Year of the Tiger at Tilles Center

The Middle School and Upper School students gained a greater appreciation for the music and dance of China through this performance. An experience such as The Year of the Tiger becomes more beneficial to students when the teachers have prepared the students with background information, and also, reinforce the meaning of the music, dance, costumes, etc., following the performance. The show begins with brief introduction about Chinese New Year tradition activities and how to say Happy New Year in Chinese-新xīn 年nián 快kuài 乐lè !

The first dance is very popular dance in Chinese society - Lion Dance, the two kids play tricks on two naughty lions, what a peaceful and interesting images. The second dance is Coin Stick Dance to wish people prosperity for the New Year; dancers hit the bamboo sticks against their bodies and the ground to produce interesting rhythms as they move. The third dance is the ribbon dance about the goddess flying through the sky; the ribbons show the passing winds and maybe clouds as the goddess soars through the sky, but if the background had some Buda pictures hanging up, it would be more touching. Then followed by Xi Shuang Ban Na dance, this dance is about one Dai couple pursuit their true love in the beautiful paradise of Yun Nan Province, their clothes, music and the dance movement look like Thai People to me. The last dance is Young Ge, during the harvest time or Chinese New Year Celebration; villagers in Northeast China gather in the field and dance with fans, handkerchiefs and drums to celebrate the year-long hard work and to welcome the New Year. This is one of the most popular folk dances from the Han People and the movements are very stylized and energetic.

As for the whole running time I enjoyed watch the tutorials part very much, Nai-Ni Chen engage the audience how to do “orchid finger” and “tiger finger” and she also has the dancers demo the details about the various moves slowly such as jumping, walking, skipping, etc., of course the moves are far more complicated then they look, every time the kids say “WOW!”, they also pick some volunteers up on the stage from different schools to teach students how to do the basic moves of ribbon dance such as rainbow, waterfall, and waves. This show is not only awesome performance but also educational and entertaining. My students learn more about Chinese culture and have fun while learning it and also enrich their China experience too.