(foot tapping) ba da rum, pum, pum, ba da rum, pum, pum, ba da rum pum, pum, pum,
pum pum. rum, bum, bum, bum
ba da rum bum, bum, bum.
When the parade comes and you see the girls,
you can hear them from afar and you already your heart is pounding
cause you're so happy that we're part of it.
♪♪
Well, Auntie
Ruby was a role model because she was a Chinese woman.
She started this whole thing.
Coming up in the Chinese Community, Girls Drill Team.
They have been around since 1952, and they performed all over the world,
including San Francisco, Portland,
Philadelphia, Washington, D.C.,
Taiwan, and the Republic of China.
Because we're a precision
military drill team, we were trained by Ted Yerabek.
So we had to be precise
We learned about our community.
We learned about respect and about traditions
and about all the hardships of those who came before us.
Bowing to visitors who come into our community for the Chinatown parade,
sign of respect and welcoming, of kinship.
Organizations
like the drill team and other community organizations are really important
to help kids realize that they have value in their culture.
And just having an identity with others of the same culture was really important.
Oh, drill team's done so much for me
because it was basically most of my formative years.
This friendship and this sisterhood that's carried on for all these years
And so
drill team has been a major part of my life.
Performing gave us the ability to come together
like on a weekly basis and see each other frequently
and then form the connections that make us community and friends and family.
I had the opportunity and the gift
to have made lifelong friends that
I really care about.
The drill team that the public sees doesn't begin
to scratch the surface of what it means to us as the drill team members.
To called drill team
a performance team is a huge understatement
because it is merely like the platform upon which we build
all of our other relationships that I would say are much more important
or have been a lot more critical for me in forming identity
and becoming an adult.
That confidence
to be a leader, to speak and to
empower girls and share really stemmed
from being on the team.
And just a strong impact.
And a lot of
times you go out into the world and you don't have that
group to who identifies you on the inside and outside.
Everyone who came before us
has paved the way for when we marched.
I don't think there's
been given enough attention to how special it is and how unique it is,
but it means so much to us, and the majority of people
don't know what it is.
That's why sometimes we have peaks and valleys in enrollment.
How do we continue
to show our extended girl families and cousins and aunties and uncles
that there's something still here.
And I think it's just a great time to showcase them
and let all these people in Seattle and Washington know
that we're here and we're still strong and we want to build it and keep it going.