Friday 22 March 2013

China Pearl Returns to 2013 Light Night


We would like to invite you to our event 'Memoir of Liverpool Chinese' to share the story, memory and flavour of Chinese community in Liverpool as part of Light Night 2013 on Friday 17th May at Siren Cafe, at the Women's Organisation. Check the venu here: http://www.facebook.com/SirenLiverpool?fref=ts
Our event is as follows:
7.30pm: Talk from a Chinese gentle about his story being a seaman working on Blue Funnel and coming over to Liverpool and memories about earlier Chinese immigrants in Liverpool
8pm: Chinese dance performance and Taichi demonstration
8.30pm: Short films about Liverpool Chinese community
7.30-9pm: Calligraphy & Chinese Painting Display, Chinese Name Writing
This event is free admission but donations are appreciated to sustain our organization and development of our future projects.
If you want to learn about the history of Liverpool Chinese community and experience the beautiful authentic Chinese arts & culture, this is the event you should not miss. 
If you have any enquiries please email us at info@china-pearl.co.uk

Monday 11 March 2013

Review of 2013 Chinese New Year Celebrations

Chinese New Year finished a month ago. We were very busy with performances and workshops in various places across the city and country: 

  • 'Spirit of Dragon' show at Brewery Arts Centre on 7th February
  • Workshops in schools and children centres across the country including St Sebastian Primary, St Cuthbert's Primary, Emmaus Primary, Barlows Primary, Crosby High School, Anfield Children Centre in Liverpool, Townfield Primary and Leasow Early Year & Adults Learning Centre on the Wirral, St Joseph's Primary in Dorking, Eureka Children Museum in Halifax.
  •  
  • Year of the Snake Chinese Arts Festival on 1st & 2nd March at Unity Theatre: http://chineseartsandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-year-of-snake-chinese-arts-festival.html





Our Chinese Arts Festival review featured on My Asian Planet

Sunday 10 March 2013

Beautiful Performance at Move It 2013

Our dancers performed beautiful Chinese umbrella dance at Move It 8th March 2013. It was fun and great day. We met the host Matt Flint, the winner of 2nd seasn of UK So You Think You Can Dance. 


Snippet of the performance here:  http://youtu.be/wbU-R8wHgzA


 




Tuesday 5 March 2013

The Year of the Snake Chinese Arts Festival Was A Delightful Success

We hosted a Chinese Arts Festival at Unity Theatre on 1st and 2nd March 2013 with 2-night shows 'Lady White Snake' with Chinese tea tasting on the night of 1st March and taster sessions in various Chinese cultural activities on the afternoon of 2nd March. 

We had 170 audience attending the shows and 100 people taking part in the Chinese tea tasting on the evening of 1st March and the taster sessions in various activities on the afternoon of 2nd March. 

We had Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Gary Millar's generous support to open the festival for us. 

Lady White Snake Shows:
Audience rated the show 4.5 star and gave very positive feedback. 

With Deputy Lord Mayor and Young Lord Mayor




                        

Videos for the performances: 

Highlights for the 1st Half: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMUfaCatqcc&feature=youtu.be


Highlights for 2nd Half (Lady White Snake Dance Theatre piece): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kbDua8OoCs&feature=youtu.be  


Full videos: 


Traditional Han Tang Dance:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84urKcW-gJc

Lady White Snake Poetry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M53vaYQok9g

Dance Theatre piece: http://youtu.be/GTzuH4pde2Q

Taster Sessions: 
We delivered taster sessions in Chinese dance, storytelling, Martial Arts, Calligraphy, Painting & Mask Making. We had about 50 people with ages spanning from 4 to 70 and various ethnicities and abilities taking part in. It was fun and informative day. We also had an exhibition of Ali Harwood's paintings

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151340240063339.1073741827.49603953338&type=3

Feedback: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151342732508339.1073741829.49603953338&type=1







Outreach 
We also delivered a number of outreach performances and workshops in various community settings including Tuebrook Children Centre (200 people), The Blackie (500), Flaxman Court Sheltered Housing (20), Anfield Youth Club (60), Amandudu Domestic Violence Victimes Centre (10), St Cyril's Youth & Children Projects (10), Wirral Chinese Women's Association Celebration at Liverpool Chung Ku Chinese Restaurant and Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral (200). We reached about 1000 people. We had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the participants and organisers. For photos and feedback please check here


Flaxman Court LMH 

                                                             Flaxman Court LMH 

Anfield Youth Club/Community Sports Centre

The Blackie

Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral





Press Coverage:
This event featured in many local, national and international press including China DailyLiverpool ECHOLiverpool Confidential, My Asian PlanetBay TVOpen Culture, Nee Hao, SEN, Madeup TV, Visit Liverpool, LCVS, BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC Radio Great Manchester. 

Review: http://www.myasianplanet.com/culture/chinese-arts-festival-captures-the-beauty-of-the-east-at-unity-theatre/
Many thanks to our funders Arts Council England, Liverpool PCT, Liverpool Mutual Homes, Merseyside Police Authority and Liverpool Confucius Institute, parters Unity Theatre and Windows Project, support in kind from the Blackie, MDI, LIC Studio, View 2 Gallery, Hondu Chinese Supermarket and all the media and organisation mentioned above who helped publicise the event, all the artists and people involved and audience to make this project possible






Review for Spirit of Dragon in Kendal


When I went to see the Spirit of Dragon at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, I was spellbound by such an amazing performance. There was an entire series of arts, ranging from Street Dance, to playing music, modern or traditional, contemporary or hip hop. It was a very varied show and because of this would appeal to people of all ages and with all opinions and favourites. Personally, my favourite chapter was the street dancing, because it told a story through dance that was humorous and well written with a hint of danger. The playing of the Chinese Harp was exquisite and it was intriguing to see how this type of Chinese music is played because I have never stopped to think about how different it sounds to our traditional English music. The singing was very interesting because you could tell what style the numbers were, even though the music was played with different instruments to the ones we use and it was in a different language you could still tell that some of it had been written quite recently. The dancing was very professional and was interesting to see how tradition Chinese dance interprets stories, tales and subjects. All put together, the performance was amazing, interesting, spellbinding and a must-see for all those interested in foreign culture. I would definitely go to their next performance and I strongly recommend it to all people.

Reviewed by Eleanor Avon, 11