AsianInNY is helping Queens Center to organize Lunar New Year Celebration. Join us for a day of FREE performance, giveaways ($6,000 total value) and kids interactive area to learn everything about Lunar New Year!
JANUARY 28, 2017 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
90-15 Queens Blvd, Elmhurst, NY 11373
Ring in the Year of the Rooster at Queens Center Mall’s festive Lunar New Year Celebration on Saturday, January 28th, noon to 4PM on Level 2, Center Court. Join us for traditional Asian Cultural Performances, Lion Dance, Tea Tasting, Chinese Dance, Korean Dance, Music, Calligraphy, Paper Folding, Paper Cutting, Chinese Painting, Lantern Making, Photo Booth and more…
Enjoy special promotions from participating stores and be one of 200 guests to receive a traditional Lucky Red Envelope with great prizes and gifts inside. There will also be a kids-learning interactive area to get your kids for hands-on experience to learn paper cutting, Paper Folding and Lantern Making!
MetroPlus Health Plan is the official sponsor of the Lunar New Year Event.
Stage Performance:
Emcee: Sirena Wang
The event will be emceed by Sirena Wang, whose resume includes having performed as a solo classical pianist with symphony orchestras, won two NCAA rifle championships, and is now working alongside artists such as Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas and Steve-O. In addition, she was crowned Miss New York Chinese 2006 and went on to be a top 5 finalists in the Miss Chinese International 2007 pageant representing New York, where she continues an active role in inspiring young women.
Lion Dance: New York Hung Sing Kwoon
New York Hung Sing Kwoon (NYHSK) is a Traditional Style Kung Fu school based in Flushing, with focuses on Lion Dance and Choy Lee Fut Kung Fu. Started by Grand Master Simon Li, now managed by Garture Li, NYHSK has been a big part of and advocate for Traditional Chinese Culture in the community. Our performers ranges from young to old and our performances invites the community to indulge in the art of our traditions.
Chinese Dance Performance: The Red Silk Dancers
The Red Silk Dancers was founded by Margaret Yuen in 1985. The Company aims to foster artistic expression of Chinese American experiences; pass down cultural tradition to younger generations; and connect communities. The company present a repertoire of traditional and contemporary Chinese classical and folk dance. Through concerts, lecture demonstrations, and residency workshops, the company has presented numerous programs throughout the New York metropolitan region and toured the Eastern United States. The company also offers Chinese classical, folk, and sword dance classes for adults.
Martial Arts: Gao’s Kung Fu Academy
Gao’s Kung Fu Academy was founded in 1995 by Master Xian Gao in NYC. Master Gao learned traditional and modern wushu/kung fu from different teachers in his early years while pursuing a martial arts career and in turn, he has taught hundreds to thousands of students over the years. Master Gao has more than 30yrs of experience in film and television in both the US and China. His most known works include the Academy Award winning movie “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” and the Danish film “Fighter,” in which he was both a lead actor and choreographer. Currently, he travels to China for work in TV and film. The curriculum at Gao’s Kung Fu Academy is geared towards the mastery of several different styles of traditional Chinese martial arts. Students develop flexibility, speed, coordination, and finally power through basic forms. With the foundation in place, students are then encouraged to express these qualities through the medium of different fighting styles; each incorporating unique movement philosophies. Advanced forms include basic weapons such as short and long staff, spear, broadsword and straight sword.
Korean Dance Performance: Korean Traditional Music and Dance Center
Founded in 1987 under Master Yoon Sook Park, the Korean Traditional Music and Dance Center is the oldest established Korean performing arts organization in New York City. Under the new management of the director Yusun Kang, KTMDC specializes in teaching and performing Korean traditional music and dance. By doing so, we strive to play the role of an unofficial diplomat, and share and preserve Korea’s rich and vibrant culture with the surrounding community.
Music Performance: Dream & Beyond Chinese Music Ensemble
Founded in 2010 by a Taiwanese-American musician, Ms Shih-hua Yeh, who is specialize in multiple Chinese instruments and graduated from the Taipei National University of Arts. The Ensemble has grown rapidly from a few young Taiwanese musicians to becoming a formal traditional bamboo and silk music ensemble, including: pipa, erhu, youngqin, dizi, guzheng…etc. Most deserve to mentioned, Ms Yeh performs guqin (the oldest Chinese traditional instrument) and Nanguan music (Southern-pipemusic which originally came from Fujian province) which both listed as Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The Ensemble gives its standard of excellence performances with professional musicians mostly from Taiwan and also all over the world. One of the main objectives of the Taiwanese Music Ensemble is to introduce the music of China and Taiwan to western audiences, and to preserve and promote Chinese music. Towards this end, the Ensemble has performed widely in many big events, gives lecture-demonstrations of Chinese music to schools and colleges, and provides private music lessons.
