At Westford Academy, four students spend their school days doing what thousands of other teenagers do: attending classes, studying for exams, and participating in extra curricular activities.
But outside the school day, they take on a very different role. They become teachers.
Four Westford Academy (WA) students are among the five dance instructors at the Chelmsford Chinese Language School (CCLS), where they teach Chinese folk dance to children ages 5-12 from Westford, Chelmsford, Billerica and Nashua, New Hampshire.
The young instructors include Enora Wang, Anna Wu, Olivia Bao, Eddia Liao, and Aubree Gao (pictured below).
Four of the five are 9th and 10th graders of WA, while Eddia Liao is a sophomore from Lexington High School. Together, they help younger students learn dance, music, rhythm and stage performance.
For these teenagers, however, teaching is about more than learning choreography. It is about passing something on.
Learning becomes teaching
Many of the instructors themselves began dancing when they were younger. Now they are on the other side of the classroom, teaching children following a path similar to the one they took.
That transition gives the program a special community flavor.
Olivia Bao’s experience illustrates that journey particularly well. She began learning Chinese folk dance at the Chelmsford Chinese Language School when she was six. Her first teacher and mentor was Chichy Shen, a WA alumna whose kindness, patience and passion inspired Olivia to explore Chinese traditional dance more deeply. She later continued her training at Angel Dance School.
After the pandemic, as the community worked to rebuild and reconnect, CCLS faced a shortage of dance teachers. At just 11 years old, Olivia and her friends stepped up to teach younger children on the CCLS dance team.
For Olivia, who describes herself as naturally introverted, standing in front of a classroom was intimidating at first. But teaching gradually gave her confidence and helped her develop skills in choreography, music editing, communication, teamwork and leadership.
The younger children are not simply learning steps. Through repeated practices and stage performances, they are also developing confidence, discipline and the ability to perform before an audience. The high school students, on the other hand, are learning how to lead, communicate and take responsibility.
Olivia said one of the most meaningful parts of teaching has been watching her students grow. She has seen little girls who once hid behind their parents become confident dancers who look forward to performing, while older students help younger ones on stage.
Those experiences have taught her that dance is not just about performing. It is also about building confidence and supporting one another.
From Westford to stages across the region
The dance students have had a busy year so far, performing at community events throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Many Westford residents may already recognize the dance team from the Chelmsford Chinese Language School.
Since the very first WA Chinese New Year Celebration, the students have performed at every annual event, including this year’s celebration on Feb. 28, becoming a familiar part of one of the community’s cherished cultural traditions.
Their 2026 schedule has included the Westford Academy Chinese New Year celebration, the Asian Music Festival at NARA Park in Acton, and the most recent 29th Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival on Aug. 15, which drew a large crowd.
The water festival, an annual celebration held at Lowell Heritage State Park along the Merrimack River, features cultural performances, food, crafts and traditional boat races. The students’ participation reflects the broader role that cultural festivals play throughout the region by bringing local communities together through music, dance, food and tradition.
Through performances at cultural and community events across both the Bay and the Granite states, the dancers have had opportunities to share Chinese traditions with people from many different backgrounds. For the students, the performances are not only a way to celebrate their heritage, but also an opportunity to build connections within the region’s diverse communities.
Among the instructors, Olivia was selected as a Youth Leader at an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Festival at Boston Common, where she delivered a speech about the role young people can play in bringing cultures together.
Speaking to the festival audience, Olivia described dance as a universal language. Even when people do not share the same words, she said, rhythm and emotion can create a connection.
She spoke about volunteering through cultural performances, helping organize events and teaching younger students, as well as working with seniors and children with special needs. Through those experiences, she said, she has seen how music and movement can bring joy and connection across generations.
The message was consistent with what the students experience every week at CCLS: cultural traditions can be both preserved and shared.
“Our roots may be different,” Olivia said in her speech, “but if we choose to learn from each other, support each other, and stand together, we don’t just share a future, we build a stronger one together.”
Olivia is scheduled to perform again on Oct. 3 at the Nashua Multicultural Festival.
Haining Bao, Olivia’s father and an organizer of Westford’s annual Lunar New Year celebration, said his family is happy to see the students working together through these activities.
“As parents and longtime organizers of WA’s Lunar New Year celebrations, my family and I are so happy to see our children and their friends work together, bring all communities closer, share cultures, and have a great time along the way,” he said.
A tradition that keeps moving forward
The Chelmsford Chinese Language School is approaching its 40th anniversary, with a celebration planned for October.
The school has been part of the region’s Chinese-American community for decades. Earlier accounts of the school describe students from neighboring communities participating in activities ranging from Chinese language learning to dance and other cultural programs.
Today, a new generation of students is helping carry that tradition forward.
They are not simply performing a tradition to preserve it. They are learning to teach it and pass it on to others.
For Olivia, that has created a particularly meaningful circle. She remembers being the six-year-old student following her teacher’s movements. Now she is helping another generation take its first steps.
And that is perhaps what makes the five students’ role so distinctive. They are still students themselves, but they have also become teachers, mentors and performers – helping connect one generation with the next.
In a community as diverse as Westford, that may be one of the most valuable lessons of all: culture survives not simply because people remember it, but because they pass it on to others.
Special thanks to Olivia Bao’s mother, Chinn-Yi Chen, who contributed to this article. All photos are courtesy of Chinn-Yi Chen (win222@gmail.com).
