By David Li, bostonese.com
Acton, Mass., Feb. 10, 2014, — The Acton Chinese Language School (ACLS) hosted a day-long Chinese New Year Celebration gala on Saturday, Feb. 1 at the RJ Grey Junior High School. Close to 1,000 ACLS teachers, students, parents and local residents attended this annual event.
Dance performance by ACLS students (all photos by John Tsou, bostonese.com photographer)
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Designed to appeal to all ages from children to senior citizens, the afternoon activities featured Dragon and Lion Dances, Chinese Art & Calligraphy exhibition, Chinese Clay Sculpting & Chinese Brush Painting exhibition, face painting & handcraft exhibition, ancient children’s games and riddles, and traditional Chinese food.
The evening Chinese New Year show was a two-hour colorful stage performance at Dragon Fly Theater Auditorium that brought the best of Chinese Culture to Acton. It featured traditional singing, dancing, xiangsheng, Beijing opera and musical instruments by ACLS teachers and students. Some of the best art groups in the greater Boston area, such as North America Choral Association directed by Mr. Wanjun Qiao and Angle Dance Company directed by Ms. Ke Ke, also joined the performance. Audience enjoyed the program greatly, and responded with thunderous applause.
Beatrice Lee of Medford enjoyed xiangsheng My Summer Trip to China by Alex Ying and Randy Huang. “They have great Mandarin skills, and told a few really funny stories, ” said Ms. Lee, who is one of the founders of Newton Chinese Language School more than 50 years ago.
According to a press release, ACLS is grateful to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care which has provided a $500 mini-grant to ACLS to sponsor an “Essence of China” project which introduced to the local community and demonstrate on site at the celebration the traditional arts of Clay Sculpting, Beijing Opera, and Chinese brush painting which involved audience participation. For detailed info about ACLS, please visit: www.acls-ma.org.
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