Dazzling contemporary and traditional performances will celebrate the Year of the Monkey as Sydney’s first-ever Lunar Lanterns community performances begin this week.
With five spectacular zodiac lanterns as backdrops, community groups and professional performance groups will perform over five nights from Wednesday 10 to Sunday 15 February, 6pm–7pm.
Featuring seven times more performance, music and dance than the previous Twilight Parades, Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the City was pleased to fill Sydney with colour and performance to ring in the Lunar New Year.
“The transformation of central Sydney encouraged us to rethink the Chinese New Year Festival and make it bigger and better than ever. With our spectacular Lunar Lanterns as a backdrop, these ongoing community performances will mean more spectators can enjoy festive demonstrations than ever before,” the Lord Mayor said.
The Ox, Rabbit, Dragon, Goat and Tiger lanterns will all become performance backdrops, with more performers roving throughout Pitt Street Mall, Circular Quay and Martin Place.
The program features a curated schedule of short performances including traditional dance, contemporary dance, choral performances, martial arts demonstrations and lion dances. Performers of Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese heritage are among the line-up.
One thousand performers, including many favourites from previous Twilight Parades, led by a team of professional choreographers and dance captains will wow visitors to the city centre.
“The community is always at the heart of our Sydney Chinese New Year Festival and this year’s Lunar Lanterns community programshowcases their talents and promotes local organisations more than ever before,” the Lord Mayor said.
“We’re delighted with the mix of old favourites, traditional cultural performance groups and new contemporary ones.” said Festival Curator, Claudia Chan Shaw.
The experienced choreography team is headed up by Virginia Ferris who has worked on many Twilight Parades. She is joined this year by performers and choreographers Courtney Stewart, Chris Gillet, Trent Kidd, Karen Sui, Ryan Sheppard, Leah Wang and special guest choreographer Kristina Chan.
Highlights include:
The Barrel of Monkeys – 14 brightly coloured performers styled from the ‘Barrel of Monkeys’ game, capture the spirit and playfulness of the monkey.
The stunning Mah-Jongsters – 18 dancers wearing intricate costumes of mahjong tiles to match the clickety-clack high-energy tap routine with performers from Brent Street performing arts school.
Street Monkeys – Monkey-inspired acrobatics from Fairfield’s Dauntless Movement Crew throughout the streets of Sydney.
Oriental ‘Ribbon’ Dancers – 15 graceful dancers perform a traditional Chinese ribbon dance.
Tai Chi Rabbits – A ballet-inspired tai chi performance directed by guest choreographer Kristina Chan from Sydney Dance Company.
Warrior Dancers – a strong and dynamic contemporary piece featuring 15 performers dressed as warriors.
Community group favourites and highlights include the Thai Eastern Suite, Australian Yau Kung Mun Martial Arts Association, Dancekool, Taiko no Wa, Chinese Youth League, Mad Unity Dance, Australian Yellow River Choir, Korean Society of Sydney, Ocean Dream and Shaanxi Delegation.
Community Group Fast Facts
- 22.5 hours of performances and 1,000 performers across five Lunar Lantern sites
- 32 groups perform each night
- 150 performance slots over 5 nights (30 spaces per day)
- 6 groups (both professional and community groups) invited to work with professional choreographers to feature across 40 of the 150 performance slots
- Groups allocated between 3–10 minutes per slot
- Group sizes range from 3–50 performers
- Professional performance direction along with guest choreographers Kristina Chan, Chris Gillet and Trent Kidd.
The complete Sydney Chinese New Year Festival program can be found at sydneychinesenewyear.com
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Cure Brain Cancer Foundation is the official charity partner of the 2016 Chinese New Year Festival.
The City of Sydney would like to thank Principal Partner Westpac and Leadership Partner The Star, Sydney.
2016 Sydney Chinese New Year Festival – key facts and stats
- Sydney’s Chinese New Year Festival started 20 years ago as a small community event in Chinatown attended by only a few hundred people.
- The festival today attracts more than 600,000 visitors to more than 80 events across the city over 16 days and nights, making it one of the most popular events in Sydney’s calendar and the largest celebration of Lunar New Year outside mainland China.
- 1,000 performers take part in this year’s Community Performance Program with five nights of entertainment at various lantern locations.
- More than 3,000 paddlers will churn up the water in 12-metre-long boats at the Dragon Boat Races, the largest dragon boat meet in the southern hemisphere.
- Since it began in Sydney, the City has produced 108 events for the Chinese New Year Festival, supported more than 600 associated events and hosted 10 delegations from China to be part of the celebrations.
For interviews with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, contact Paul Mackay on 0432 182 647 or email pmackay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au