In celebration of the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, the Asia Center at the University of Kentucky invites the public to attend several events that celebrate cultural diversity in our area.

On the evening of January 14, 2005, Dr. Kuo-Huang Han, Professor of musicology at the University of Kentucky, along with his students will perform a variety of musical arrangements originating from Southeast Asia and China. Ms. Hong Shao will make a special guest appearance playing the Chinese pipa (lute). Following the instrumental performances there will be a recital by the dance students of Swar Nartan Academy. The students perform traditional and folk dances from India set to classical Indian and modern music. The performances will begin at 7:00 P.M. in Lexington’s Downtown Arts Center.

The Asia Center is also sponsoring a workshop Saturday morning, January 15, for K-12 teachers. The workshop is centered on the music and musical instruments of Asia. Teachers will learn Chinese luogu (percussion) with lion dance activities, Javanese gamelan, and Southeast Asian angklung (bamboo rattles). Participants need not be musically trained to understand and participate in the workshop because it is meant to be an introduction to Asian music. Along with the hands-on experience teachers will also learn about history and culture though the musical experience.

On Saturday afternoon, Ms. Sachiko Tankei, will give a dramatic performance titled “Becoming Japerican”. Through a demonstration of performance scholarship, Ms. Tankei will illustrate the challenges facing Japanese immigrants integrating into American society and then trying to re-integrate into Japanese society. Her presentation introduces many contemporary ideas about intercultural communication and ethnicity. Following the performance, Beth Goldstein will encourage the audience to explore these ideas with Ms. Tankei. This performance begins at 2:15 P.M at the Radisson Hotel, Boone II.

The events conclude on Saturday evening with a free viewing of the Chinese film “The Secret of My Success” sponsored by University of Kentucky’s Asia Center and One World Film Festival. This Chinese dark comedy portrays the life of a managing office for a Family Planning and Birth Control Office in Fansheng village whose major responsibility is to reinforce the government’s one-child-policy. The film explores the difficulties of maintaining relationships and managing the politics of such a policy for an elected official. The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in the theater at the downtown branch of the Lexington Public Library.

Update on January 12, 2005 9:04 by the Webmaster - Content by Brad Duncan