Chinese female drill team in Seattle challenges image of an 'American girl' [View all]

Forget the typical homecoming parade featuring a drill team doing high kicks or throwing batons. This troop marches to an entirely different beat.

The Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team, which has about 30 high school members, introduces the Chinese culture to the masses by waving large colorful flags at cultural festivals and events each year, all while wearing highly ornamented Cantonese opera costumes and marching in military formation.

This drill team gets the spotlight in a new documentary, “She Marches in Chinatown,” that tells the story of a one-of-a-kind cultural tradition. The group subverts the idea of what being an American girl looks and feels like.

“What it is to be a good Chinese girl? What does it mean to be a good American girl? It’s really hard to figure out what that is when you’re growing up,” a member of the drill team said in the documentary’s trailer.

In Seattle, generation after generation of Asian American girls have carried on a one-of-kind legacy for over 70 years by joining a team that combines Chinese opera costumes and American military drills.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/chinese-female-drill-team-seattle-challenges-image-american-girl-rcna119936