Longevity Fund grant help you?
Irene: It will help us tremendously. We still owe rent and utilities, and the grant will help pay some of the rent. Hopefully it helps us stay afloat, and continue to teach dance. We don’t know what we could do if we don’t teach dance, so this grant will help us to keep our dreams alive.
What does the future of Imperial Ballroom look like?
Irene: We’re optimistic. We’ll see. We’ll talk to the landlord and see what they can do and we will try to continue. We even fixed the floor here! We want to continue teaching in the community.
Ming: We want the Chinese community here to have the space for dancing and exercise.
Irene: We’ll miss it so much if we don’t do this. We want to do it.
When things go back to normal, what do you want to see the most here?
Irene: We want to see this place full house again. There’s actually 100 people in and out on a regular Sunday. We miss them very much.
Ming: We were 25 years non-stop.
Irene: We had a Fuzhounese group coming from 9 to 11:30 on a typical Sunday, then at 11:30-12:30 we will have kids. We have an adult group from 1 to 2, international styles, all the way to 6 or 7. Nonstop.
Angelina, you talked briefly about events. Can you tell me more about how those events, what they were like? What do you miss about them?
Angelina: The events have been happening since I was a kid, and I attended almost every single one of them. They all start out the same way, lots of people coming in, we have raffles, and we always have a buffet at every event, so there’s a long line stretching the length of the whole studio.
I spent a lot of time here as a kid. Half of my memories are here. Those events affected me a lot. Especially New Year’s parties, I got to stay up late, drink soda, and sit by and watch people dance throughout the entire night. We would count down till midnight and watch the ball drop projected on the mirror. I didn’t know everyone here, but I always felt a very big community. Sometimes I didn’t remember people, and my mom would say, “This is your auntie.” I wouldn’t remember her, because she met me when I was in my mother’s stomach. “Oh, I remember when you were in the womb!”
We grew up with the sense we knew everyone here, because they watched us grow up. These people have been coming here for decades. The parties were a community - we were laughing, eating, dancing together. The parties were a huge part of my childhood, and I really loved them.
Can you tell me about the photos on your wall, like this one of Ming?
Ming: My daughter likes that one!
Angelina: He put it up because a lot of people come into the studio and think my dad’s really fit and ask, “How do I get like that?” and he says, “You can dance!”
Angelina, what about this one of your sister?
Angelina: This is when she walked a fashion show for her school. My dad saw it and wanted to make it big and hang it up in the studio to show everyone. My sister was kind of against it, but it’s here, and I think it’s a bragging thing.
Irene: No, Dad put up the picture because he works long hours. There are other pictures from when you guys were toddlers. When he looks at the pictures, he doesn’t feel tired. When he thinks of home and can’t go home, he looks at the pictures.
Ming: Exactly!
Angelina: Aw, you guys didn’t tell me that, now I feel bad!
Is there anything else you want to add?
Irene: I want to really thank you for the grant. It really helps us a lot. Hopefully we will make it through, you know?
Angelina: I hope that more people come to see how special this place is. I grew up here. We found old videos on our camcorder, it’s me and my sister running through here. Both Chinatown and this studio feel so comfortable to me. Every time my mom and dad walk down the street they say hi to somebody. Even if we’re in Flushing there’ll be someone they know from this studio. It’s a big community, and I hope people come here and experience that. I think it’s really special.
Pictured: Ming, being buff from dancing
Pictured: Bella, walking a fashion show
Imperial Ballroom, located at 27 Division Street, has been unable to re-open for the entirety of the pandemic. If you’d like to support them directly, consider donating to their Venmo: @imperialballroom.
Chinatown establishments like Imperial Ballroom are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support now more than ever before to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, the Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say Chinatown will always be open for business.
