The Pig had one hell of a pre-season party this past Saturday, although some spectators may have been unable to understand everything that was going on.
That's because this past Saturday at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, more than 2,000 people of various ages and ethnicities adorned the venue with their raw energy, enthusiasm and joy, joining together to celebrate Chinese New Year 2007, Year of the Pig. This year's greater Baltimore-Washington, D.C. Chinese New Year celebration was hosted by the JHU Chinese Student and Scholars Association.
Thirteen performances commenced without intermission: An opening Tibet Dance from The Hope Chinese School Ma Ma Dancing Group set the tone with their warm colored costumes and poorly recorded audio playing in the background -- a recurring theme through most of the performances. Youping Chen's Flute Solo materialized images of landscapes through "The Herdsman's Song."
The American Wu Shu Academy performed an up tempo and highly energetic Wu Shu (Military Arts) -- known as Kung Fu in the West -- routine, choreographed by one of Jet Li's partners.
The highlight of the night came from two Liberace cape and Asian mask-wearing performers. On top of the poor sounding audio, skepticism could be felt through the silence of the crowd as the two came forth, however it was soon lost. Like a magic act, both performers moved around the stage, changing their masks in split seconds -- with a hand movement, a half-second jump or a wave of a fan. This is one of Sichuan Opera's most revered styles of acting, called Changing Faces (Bian Lian.) Limei Yang and Yandong Li flew from Sichuan, China especially for the event (returning the day after) -- they are only two of approximately 100 certified Bian Lian performers, having studied for 30 years.
After the Changing Faces performance, the audience seemed to lose interest in the dances and musical performances to follow, up until the Comic dialogue, "The Incoherent." Talking on situations of language and dealing with people, JHU students Xiang Li and Rui Zhang captivated the audience.
From President William Brody's Introduction in Chinese to the dialogue between the Mcs, a sense of awkwardness was felt for those who didn't speak the language. On top of that, the culture of Chinese New Year performances is noticeably different in that the audience speaks during performances, clap when they want to, and even the Mcs encourage audience engagement with questions such as "Are you feeling satisfied?" or "Are you having fun?"
But perhaps the best explanation of this was from one audience member, Mei Zeng, who traveled from Virginia just to attend the event. "The purpose is for giving people a chance to get together and enjoy the environment. People do whatever they want to be happy," she said.
Through the cheering, clapping, smiling, and boldly singing aloud, it seems about 2,000 people achieved this state of happiness. And not to mention, a Pig must've too.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.