Considered to be 'Descendants of Dragon', the Year of Dragon is exceptionally significant and special for all the Chinese diaspora. China Pearl wants to share with British audience the essence of Chinese culture, which all the Chinese are proud of, including history, tradition, literature, philosophy, philosophy and cultural diversion through artistic and creative performances. Therefore we produced 'Spirit of Dragon' on 11th February 2012 at Unity Theatre, which was sold out success and received very positive feedback:
Please click here for the comments from the audience: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150551846208339.381118.49603953338&type=1
The performers included Fang Liu--a Classical Chinese singer who has been performing internationally for over 20 years, Huicong Liu-- British youth Wushu champion, Fenfen Huang--director of China Pearl and also the producer and choreographer of the show, who has been dancing internationally in the past 7 years, Yuxuan Su-a Chinese harpist who has been performing internationally in the past decade, Funky Mental-a local talented break dance group, Wirral Traditional Yang Style Taichi group and China Pearl Chinese dance group.
China Pearl dance group
Yuxuan Su
Huicong Liu
Fenfen Huang
Fang Liu
This project is supported by BBC Performing Arts Fund, The Co-operative Membership Community Fund, Merseyside Police Authority.
Director of China Pearl Fenfen Huang said, ' we are very grateful to all the support we have received. We are honoured to be one of the 46 organisations in UK who won BBC Performing Arts Fund and be supported by The Co-operative Membership Community Fund. It is the third time we have received funding from Merseyside Police Authority since last time. It means a lot for us, as Chinese arts are not celebrated and known as widely as other cultures like African or Indian. With the funding, we can organise Chinese artistic and creative events to promote Chinese culture which we are very passionate about and proud of. Without their help, the project would not go ahead. At the same time, I feel that China Pearl's work has been recognised and appreciated, which is a really nice thing for us.'
China Pearl dance group with Maureen Byrne, Co-operative area committee member
We have been working with dancers from different backgrounds for the show, not just Chinese, which we find very rewarding and enjoyable, as we want to share our culture with all communities in UK, impart our knowledge and skills to others and create an opportunity for everyone to celebrate Chinese culture. We will also visit less advantaged groups and give them an opportunity to enjoy and learn about Chinese arts and culture.
Apart from the show, we have also delivered free dance performances and workshops to various communities and will deliver a couple more Liverpool City Centre and to a group of people with learning difficulties special needs. We aim to reach out wider audience and create opportunities for different communities to get access to Chinese dance and culture especially hard to reach groups like elderly people, people from disadvantaged areas and people with special needs.
On 14th January 2012, we visited Sedgemoore Nursing Home residents who have dementia and received overwhelming response about our performance and workshops. They gave very positive feedback afterwards. The residents, families and staff all enjoyed it very much, took part and had a go with Chinese dance.
Sedgemoor Nursing Home
We also performed on 22nd January 2012 at the Blackie, which was overwhelmed by audience's positive reception and interest and they learnt that diverse ethnic cultures in China.
(Ethnic minority groups in China from left to right: Urghur, Tibetan, Wa, Mongolian and Korean)
On 29th January 2012 we delivered a dance performance and workshop at World Museum Liverpool and Toxteth Library. We had over 200 people watching the performance and 50 children and adults taking part in the workshop at World Museum, 10 people at Toxteth Library.
They gave very nice comments in the end with some children writing them themselves:
It was fantastic. Love Isabelle & Heather
I had a good time. Masie
I loved it. It was very good.
Beautiful presentation, colourful. kids and adults loved it.
Brilliant workshop, boys loved it. Great fun!
It was very good.
Me and my mate really enjoyed it.
Great performance and a really fun workshops! Thanks!
Loved the workshop and the performance was beautiful. Thanks!
Photos from World Museum
Photos from Toxteth Library
China Pearl also performed two dance pieces at LIverpool Chinese Students & Scholars Association ( LCSSA)'s Year of the Dragon Celebration at Liverpool University with over 1000 people attending the event.
Photos from LCSSA event
We also visited children in Barlows Primary School Assessment Centre in Fazakerley on Monday 27th February 2012. Fenfen performed a Chinese dance and delivered a dance workshop around half an hour with the children, who enjoyed dancing with ribbons and fans. The teachers commented afterwards:
"It was very good session. To the children with learning difficulties, the level was just right. They were exceptionally focused in watching and trying the Chinese dance. Thank you very much!"
Photos from Barlows
On 27th April we performed the trio and a new solo piece from Fenfen Huang accompanied by Chinese harpist Mei Wang as part of If Only event at Bluecoat Arts Centre.
On 29th April, we performed a group piece at MDI's International Day of Dance twice at Liverpool Central Station.
On 18th May Fenfen performed a solo and delivered a Chinese workshop at 'LIght Night', a city wide arts activities until late night, at the Blackie.
Comments from participants from Light Night
On 1st June we performed a solo and a group dance for Torch Relay celebration at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, which received very positive feedback from the audience. Here is the comment from Katie Lucas, the coordinator from the cathedral:
" I just wanted to thank Fenfen and all of the China Pearl dancers who performed on Friday at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Your performances were beautiful and we've had some fabulous feedback. Hope to work with you again soon."
China Pearl was founded by Fenfen Huang in 2007 and registered as Company Limited by Guarantee in June 2011. Our mission is to provide quality arts and culture activities, especially Chinese, to advance the understanding of Chinese arts and culture to a British audience, promote cultural exchange between communities, and strengthen the bond of friendship between east and west in an educational, entertaining and engaging way. We provide a wide range of Chinese arts and cultural performances, workshops and events for different ages, abilities and needs including dance, music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics, lion dance, calligraphy, language, painting, arts and crafts, lectures on Chinese topics and cultural exchange projects.
