The more national, the more global - 2017 "Alberta Spring Festival Gala" Gala

The more national, the more global - 2017 "Alberta Spring Festival Gala" "It's the New Year! It's the New Year!" As the children...

"It's New Year! It's New Year!" With the children's New Year's greetings, the vigorous sound of gongs and drums, and the salute of colorful ribbons and flying wings, the 8th Alberta Spring Festival Gala opened grandly on January 28, 2017, the first day of the Lunar New Year at the Meisha Art Center. On the occasion of the New Year, Consul Wang Xuezheng, head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Section of the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, attended the Spring Festival Gala on behalf of the Consulate General to welcome the New Year with Chinese people in Alberta. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey entrusted Gilbert City State Representative Eddie Farnsworth to attend the Alberta Spring Festival Gala on behalf of the governor and solemnly declared January 28 as Arizona’s “Asian Lunar New Year Day”. Senior overseas Chinese leader Yu Wenjin, President of the Alberta Times Zhen Shuoqin, Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Federation of Alberta Li Jian, Chandler City Councilor Huang Xinmin, overseas Chinese leader Zhang Huafang, Chairman of the Senior Citizens Association Yin Fengying, and overseas Chinese leader Gao Zhizhong all attended the Spring Festival Gala, and thousands of viewers celebrated the "Year of China" together.

The curtain call of the party is to express New Year greetings to all Chinese people

Arizona Governor DougDucey entrusts Gilbert City State Representative Eddie Farnsworth attended the Alberta Spring Festival Gala on behalf of the governor and solemnly declared January 28 as Arizona’s “Asian Lunar New Year Day”

Proclamation order issued by the governor

Group photo of some guests (left-right) Gao Zhizhong, Lin Xin, Li Jian, Wang Xuezheng, Zhen Shuoqin, Lu Lihua, Yu Wenjin Zhu Bowei

Chinese Culture Sings a Great Drama

"Ansai Waist Drum" is intoxicating with its majestic momentum and exquisite expressiveness, and is known as the best drum in the world. In order for this Spring Festival Gala to allow the audience to experience the most authentic Chinese festival culture, the Art Institute of Alberta traveled thousands of miles to several cities to bring the big drums shipped from China to the stage. From 5-year-old children to 60-year-old uncles, they all shared the stage, waved the drum sticks, sang, danced, and played the New Year prelude.

The opening dance "Good Luck"

The Tibetan dance "Holy Bath" demonstrated the second generation Chinese immigrants' understanding of Chinese culture. Peng Tianyue, an outstanding actor from the Arizona College of the Arts, performed a beautiful Tibetan girl's dialogue with the gods in her dance. Having never been to Tibet, she got to know China through dance. She said, "I have a Chinese appearance, and that's nothing special. Being Asian and getting straight A's is nothing special, but I understand Chinese culture, and that makes me special." After dancing Tibetan dance, she began to know what Tibetan Buddhism is, the way Tibetan people worship, and the relationship between religion and their lives. Her superb dancing skills vividly express the liveliness and liveliness of Tibetan girls. This dance also won the highest award, the Platinum Award, in the just-concluded overseas "Taoli Cup" International Dance Competition. Qiu Xiaorong, the artistic director of the party, presented Peng Tianyue with the Outstanding Actor Award in order to encourage more young Chinese people to understand Chinese culture and art.

Solo dance "Holy Bath"

Alberta Modern Chinese School and Hope Chinese School brought all the paintings of Chinese children to the party. The party's front room was decorated as a gallery. 2017 is the golden rooster heralding spring. The children drew colorful roosters based on this theme. Chinese New Year is here, what do children think about during the Spring Festival? The children drew paintings to ward off evil spirits, and lion dances to promote prosperity and auspiciousness. Some children remembered that "more than every year" was celebrated and painted goldfish. "Spring Festival" is our most important festival, and of course beautiful flowers are indispensable. The participation of two Chinese schools makes our Chinese New Year more culturally colorful, from singing and dancing to painting. In the future, we will also display Chinese characters with rich colors in the Spring Festival Gala, and are committed to making the "Alberta Spring Festival Gala" a business card of Chinese culture.

