On the 28th January in Beeston Town Centre activities and live performances will take place between 1pm and 5pm. The event will be opened by the Mayor of the Borough of Broxtowe Councillor Lynda Lally after which there will be performances from local schools including Chinese percussion, traditional fan dance and a lantern parade. There will be performances from the London Chinese Acrobatics Company as well as the lion dance, Kung Fu demonstration and singing from the Chinese Women Choir. There will also be stalls and a spectacular firework display to close the festivities at 5.30 pm.

At the Lakeside, University Park live performance will take place on the 29th January 2006. The event will start at 3pm with a lion dance and include performances from Beeston schools. The event will also include a dragon dance performed by members of the Nottingham Chinese Students Association and Nottingham Chinese Community Association. There will be music performed by Ling Peng, a Chinese violinist and singing from the Nottingham Chinese School Choir. The grand finale will end with a fabulous firework display over the lake.

The Chinese New Year celebrations provide the local community with the opportunity to learn about the traditions, foods, music and dancing which accompanies Chinese New Year. Broxtowe Borough Council has been working with local schools over the last few months on a programme of participatory arts activities to get young people involved in the live performances at the two events.

A Lantern and Chinese Dragon making residency with Julie Bartholomew is taking place at Roundhill School and the children’s work will provide a colourful and exciting lantern parade at the Beeston Chinese New Year event and be used on stage at the Lakeside event.

A Traditional Chinese fan dance residency with visual artist Hayley Shardlow who is working with young people to create beautiful, handmade fans at Beeston Fields Primary and Nursery School. Dance specialist Jenny Edwards from Dance 4 has been working with these children to develop a dance performance with guidance from Chinese dance specialist Lianne Cheong.

A Chinese Percussion project with music specialist Li Jiang is taking place at Chilwell Comprehensive School to create a musical performance with the pupils that will be showcased at the Beeston event.

For more information about the above events please contact the Arts Development Team on 0115 917 3695.