Gund Kwok Asian Women Lion Dragon Dance Troupe

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› Our Mission
› Joining the Troupe
› Eat. Speak. Share.

Asian Women.Eat.Speak.Share! invites Asian women from all walks of life to get to know each other, tell our stories, share successes and challenges, inspire each other and build a supportive community where Asian women can flourish.

Our goals are to remember our connections to each other, feel proud to be an Asian female and be inspired to live bigger lives.

Thank you for attending our most recent event and making it a success. We received very positive feedback and hope to plan our next one again soon.

To learn more, read the article below that was featured in the August 3, 2001 edition of the Sampan Newspaper:

First Event Giving Asian Women Chance to Eat.Speak.Share! a Success
By Grace Cheng

On a serene, balmy, summer night along the Charles River, over 138 Asian women around Boston of different ages, professions, and life experiences were invited to gather together for an intimate and engaging dinner/discussion workshop. The event, hosted by Gund Kwok, Boston's only Asian Women Lion Dance Troupe, and co-sponsored by ASIA, DRA, Chinese Women Association, AARW, CAPAY, SOWA, and the Massachusetts Vietnamese American Women's League was the first event of its kind to be organized, produced, and hosted solely by Asian women for Asian women in the Boston area. The forum provided Asian women the chance to tell stories, inspire each other, and celebrate the talents of women to encourage each other as leaders.

Eat. Speak. Share!

Gund Kwok meaning "hidden strength", is a troupe made up of sixteen women and led by Reverend Cheng Imm Tan, and has been performing the lion dance since it was established in 1998. The lion dance itself is a martial arts form that uses a paper lion head and cloth as a symbol of power and courage, and is so physically demanding that it has traditionally been denied to women.

Since founding the troupe, Gund Kwok has donated all its monies raised from performance fees to causes that empower or further Asian women in the community on a yearly basis. This year, the troupe announced the creation of the Gund Kwok Asian Women Leadership Grant that entitles two young Asian women between the ages of 15-22 to each receive a $3000 stipend in exchange to be mentored by a prominent Asian woman leader over the course of six months and later report on their mutual learning experiences.

Other highlights from the evening included an open panel discussion that explored the views and life experiences of three Asian women. Anh Dao Kolbe,30, spoke about her experiences as an adopted Vietnamese woman who grew up in a German household in the Middle East. Helen Woo, reflected on her struggles growing up in a time where Asian women were told "to giggle, cross your legs under your seat, and always be polite." Her memories were especially more poignant to the group since she had been part of a pioneering group of women in the 1940s to actually perform Lion Dance in Boston's Chinatown, a practice literally unheard of at the time.

Eat. Speak. Share!

After a lively parading of colorful lions and an electrifying lion dance performance with lettuce and orange blessings, the night concluded with round table question and answer discussions. At each of the tables, women were given the chance to ask anonymous questions and learn things from other women that they didn't understand or feel comfortable enough asking about their hidden selves. The lively conversation that followed covered everything from body image to dating, to beliefs on interracial subjects, to the struggles of being an Asian woman of yesterday to today. Given the success in this year's event, Gund Kwok may be planning the event again, in hopes of reaching more Asian women and making them feel connected to something bigger than their own histories; a chance to be part of a collection of them and their own hidden strengths.