This year’s Spring Performing Arts Festival at the Southampton Cultural Center will be held on Saturday, May 12, in collaboration with the Asian Cultural Arts Alliance. The festival will highlight the many aspects of Asian culture and art through workshops, activities, live music, and dancing. The celebration will end with a “Taste of Asia” reception in which attendees can sample cuisine from the continent.
“We were delighted to see such enthusiastic support for our festival last year, and judging from the responses so far, this year’s event will be no different,” said Kirsten Lonnie, Executive Director at SCC.
One of the more notable acts will be Bian Lian, which is Chinese for “face changing,” a form of ancient, dramatic art that was performed in the Sichuanese Opera. The performer dances to music, all while instantaneously changing the vibrantly painted face mask he/she wears with a movement of a fan, hand, or head.
Free workshops for children will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Children (and adults) of all ages can learn about Chinese paper cutting, Indian henna painting, Asian arts face painting, and Chinese calligraphy and brush painting. The workshops will be followed by performances from 5 to 6 p.m., which will showcase music and dance of Korea, China, and Japan. Finally, there will be a food reception from 6 to 7 p.m. where festivalgoers can taste different Asian cuisine and meet the performers and organizers of this year’s event.
General admission is $20 and $10 for students under 21.
The Asian Cultural Alliance was founded to promote tolerance, acceptance, and respect towards all nationalities through the performing arts. SCC was established in 1985 as a non-profit with the mission of engaging the community with the arts through education, dance, music, and art.
Southampton Cultural Center is located at 25 Pond Lane in Southampton. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit www.scc-arts.org.