sbrobert
By Robert Bernstein
Many cultures celebrate the Lunar New Year, but the Chinese version is perhaps the best known. Santa Barbara often has Chinese New Year events, but they are not always well publicized.
Here are my videos and photos from the Sino West Chinese New Year Extravaganza held at the Elings Performing Arts Center at Dos Pueblos High School!
Sino West is a dance school run by Vicki Wang and her husband Dragon Sun. Most of the performances were Chinese and other Asian, but there were some “West” performances as well.
Here I have posted the full program with many more details and a full list of the cast members.
The youngest children led off with “Fresh Flower Blossoms” with guidance by teacher Vicki Wang
Then the celebration formally began with a beautiful and energetic dance with fabric streamers
Young Ninja warriors demonstrated their art
Empress Yang posed with grace and beauty
The New Year we are celebrating is the Year of the Dog. I should note that I was born in the Year of the Dog, too. Ballerina puppies Enara Moran-Lanier and Yana Martin demonstrated the theme
These older warrior children showed off their skills: Edward Bi, Yao Bi, Nathan Huynh, Kaia Moehlis, Teagan Moehlis
Next was a bit of the “West” of Sino West with some steamy “Salsa Revelry” by Ernesto, Nancy, Solage and Victor
The beautiful Zhuo Ma Dance was the last act of the first half of the event featuring Xiaolan Bai, Di Caminsky, Guan Hao, Yejin He, Hanxiang Li, Rebecca Li, Ying Lu.
I should mention that Hanxiang Li and I worked together in the past making atomic force microscopes. I sat with her husband Chaomin Wu who was also part of our science and engineering team. They now have their own company MinHan Technologies which makes finely crafted assemblies. Hanxiang Li is second from the left in the first photo below
After a short intermission we were greeted with the Chinese Folk Music Ensemble from Thousand Oaks
Empress Wu was the only female emperor of China. Dancer Di Caminsky played the part
Next was another “West” performance from Sino West of Carmen by Bizet
Another round of Junior Ninjas took the stage
The “Spirit of Mulan” was the next beautiful traditional Chinese dance offering
Vicki Wang and Di Caminsky were artistic dancing Cave Beauties
The final performance was by Sino West co-owner Dragon Sun demonstrating Warrior Qi (life energy)
But the real Grand Finale was a series of dramatic curtain calls as all of the performers came out on stage
It is not always easy to find these beautiful Chinese New Year events. Mark your calendar for early next year and start searching. You will be in for a treat!
