By Raelynn Harris ’25
Derby High School has cultural assemblies monthly to give students an opportunity to learn from performers. On Friday, February 24, 2023, DHS gathered in the auditorium for a performance by Dance China from the New York Chinese Cultural Center.
After DHS and Little Raiders University students settled comfortably in their seats, a colorful dragon emerged as well as a woman standing on stage. They were accompanied by lively traditional Chinese music. The starting sequence of their performance is called a lion dance, and the purpose of the dance is to scare away bad luck and evil spirits for the Lunar New Year to bring good luck and fortune. The audience was very receptive and enthralled by the dragon walking down to the seats and interacting, especially the LRU students. Other than the audience interaction with the dragon, students and teachers were taught basic Chinese phrases and encouraged to repeat them.
Throughout the assembly, music was played on traditional Chinese instruments, one of which was an erhu. An erhu is a two-stringed bowed instrument; it can be described as a vertical fiddle. The erhu is classified as a silk instrument and can also be called a spike lute, or a spike fiddle. Dances also accompanied the music. One of the dances was the Mongolian dance, the inspiration for which is the nomadic life of Mongolian people. Other Chinese traditional dances were performed, too. There was a short segment of kung fu showcased. Dance China tied the assembly up with a Red Ribbon Dance, and the audience was able to learn the dance and perform it with them. The original Chinese Ribbon Dance was a simple dance performed with red ribbons for good luck.
The New York Chinese Cultural Center was founded in 1974. Their mission is to deepen the understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture through the arts in global and local communities. Ying H. Yen, 严慧英, the Executive Director of the New York Chinese Cultural Center, thinks it’s important to give students a chance to look at and learn from a cultural performance and hopes to give students awareness of Chinese culture: “A school performance like ours helps to build cross-cultural appreciation and understanding in young people. Learning about different cultures will help people work and live better together. In sharing the beauty of Chinese arts, we hope to promote awareness of Chinese culture to as many young people as possible. Your school’s decision to invite us to perform is already an acknowledgment of the importance of cultural education. For that, we are grateful.” When asked what kind of impact they hope to make at schools, Ying says, “The NYCCC hopes our programs will promote greater appreciation of Chinese culture and people. We are doing our part in fostering love and understanding of all people.”
Nico Li, 李雪馨, the Artistic Director and Programs Manager of the New York Chinese Cultural Center, explained some information about the segments of the performance: “All pieces in the program aim for a taste of Chinese culture. Take the ribbon dance as an example, it originated during the Han Dynasty around the time of the Roman Empire; the Red Silk Ribbon Dance is an engaging beloved dance often performed during festivals. Dancers wave yards of bright silk to create a visual collage of circles, swirls, corkscrews, and curlicues. The silk ribbons form billowing clouds and flames, swirling eddies, undulating waves, murmuring ripples, and much more. This dance technique captures the major expression of festive folk celebration, palatial elegance, as well as celestial magic.” Nico thinks overall, “The students were very enthusiastic about the performance, with positive feedback by cheering and applauding after every single act.”
Students and staff agreed, the performance was very successful at keeping the audience’s attention throughout the segments. Savannah Harrold ‘25 enjoyed the different segments of the performance, “I did enjoy the performance. I liked the first part with the dragon and I liked the kung fu.” Quinlan Gray ‘25 enjoyed the chance to learn from while enjoying the performance: “The whole thing was very entertaining so there wasn’t really a favorite part to choose from. I loved the audience interactions and how we had the chance to learn some of a new language. I thought the performance was very well-planned and entertaining.”
Geoffrey Brookes, a teacher in the music department, finds performances from a culture that not everyone is familiar with interesting: “I thought it was interesting to see dance and musical instruments performed in a way we’re not used to. I feel like our Derby community could be more present about what’s being presented to them, but in general, it was fun, it was good.” If Brookes had the opportunity to play and sing music that came from other cultures he would: “The music we play in band and sing and choir is not at all from Chinese culture. If I had more experience and more music available to me, we could potentially play music or sing music that comes from Chinese culture, and it’s a challenge because convincing students to perform music that’s outside of their comfort zone is difficult sometimes, especially if you’re going to sing a song in a different language in a choir, a lot of times students have a hard time taking on that extra challenge.” Brookes thinks the monthly cultural performances are important to DHS. “A lot of teenagers live their lives just solely focused on themselves and on their devices, on their social media, and they’re not seeing the whole wide world around them; I think it’s amazing when Mrs. Olson brings in all of these performers to show us different cultures, I think that’s really good for everybody in the school,” he commented.
DHS social worker Gabrielle Delgado enjoyed the performance and thought the audience interaction was very cool. “It was really fun watching students get up and take a risk and try something different,” she said. Delgado thinks the monthly cultural performances are essential to the DHS community: “Because it celebrates diversity, but I think its also important because these performances teach us things about life; like if we ever go to performances at theaters and out in the community, it gives us those life skills to be able to watch a performance and enjoy it.” Delgado has trained in dance and enjoyed the showcase of different styles. She “appreciated watching something that I haven’t trained in I don’t know much about their style of dancing so it was cool to watch them teach other people how to do it.”
DHS’s cultural assemblies are a source of enjoyment for many and will continue throughout the year.
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