Chinese Dance Performance: Ashley Liang Dance Company
Ashley Liang is the Founder and Artist Director of Ashley Liang Dance Company, and also the Executive Board and Dance Choreographer of Yangtze Repertory Theater of America. Ashley was the female lead dancer and dance choreographer of “The Story of YuHuan” at Off-Broadway for 16 performances in 2014.
Demonstration Stations:
Special Artist Demonstration: Kueiyen Gu
Kueiyen Gu, born in Taipei, Taiwan, is an artist as well as a writer, calligrapher, sculptor and tattoo artist. He designed stage costume for singers and cooperated with celebrities and models for body painting. He is good at expressing all the emotions as what he encountered in life through his art performances in an arbitrary but rational way. There is a broad coverage in the categories of his creations- from traditional art to innovative art including objects arts. His works of Art are always relating to his concerns to the Society. His creations are to explore the interior of everything and the features of the innate character indirectly but conclusively by the shocking influence of Art and thus to let us have an open-minded thinking. Extreme realism and surrealism are the two major artistic expressions adopted in Gu’s works.. All the similarities, nature of Reality are extracted and presented in his works of Art.
Victoria Chang: Chinese Calligraphy
Education:
Master of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute
Trained in Chinese calligraphy & painting, both northern & southern styles
Studied Western art in drawing, watercolor, acrylic and oil painting
Teaching Experience:
Taught Chinese painting (including calligraphy) course at Pratt Continuing
Education
Conducted Chinese Painting workshops at Noguchi Museum and at the
Metropolitan Museum
Exhibition:
Exhibited in solo and group shows internationally.
Sarah Wang: Lantern Making
A photographer, film-maker, and curator born in Harbin, China, Sarah grew up in the Bay Area from the age of six. She earned her BA in Art Education from San Francisco State University with an emphasis in drawing and painting as well as a CA Teaching Credential in K-12 Art Education. Sarah worked as an artist teacher with the Joan Mitchell Foundation during her first three years in New York. She then, along with fellow artist, Shaina Yang opened an alternative art space in the Lower East Side, called City Bird Gallery. They offered an experimental space for emerging & professional artists as well as student and community organizations to exhibit their work. Shaina and Sarah have since joined forces with a collective of women and gender non-binary artists and curators to create Disclaimer Gallery, an experimental installation space catered to showing queer, women of color and other marginalized groups.
Jenny Chan: Paper Folding
Jenny W. Chan is the founder of OrigamiTree.com, a one-stop resource with hundreds of FREE arts and crafts tutorials for children, parents, and teachers. She has collaborated with Good Housekeeping, Post-it® Brand, Paper Source, and has even taught origami to First Lady McCray (mayor’s wife)! She is a YouTube NextUp Winner, and offers crafting tutorials and giveaways regularly on her YouTube channel, home to over 11.9 million viewers. You can watch her videos at YouTube.com/OrigamiTree
Huisi He: Chinese Painting
Huisi He is a New York-based and Chinese-born artist. Her primary focuses are on performance, choreography, painting, and video.She attended the Florida State University where she received her MFA in visual art. After receiving her MFA in 2015, she moved to New York City. Huisi continued her art practice in an attempt to maximize her artistic potential and as a tactic for continuing the path as a career. In the years since beginning her art practice, healing has become a central element, allowing her to let go of negative thoughts and emotions in order to embrace life. Her recent performance work is a response to this new environment and illustrates her internal struggle to balance dreams with reality. In 2016 she performed at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Grace Exhibition Space, Panoply Performance Lab, Last Frontier NYC, Gallery Sensei, and many other performance venues in and around New York City.
Eunice Huang: Paper Cutting
Eunice Huang immigrated to the U.S. from China at an early age. She was first introduced to Chinese paper cutting when she attended Chinese school in New York City. It wasn’t until High School (when she chose to do paper cutting as a project for an art class) where a personal interest became the beginning of a lifelong career. Her art teacher saw her work and encouraged her to continue making art. She took a chance and applied to the School of Visual Arts. To her surprise, she got accepted and graduated with a BFA degree in Graphic Design. Eunice’s mission is to “beautify” the world with design. She works full time doing what she loves, graphic design. During her spare time, she continues actively doing paper cutting projects as well as Chinese calligraphy and Chinese ink painting. Her style is Asian Fusion, which consists of melding Chinese culture with the more modern styles that she gained at school.