ABOUT US
Share Chinese culture through dance performances.
Build friendships through community service.
Founded in January 2008, Jasmine Chinese Dance Group is a non-profit organization whose mission is to share Chinese culture through dance performances and build friendship through community service. We are located in Overland Park, Kansas. With the generous support of our sponsors and in partnership with local organizations, Jasmine has grown rapidly and is making an impression in the local community.
The Jasmine flower symbolizes women and femininity in Chinese culture, and in particular, gratitude, beauty, and kindness. In kind, Jasmine dancers express grace, beauty and elegance through eye-catching performances and service to the community.
Jasmine Chinese Dance Group offers adult and youth classes. For more information about classes offered, please visit our Classes page. To become a member, please visit our Membership page. To request a performance, please contact us.
JASMINE FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Jinsong Zhang
The idea behind Jasmine Chinese Dance Group started in 1998, when Jinsong moved to Kansas City and discovered a lack of Chinese folk dance representation at an annual Kansas City ethnic festival. As a lover of Chinese folk dance, she began to consider forming a dance team. In 2005, upon being elected president of the Kansas City Chinese Association, Jinsong established the KCCA Chinese Dance Team (now known as the KCCAA Chinese Dance Team), the first adult Chinese folk dance team in Kansas City. The team rehearsed weekly in her basement. However, Jinsong quickly noticed an additional demand for youth involvement in Chinese folk dancing. Together with three other women on the KCCA Dance Team, in 2008, Jinsong created Jasmine Chinese Dance Group to provide opportunities for Kansas City youth to explore and share Chinese culture through folk dance.
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Jinsong holds a bachelor's degree in Printing and Dyeing Art from the Art Institute of Suzhou and a master's degree in Multimedia Design from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). In her free time, Jinsong enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family.
JASMINE DANCE INSTRUCTORS
Ella Shan
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Executive Director and Dance Instructor
Ella is a passionate dancer, performer and instructor. Her deep love of dance passes to students of all ages through her dance classes. Her Chinese heritage and cultural background bring profound influence on dances she has taught and choreographed. As a performer, Ella has been taking the leading role for the past ten years in culture related dance performances in KC, performing at venues including the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and JCCC Carlsen Center Yardley Hall, etc. As an instructor, Ella has been teaching for the past ten years.
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Besides dance, Ella loves traveling, skiing, cats and all kinds of delicious food. She enjoys her family life very much.
Zhuna Chang
Treasurer
Zhuna has served as Jasmine's treasurer since May 2010.
Qinglan Zhang
Cindy Wang
Secretary and Website Manager
Cindy has served as Jasmine's secretary since April 2020. Cindy has been a Jasmine member since its founding in 2008 and created the Giving Heart Youth Program.
Helen Zhang
Liandra Wang
Wan Wan
Dance Instructor
Wan Wan has been teaching dance in Kansas for five years. She has taught at the Lawrence Arts Center, KU Center for East Asian Studies and the RDA Mid-States Festival. Wan Wan began dancing ballet and Chinese classical dance when she was five. She trained with the local art school for many years and continued with the arts group in college. During college and graduate school, she also performed with a Shaoxing opera company in Tianjin, China. Wan Wan also teaches yoga at OmTree Shala.