The Chinese Student Organization’s annual Chinese Spring Festival Show took place on February 2, 2024. The participation, effort, and hard work from members of the organization and Mr. Li, who coordinated the event, were met with warm audience reception.
The show consisted of various acts, including a piano rendition of “Golden Hour,” dance performances, and a catwalk displaying traditional and modern Hanfu, a traditional style of clothing worn by the Han Chinese.
One of the dance segments, performed by Sylvia Zhang and Lillian Chen, included the use of tuanshans, traditional Chinese fans. The performers executed their dance smoothly and elegantly, despite challenges behind the scenes.
“Due to my partner Sylvia getting sick, which damaged her throat a little, we had to give up on the original two songs and practice a whole new dance two weeks before the show,” Chen told The Pilot.
“My biggest fear was about the new music and the precise movements of the dance,” said Zhang. Like Chen, she worried about the quality of their execution. “However, we ended up doing everything fine and it was presented successfully, too.”
The festival took several months to prepare, according to the event’s coordinator, Mr. Li.
“We started to prepare for this event as soon as clubs were opened, approximately around October,” he said. “The truth is that when the board was elected in May of 2023, they [had] already started planning and thinking about it.”
Since Mr. Li was the event coordinator, his responsibility was to be there to support the performers and ensure the show went as smoothly as possible. If the performers needed a room or funding, Mr. Li helped with that, too.
“Before the show started, it was nerve-wracking,” said Alec Zhang, one of the show’s emcees, who was nervous about speaking before such a large audience. “The moment that I stepped on [stage], it was crazy, everything was different. It was so good.”
The ending performance, “走秀” (zǒuxiù), also known as the catwalk, was a performance that showcased many outfits to spread Chinese culture based on ancient China.
“We want to spread Chinese culture in the Fort Hamilton community,” Alec Zhang said. “We want to show our roots and origin: where we are from.”
“We feel like we should inform everyone about Chinese culture,” Mr. Li added.
