As the "dancing lions," a performance with actors dressed in colorful lion-like costumes, often favorites as a symbol of joy and playfulness during the Chinese New Year, entered the stage with a great beam of excitement, the 2009 Chinese New Year Celebration began. Held on January 31st at the Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, this celebration commemorated the Chinese New Year, the biggest and most important holiday in the lives of Chinese across the world.
The 2009 Chinese New Year Celebration is the best chance for Chinese and Americans to understand the culture and traditions of the Chinese New Year and to say greeting to the year of the ox while waving goodbye to the year of the rat. Sponsored by the Denver Chinese School, the event has drawn attention through the amazing and entertaining performances each year and the wanting for understanding of a different culture. This year, about 2,000 people came to experience theculture, enjoy traditional Chinese food, and celebrate this holiday. Audiences saw performances from the lion dance, acrobats, magic, opera songs, ancient Asian music, to folk dances from an array of both local and international artists.
Perhaps the most amazing performance was "face changing," an art passed down only to the finest of pupils in China. Face changing is not just the everyday magic that could be seen on TV or shows. This requires an extraordinary balance of speed, accuracy, and precision as Mr. Peng Li, who flew all the way from China to perform changed the masks on his face right in front of the audiences' eyes. While walking slowly in the audience's aisles, all of a sudden, he changed his face to a different color. Within less than a blink of an eye, the mask that was on before has vanished into thin air to be replaced by a new one. What an amazing performance.
People of all ages and culture enjoyed this performance as everyone witnessed some amazing feats. Kids played ancient Chinese games, adults learned about some cool ways of the Chinese culture, and people also tasted some delicious Chinese food. The 2009 Chinese New Year was a great success and the audience will never forget the incredible performances.