Some paintings from Modern Chinese Schools and Hope Chinese Schools

American friends celebrate together

Having said all that, don’t think that the “Alberta Spring Festival Gala” is just for the self-entertainment of Chinese people in Alberta. After so many years of performance and promotion, the quality of the “Alberta Spring Festival Gala” has been increasingly recognized by American friends. The child with blue eyes and blond hair picked up the handkerchief and twisted the ribbon to perform the Yangko dance. They also happily performed on the stage of our Spring Festival Gala, which made the "Alberta Spring Festival Gala" even better. This year, both Tarwater Elementary School and Coronado Elementary School hired teachers from the Art Institute of Alberta to offer Chinese art classes, dragon lantern dancing, and handkerchief changing, which were warmly welcomed by the students.

Artistic works highlight the artistic standards of local Chinese

The dances "Sparrow Spirit" and "Contemporary Rhythm" are very popular with the audience. There are as many as 28 performers in Bird Spirit. Many of them are young, but they have been studying Chinese folk dance for many years. They show the ethereal and graceful curves of the peacock on the stage, and the graceful and elegant Dai music brings all the audience to the wonderful place of Xishuangbanna. The lead dancer, Chen Si, mesmerized the audience with her slender and elegant dance moves. The large-scale modern dance "Contemporary Rhythm" is a dark horse of this Spring Festival Gala. Among them are professional dance teachers, dancers who have studied dance for many years, as well as ordinary engineers and office beauties who have never been on stage. This dance allows them to put down their computers and mobile phones, start exercising, and start learning our Chinese modern dance. Use dance to express current life. The annual Spring Festival Gala chorus is a grand gathering for local art lovers. Cai Shangao, the head of the Chinese Orchestra, organizes vocal music lovers of all ages in Arizona to entertain the lives of local Chinese and greatly improve everyone's artistic accomplishment.

Dai ethnic dance "Sparrow Spirit"

Modern dance "Contemporary Rhythm"

National dance "Huayaohua"

>New Year greetings from all ages Charity spreads forever

> This year’s Alberta Spring Festival Gala Organizing Committee invited 20 Chinese elderly people to celebrate the New Year together. Lu Lihua, the chief planner of the Spring Festival Gala, donated her heart to the Senior Citizens Association free of charge. "Alberta Spring Festival Gala" is a non-profit event in the community. Every year when we celebrate the Spring Festival, we hope that more people in need can share our happiness. In the past three years, the "Alberta Spring Festival Gala" has donated to the "Guardian Angel Fund" that encourages bone marrow transplant registration, the "Butterfly Fund" that focuses on disabled children in China, and the "American Community Promotion Association" that focuses on the health of Arizona Asians. I believe that in the future, more Chinese Americans will know our new traditions and dedicate more love to the community, which is an important part of our Spring Festival. More companies are joining us. Arizona's Vision Hospital, Wellsfargo, Dr. Wang Nan, and Lily Chinese Supermarket have all become long-term sponsors of the "Alberta Spring Festival Gala".

Donation: Lu Lihua (second from right) Yin Fengying, chairman of the Senior Citizens Association (first from right)

Sponsor Dr Page (first from left) Wells Fargo Bank Wu Yixin (second from left)

Another spring has arrived, with a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending. Today, nearly 1,500 Alberta friends celebrated our festival together, singing Chinese songs, dancing Chinese dances, and watching Chinese paintings. Chinese culture is the pride of every Chinese-American. It allows the American community to see the splendid 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization. Each of us is a symbol of Chinese culture. Those who retain the nation can sing to the world! Let’s meet at the Spring Festival Gala next year. See you there!