Resident Company

Dominick Castaldo began learning kungfu in 1987 and can trace his teacher and predecessors thru the generations to Fei Hong and Si Kwan.  Dominick also authored an article that was published in Inside Kung Fu magazine and later featured in one of their Special Edition issues.

​

Mr. Castaldo has also spent the last 25+ years learning and focusing on the fundamentals of Kung Fu.

Shan Y. Chuang, a talented queer artist from Taiwan, excels in acting, singing, dancing, and choreography. A proud graduate of the Musical Theater program at Circle in the Square, she now shares her expertise as a vocal and dance instructor at the same institution. Shan was awarded a City Artist Corps Grant and created “10 Years In The Making, 10 Years Of Me”. With over a decade of performances in NYC, Shan's work explores themes of LGBTQIA+ identity, social justice, and self-discovery through the language of dance. She has also collaborated with MOCA on several productions.

Shuning Huang, a dance artist and choreographer born and raised in Nanjing, China, holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University and a BA in Dance Studies from the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy. She began formal dance training at the age of six, focusing on Chinese dance and ballet, and later expanded into modern and contemporary dance during her undergraduate years. Her versatile training spans Chinese classical and folk dance, modern/contemporary, ballet, and jazz. In addition to her work with the New York Chinese Cultural Center (NYCCC), Shuning is a principal dancer with Six Degrees Dance. Her performance credits include renowned venues such as Lincoln Center, Queens Museum, Mark O'Donnell Theater, Culture Lab LIC, Dixon Place, The Tank, and the New York Botanical Garden.

Luqi is multilingual, fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, and a fine arts lover. She grew up in China (Guangzhou) and broadly studied in South Korea, UK, and US. She received a Master of Arts degree from New York University, with a focus on film theory. She is passionate about the spread, expression and communication of East Asian culture and traditional arts. Having practiced Chinese calligraphy as well as watercolor painting since childhood, she has been teaching Chinese calligraphy professionally in New York City since 2020, with different kinds of workshops, performances and classes. She enjoys teaching and interacting with people of different ages and backgrounds, and learning along the way. She is always impressed by the great healing power of arts, and the interest in Chinese culture from a wide range of population across the world. She loves reading, jogging, swimming and yoga as her pastimes. 

Angela Lai (First Institute of Art and Design HK, Fashion Institute of Technology NY) is a pattern maker in fashion for over 30 years. She has taught classic Chinese calligraphy and painting to kids and adults for over 8 years, at the NY Chinese Cultural Center, Museum of Chinese in America, and throughout various public school programs. In 2020, she hand calligraphed the hanging lanterns that light up Mott Street. In her spare time, she loves practicing traditional Chinese dance and crafting everything from greeting cards to handbags.

Yuxi Liu is a professional dancer, teacher and choreographer. She is from China and holds a B.A. in Dance Education from Beijing Normal University. She trained at the American Ballet Theater and currently teaches the ABT National Training Curriculum: Pre-Primary to Level 3. Notable performance credits include: 2020, at the Metropolitan Museum for Lunar New Year. 2017, an outstanding performance for New Year’s Eve, at Times Square, New York. 2013, at the Canadian Confucius Institute Cultural Showcase Exchange Program. 2013, at the “Twelve Days of Chinese Dance” in China’s National Theatre.

Xizi Ma was born in Guilin, China. She has learned traditional Chinese dance since she was young. She was admitted to Guangxi Art School and participated in the large-scale landscape panorama performance "Dreamlike Lijiang River". After graduation, she went to the United States for further studies. She founded Xizi Dance Art Center.

Timmy Ong is a Malaysian performer and theatre artist based in NYC. He has performed internationally, and has originated leading roles in Malaysia and the US. Dance credits include: Alice in the Aces, Le Corsaire, and a Malaysian representative to the Cheonan World Dance Festival. Selected theatrical credits: Procopio in The Sacrifice of Cassamba Becker (US premiere; Best Performance in A Play nomination in the BroadwayWorld Off-Broadway Awards), Lamont in Mr. Holland's Opus: A New Musical (world premiere), Steve Hadley in Project: Library, Yuan Fan-Shen in Dress In Code, and Harriet in Isabel (debut production). As a theatermaker, he has collaborated with esteemed organizations like Riuh, A.R.T./NY and MOCA. Commissioned work include: Second Chances, Soul Food, and Catching Silhouettes. He is one-half of the writing partnership, the Green-Eyed Monster Project. MFA: The New School. 

Fang Tseng is a versatile performer, director, and teaching artist from Taiwan now based in NYC. She's been in multiple projects including musicals, plays, clowning, dances, music videos, and voiceovers in both Taiwan and US. Selected credits include Mulan the Musical (Singapore tour), Starry Memory (National tour in Taiwan), War+Lovers (Theater Row), Islanders3 (Gibney Theater), Bliss Street (Theatre For the New City), Drunk Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (Boozy Bards Production), Siguete Moviendo (Jorge Alberto’s music video), and FAMEME (Time Square).

Grant Zhuang began dancing at an early age, studying at the Children’s Palace in Qingdao City, China. He was admitted to the Art School of Music and Dance Theater of Shandong Province at the age of 11. In 2002, he went to Beijing Music and Dance School. In 2005, he was admitted to Beijing Dance Academy (undergraduate), placing third in the admissions ranking. After graduating in 2009, he came to the US and joined NYCCC. In 2015, he became the director of NYCCC and head of the performance troupe. In the 12 years of working in NYCCC, he has planned and performed in over 1,000 performances, and taught more than 3,000 sessions. In 2023, he started his own dance studio, Grant Dance Arts Center.