Review: Spring After Spring

Vancouver Chinatown parades always include Chinese dancing

Just in time for Chinese New Year is a new documentary called Spring After Spring, about three sisters who continue their mother's legacy of preserving and promoting Chinese dancing in Vancouver.

Directed by Jon Chiang, the film pays tribute to Maria Mimi Ho, who founded the Strathcona Chinese Dance Company, and helped start the Lunar New Year Chinatown Parade, where her students dressed up in colourful costumes and danced along the route.

Lisa, Val and Anabel talk about their mother

She roped her three daughters into dancing too, and they all became professionals in their on right -- eldest Anabel founded the Vancouver Academy of Dance, teaching Chinese dancing; middle child Val, aka Ms Vee is a hip hop dancer who teaches at Juillard; and youngest Lisa made it to Broadway, performing in shows like Mama Mia, Shrek and Chorus Line.

Their mother died in 2010 and left a big hole -- would the three sisters try to continue doing the Lunar New Year Chinatown parade? How would they do it? Would it be good enough in their mother's eyes?

There is a lot of archive footage of their mother, so energetic and happy as she performed -- she was a school teacher, but her hobby was dancing despite having no formal training. She studied books and later videos to learn new steps.

Ho was a force in Vancouver's Chinatown

The three sisters reminisce a lot and it's great to see them not only reveal more about their own personalities, but their mother too and how much she influenced their lives. Val is the most vocal and seems to be the most thoughtful in terms of reflecting on how she was brought up and describing the immigrant mentality of working hard all the time.

While it's clear the trio love their mother, and Anabel says it is only now, some 15 years later, that she feels comfortable speaking about her, they also remember how she was a tough Asian tiger mom, how whatever they did was never good enough.

A lot of Asian kids can relate to that kind of scolding.

That's what director Chiang hopes will spark conversation about difficult topics from viewing Spring After Spring.

"I know that from my own experiences in my family, there isn't a lot of conversation around the topic [of grief]," says Chiang. 

The three sisters are professional dancers

"There's so many taboos, there's a lot of cultural hurdles to overcome. But I feel like maybe by watching this film, people can see their families through this film and maybe not be afraid to talk about difficult things, both in the Chinese diaspora but also in other immigrant families and other Canadian families as well."

He discovered the story of Ho from his friend who is Anabel's husband, and filmed it with a lot of care and thoughtfulness, giving everyone an opportunity to talk. However, their widower father doesn't say anything, and the film focuses on the three sisters. 

Nevertheless, it was great for Chiang to encourage them to dance one of their favourite ones their mother got them to perform as a group. It shows the sisters united, passionate and happy dancing and enjoying each other's company.

Spring After Spring

Directed by Jon Chiang

78 minutes