Old friends reconnected. Strangers laughed alongside each other. And on Saturday, May 20, they danced into the night on an Alhambra dance floor.
It was here, at Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio, on the eve of Lunar New Year, where just four months ago a young man wrestled a gun away from a man who just minutes before, in neighboring Monterey Park, had caused what is the deadliest American mass shooting of 2023. It was here where Brandon Tsay foiled a second attack.
On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered at the site to celebrate the Asian American heritage, to laugh, eat and enjoy an evening of dance – where each step is step toward telling a different story, one about a peaceful, tight-knit community that finds smiles, friendship in their beloved ballroom dance halls.
The free community dance — co-hosted by the Tsay family, which owns the studio, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice — was an evening of remembrance during a month devoted to celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. But it was also an opportunity for people to lean on each other for support in the aftermath of a tragedy that rocked many to their core, according to some of the event’s attendees.
Among those in the crowd were families of victims, as well as people who were physically injured and emotionally scarred by the tragedy.
For some, getting back to the dance floor was not easy thing. For some it was imperative to get back soon.
Charmeen Wing was still reeling from the loss of her mom when Mymy Nhan, a close friend of hers, became the first of 11 people to die at the hands of the gunman at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio on Jan. 21.
“I was so sad. I didn’t really know why I was dancing anymore,” she said.
But upon the invitation of the event organizers, Wing decided to pick up dancing again, something she hasn’t done since 2019.
“This has brought me back to life,” Wing said. “It brought me back to old friends that I haven’t seen in years because…
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