Ashley and I went to the Georgia Tech Ferst Center for the Arts last night to see the Cheng Du Performing art show. The Panda Arts Festival is in celebration for the Panda Baby Mei Lan’s first birthday. Mei Lan is on loan from the City of Cheng Du in China, the home of Giatn Pandas. The Festival is sponsored by the City of Atlanta, the Fulton County Commission, the Chengdu Municipal People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, Zoo Atlanta, and several other organizations. It is hosted by the US-China Cultural & Educational Foundation.
There were More than 30 professional dancers and musicians from Chengdu, China along with some local Atlanta performing art groups. We both had a decent time though the show had too many technical glitches perhaps because it was opening night… Here are some snaps, these are not my own pictures nor my descriptions but those from the Panda Festival website which are much better and accurate than what I can snap or write. The pictures are almost exactly like the show!
“(Dance) Evening in the Ancient Palace: Chengdu is a city steeped in history—every cobbled street, every crowded alleyway, is witness to the city’s more than three thousand years of history. This dance celebrates Chengdu’s heritage, taking the audience thousands of years into the past. Based on murals found from ancient tombs around the city, the dancers represent an authentic part of Chengdu’s past.”
“(Dance) Pretty Huadan: Huada are the pretty, lovely naughty girls in Sichuan Opera. The dance, with Sichuan features, combines Chinese dance skills with the art of Sichuan Opera. It frees classical choreograph to make dance itself different from the others. Its strongly accented sound of Gongs and drums, beautiful historical drama costume, clear and lively melody, as well as the dances’ beautiful postures and movements replicate the charm of songs and dances of Chengdu style and character of the lively pretty Sichuan girls. ”
“Finger shadow show: The finger master is one of the best in China. She uses her two dexterous hands to make hundreds of life-like and stunning shadow puppets.” I only wish I had these skills in school. We saw rabbits,birds, owls, deer, goose, people and more!
“(Sichuan Opera) Fire-eat and Face Change: A must see during any visit to Sichuan—…This opera performer is specially trained in the age-old craft of fire eating and face changing. He can change elaborate designs in the masks he wears in split seconds, between turns and miniscule movements.” Truly amazing though not to belittle this art, but the America’s Got Talent couple changed their whole outfit in a mater of seconds!
Great time and best of all, we got the GA Tech student discount!