Chinese New Year
Yesterday evening I went to a Chinese New Year performance at the Red Robinson Theatre. It was pretty cool, a lot of acrobatics and very interesting costumes. Since it’s not just the Chinese that follow the lunar calendar (so do a variety of Oriental cultures, like Thailand and Vietnam), the show wasn’t just strictly Chinese theatre. There was your traditional Chinese soldier kung fu dancing, but there was also the Thai metal fingertip dancing too.
There was a dance number where it was all males in leotards with flashy bird masks. That looked…what’s the word…awkward? It just looked weird and it wasn’t even ballet-like. Other than that, the rest of the acts were pretty entertaining. There was one with a line of guys dressed in green performing a symbolic dragon dance. The best part of the night was two little kids who couldn’t have been more than 6 years old doing flips and a short kung fu dance. At the end of that one, they were pretty cheeky and kissed a couple of the older girls also in the scene.
One thing about Chinese productions is that their costumes are often quite remarkable. A disappointment in the night was that there were none of the big drums they usually use for the dancing. It was probably due to logistical issues in that the Red Robinson Theatre is too small to house the drums AND put the dancers on stage. Instead they used an electronic drum set to simulate different percussion instruments, which was entertaining in itself because the drummer made all sorts of hilarious faces while drumming. Alas, recording devices were not allowed so I could not take any pictures or video of the performance.
Tonight is New Year’s Eve, which means the traditional family dinner. It’ll probably last a few hours, not including the travel time to and from the restaurant. A time to eat, and eat a lot, to welcome in the year of the boar.