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Mary Ma holds three lit incense sticks in entrance of the just about life-size photograph of her father displayed exterior Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park.
She has been on this parking zone, walked by this actual spot, dozens of occasions — however by no means like this.
Behind piles of flowers, playing cards and candles left for Ming Wei Ma, the beloved supervisor and longtime chief of the dance corridor, Mary quietly talks to her dad, telling him he not has to fret. Then she pours a few of his favourite Chinese language liquor on the asphalt and lights him a cigarette — his most well-liked model — as an providing earlier than the makeshift altar memorializing the mass taking pictures victims.
She bows thrice.
“I simply need him to know that I’m in good arms,” the 27-year-old mentioned. “I do have the assist system that I have to get by way of this, slowly.”
Ming Wei Ma, 72, was one in all 11 folks killed Jan. 21 on the studio when a gunman opened hearth throughout a Lunar New 12 months celebration. Till his final days, Ma lived selflessly, serving to elevate up these round him, Mary mentioned.
“He was all the time there for me, he was all the time there for my brother, he was all the time there for the household,” she mentioned. “He was all the time there for the group.”
That’s why she’s decided to hold on his legacy by reopening the dance corridor that got here to outline his later years.
“My dad all the time believed that there’s all the time good on the planet and this group. ... We will’t let the dangerous take over,” she mentioned. “He’s not the kind of man that may quit as a result of one dangerous factor occurred.”
Ming Wei Ma had been a pillar on the community-driven dance corridor on West Garvey Avenue, a lifelong performer, revered worker and, at one time, half proprietor. Patrons and fellow dancers mentioned he was recognized affectionately as “Mr. Ma,” typically strolling company to their automobiles at night time or cheering on new dancers.
However for Mary, who works in advertising, he was dad — or 老豆 (lao dou) in Cantonese. He helped her attain her targets, mentioned “I like you” at night time and all the time knew somebody at any spot they went to eat or store throughout the San Gabriel Valley.
“He’s all the time going to be in my coronary heart,” she mentioned. Ma is survived additionally by his son, Ray Ma, and grandson, Isaac Ma.
Because the taking pictures, the studio Ma helped run for greater than 15 years has been shuttered. It as soon as drew Chinese language, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Filipino dance followers from the Asian American enclave simply east of downtown Los Angeles, in addition to others from throughout the Southern California immigrant diaspora who have been excited about lessons or competitions.
By way of the years, Mary mentioned, she noticed how Star Ballroom Dance Studio offered a spot of reprieve and pleasure for many — specifically, folks like her father: older immigrants who didn’t converse English, looking for their place in America.
“You'll be able to’t simply shut down a enterprise like that, with a lot hope, a lot custom,” she mentioned. “That’s going to be my purpose sooner or later — to maintain this place operating.”
Mary Ma, proper, celebrates a birthday together with her late father, Ming Wei Ma.
(Courtney Thong)
Ming Wei Ma by no means discovered English in his nearly 20 years in Monterey Park, his daughter mentioned, however he was capable of construct a wealthy and fulfilling social life, particularly on the dance corridor.
She’s unsure how lengthy it can take for her or the group to maneuver ahead, however she’s steadfast in bringing again the studio her father helped foster.
“As soon as we’re prepared, as soon as I’m prepared … I would like to have the ability to have that probability to maintain that operating, as a result of I do know that’s what he would need to see,” she mentioned. “He felt like residence on the studio, with lots of people identical to him. … It’s a spot the place they discovered heat and assist from the group; it’s the place they gathered collectively.”
She mentioned her father typically deliberate cultural occasions on the studio, spotlighting Chinese language traditions and musical teams, drawing various crowds and increasing folks’s worldviews. She remembers folks driving up from Irvine and elsewhere, simply to spend a number of hours on the dance corridor.
“It introduced folks collectively — that’s what he strived to do,” she mentioned.
And that’s how she needs to recollect her father — not by his last moments. She hasn’t appeared into stories that he tried to cease the shooter that tragic night time, as a result of she is aware of it gained’t change how he must be remembered.
“Ultimately, he’s nonetheless a hero,” she mentioned. Serving to construct and run the dance studio was a each day act of heroism, she added.
“The place wasn’t making some huge cash,” she mentioned. “Him and [current owner] Maria stored it going as a result of they imagine it’s a spot of fine.”
Ming Wei Ma was initially from Wuhan, China, his daughter mentioned, and moved to Guangzhou as a younger man. He all the time liked to bounce, acting on a preferred crew in China for a while however later turning into a businessman to offer for his household.
For some time, he went backwards and forwards between the U.S. and China, however about 20 years in the past, he settled completely in Southern California to be together with his daughter. He later grew to become a U.S. citizen, she mentioned.
It was in Monterey Park that Ma bought again into dancing, serving to to type the group that discovered a house at Star Ballroom Dance Studio.
“My dad all the time liked dancing,” she mentioned, including that he additionally stayed energetic enjoying badminton, tennis and golf. “He simply actually loved life.”
Mary by no means bought into dance however would attend karaoke nights on the studio with associates. When she bought into advertising, her dad gave her enterprise recommendation and even helped her get internships.
Mary Ma lights incense to honor her father.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
“My father was actually supportive of what I wished to do,” she mentioned. “He by no means actually pressured me to do something. … He simply wished me to be pleased and wholesome.”
In the previous couple of days, it has been onerous for her to do a lot of something with out being reminded of her dad — passing sure eating places, seeing spiffy costume shirts, even discovering his Costco membership card.
However she is aware of he would need her to be sturdy, so she’s holding a favourite Chinese language saying near her coronary heart: 珍惜眼前人 — which interprets loosely to “Cherish the folks in entrance of you.”
“That’s how I really feel. I'll cherish the reminiscences and the tales I've with him in my coronary heart,” she mentioned. “Hopefully, someday, after I meet him within the afterlife, he’s capable of inform me he’s proud.”
Workers author Summer time Lin contributed to this report.
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