Chinese Dancers Delight the Crowd at Furnace Woods

A troupe of five Chinese dancers from New York City visited Furnace Woods School on February 24 to offer a colorful, musical lesson in Chinese culture. February 19 ushered in Chinese New Year, the Year of the Sheep (or ram, or goat – the Chinese language doesn’t distinguish between these three animals). For more than 4,000 years Chinese people have celebrated the New Year in cycles named for one of twelve animals: Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse and Sheep.

A young woman, who was both a dancer and the emcee, introduced the students to the Chinese language by teaching them how to say “hello” in Chinese: “Ni Hao Ma,” with “ni” meaning “you,” “hao” meaning “good,” and “ma” indicating a question. She also told the children that clapping and shouting “hao” would be a good way to indicate that they enjoyed the performance – a lesson they quickly learned.

Among the dances performed were a warrior dance, a Mongolian dance complete with beautiful costumes, fan and sword dances, a peacock dance, and a ribbon dance, which was preceded by an on-stage lesson for six lucky students. The children learned four graceful ribbon movements: the rainbow, the dragon, the waterfall, and fireworks. A wonderful time was had by all, and at the end of it all the students thanked the dancers with a big “xie xie.”

For a slide show of the dance performance, click HERE.