On February 12, the CIE hosted a gala ‘Chinese Cultural Experience’ at Myer Horowitz Theatre to celebrate Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival as well as the 150 Anniversary of Canada. This gala was performed by the Lanzhou University Art Troupe. Hanban/Headquarter of Confucius Institutes is the sponsor for this performance.
The performance was extremely successful. Many special guests attended the gala, including Deputy Consul General Wang Lei from Chinese Consulate of Calgary, Deputy Premier of Alberta and Health Minister Sarah Hoffman, MLA Denise Wollard and Thomas Dang, Deputy Minister of Alberta Education Dr. Curtis Clarke, Director of International Education Services at Alberta Education Waldemar Riemer, Trustee Bridget Stirling and acting executive director Nancy Petersen from Edmonton Public School Board. Within less than two weeks, 700 seats were sold out and many of people could not get the tickets.
The gala included a variety of performances such as dancing, Chinese music instrument, singing, martial arts, drama and calligraphy accompanied by music. The CIE teacher Du Jinjin and students from Ottewell Confucius Classroom also performed a Chinese dance “North & South of China”.
The performance was a great success and well received by the audience. It was a wonderful opportunity for Edmontonians to enjoy Chinese culture and performing arts.