Sunday 29 April 2012

2012 Chinese New Year Chinese dance traineeship

We were very honoured and grateful to receive Co-opearive Membership Community Fund to deliver Chinese dance traineeship. We trained 5 regional young people in Chinese dance and delivered performances and workshops in several community settings in Liverpool during 2012 Chinese New Year.  The 5 trainees are 1 British born Chinese, 1 Mongolian and 3 British Caucasians aged 16 to 25. 

They performed at the Blackie, Toxteth Library, Liverpool World Museum, Liverpool University and 'Spirit of Dragon' Chinese New Year show at Unity Theatre. We delivered workshops at the Sedgemoore Nursing Home, Toxteth Library, Liverpool World Museum, Barlows Primary School Assessment Centre.



China Pearl dance group with Maureen Byrne, Co-operative area committee member 

 The Blackie


 World Museum of Liverpool 

 Liverpool University






Spirit of Dragon 

Sedgemoor Nursing Home


Toxteth Library


World Museum of Liverpool


Barlows Primary School Assessment Centre
'Spirit of Dragon' poster


Highlights of 'Spirit of Dragon'


Trainees gave feedback as follows:

I liked meeting and working with the other dancers involved in the project. The rehearsals were regular and this allowed us to build strong relationships and become good friends!

The rehearsals where run on a weekly basis and I think this helped all the dancers not only learn the choreography better but understand the meaning of the pieces too.



I really enjoyed being able to perform the pieces at other events not just from the performance at the Unity Theatre. I especially liked performing it at the World Museum and at the Black-E.



I thought helping out in the workshops was great fun and I got to interact with the community outside of performing, helping them explore Chinese dance through props and stimuli’s. 


I thought the location of the rehearsals at the Bluecoat was a convenient location for most people and it was in the heart of the City Centre so it was easy to buy lunch during your break or get the train/bus into town.

Even though we already did other performances such as at the Black-E and World Museum, it would be great to do more to promote the great work of China Pearl, targeting a bigger, larger audience. 


Audience and participants' comments were very positive: 

The dance was very beautiful.

The costumes were great. 

It is very relaxing to watch the dance. 

It is interesting to learn about Chinese culture through dance.

The workshop was such fun, I had a great time. 

I enjoyed it very much, thank you. 


The link of audience's comments for 'Spirit of Dragon': http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150551846208339.381118.49603953338&type=3

Many thanks for your generous support again!