Jasmine recently got the opportunity to perform at two major Chinese New Year events. This past weekend, Jasmine showcased many performances at the Nelson Atkins Lunar New Year Celebration. This is an annual event that Jasmine typically attends, and this year had a phenomenal performance as usual. Jasmine was allowed 40 minutes to perform and performed 8 dances total, along with a performance from the Lawrence Branch, taught by Instructor Wan Wan.
Drunken Spring Breeze
The first dance was called "Drunken Spring Breeze" and was performed by the middle class. This dance features bright orange fans and conveys a message of young girls anticipating the Spring season. Second was a dance by the oldest class, called "Jiu Er". This classic dance showcases vibrant pink fans and tells the story of Jiu Er, a young girl who has to relocate from her homeland.
Jiu Er
The next dance, "Auspicious Spring Rain", was performed by the youngest class and features young girls frolicing playfully in the mountains wearing bamboo hats. There were also several dances which were featured at the Kauffman Future Stages Festival last year, "Little Guli", a Xinjiang dance with eye-catching costumes, and "Dawn", a peacock dance of Dai ethnic style.
Auspicious Spring Rain
The adult dance class also performed a dance called "Jasmine" which uses vibrant green paper umbrellas with jasmine flower patterns to show an elegant dancing style to enhance the beauty of the jasmine flower. The final dance was another from the oldest class, called "Qinlian", it features a Dunhuang dance with features from Buddhist cultures in China.
The Jasmine Group also performed at the 2024 KCCAA Chinese New Year Gala at the Johnson County Community College.
Qinlian
The event was a major success for both performers and the Jasmine group members. The gala featured many unique and special performances, but the Jasmine group has really left an unforgettable impact on the stage.
~To access additional photographs capturing the performance, kindly navigate to the "Photo Albums" tab located on the website.
~For complete videos showcasing all the dances, you can visit Jasmine's YouTube channel, which is conveniently linked at the top of the website.
~Photo Credits: Nelson Atkins Photographer Dana Anderson