Chinese cultural experience better here
Touring troupe will perform at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver on Feb. 7.
By Wanda Chow
NewsLeader Staff
January 26, 2006
People have a better chance of experiencing Chinese culture by staying put in the Lower Mainland than trekking all the way to China.
And that will be even more the case on Feb. 7 when the New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) Chinese New Year Global Gala brings traditional music, dance, martial arts and drama to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
This is the third year for the travelling gala, and the first year it is coming to Greater Vancouver, one of 17 cities on four continents to host it, said Elyn Wu, in charge of marketing for the Vancouver event.
The touring troupe is comprised of Chinese performers who left China to countries where the market for their talent is "very limited,"said Patrick Dong, general manager of NTDTV's Vancouver bureau. The CRTC granted a broadcast licence last November to NTDTV, a four-year-old, New York-based, Chinese-language cable station, which hopes to begin broadcasting across Canada later this year.
For many of these classical Chinese performers, their talent isn't developed or used very well in North America, so the gala was created to "provide a platform to show their talent,"said Dong, a Burnaby resident. The event has proven a huge success among audiences of both Chinese and western heritage, with the latter making up about 30 per cent of ticket sales last year, Wu said.
In 2005, Wu attended the gala staged in front of a full house of 5,000 people at New York's Madison Square Garden. When it ended, "people didn't leave their seats,"she said, "they wanted to see it again a second time."
This year's New York gala played three shows, a total of 16,000 audience members, at Radio City Music Hall, the first time a show from the Chinese community has played the venerable venue, said Dong.
Local organizers originally planned to stage the Lower Mainland show at Michael J. Fox Theatre, Dong explained, but it was booked into Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre after NTDTV's New York headquarters advised that the 600-seat Burnaby theatre and its stage would not be large enough for the gala.
The show carries the theme of myths and legends, portraying traditional tales through music, dance, drama and martial arts.
Surprisingly, such traditional examples of Chinese culture are more prevalent outside China than in it, said Wu, originally from China and now living in Burnaby. She recalls watching a lion dance from her father's shoulders as a child one year, then not seeing one again for about 20 years after that.
She explained that after the Communists came to power in China in 1949, they purged the traditional culture, burning books and forcing scholars to work in the fields, so not much was left. While the country is attempting to recover its culture, many in the modern, urban cities simply aren't interested.
So it's ironic that the most prevalent examples of Chinese culture are in those communities of Chinese immigrants around the world who make a point of retaining their roots, she said.
The gala is an example of that. In addition to North American cities such as New York, Boston, Toronto, San Francisco and Vancouver, the touring troupe will perform in countries such as Taiwan, Korea, Australia and France. The 60 touring performers hail from New York, Toronto, Australia and Germany.
About 85 percent of the gala's program is performed by the touring troupe while about 15 percent is staged by local performers at each tour stop.
In keeping with NTDTV's mandate of promoting understanding between Chinese and western cultures, each gala show has both English- and Chinese-speaking hosts, who provide explanations of each performance, Wu said.
People can also whet their appetites with a sneak preview- two hours culled from a recording of the New York gala held Jan. 20- that will air on the Shaw Multicultural channel (channel 20), on Jan. 29 from 9 to 11 p.m. Wu said it's hoped the broadcast will leave audiences wanting to see more in the live show which runs two-and-a-half to three hours.
While Chinese New Year Day is on Jan. 29, the celebrations traditionally last 15 days. Thus, the Vancouver show will take place on the 10th day of the Year of the Dog.
The 2006 NTDTV Chinese New Year Global Gala will be held Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tickets range from $28 to $88 (tax included) and are available by calling 604-628-1620 (English), 604-628-0303 (Chinese) or 604-280-4444 (Ticketmaster). For more information, visit www.gala.ntdtv.com