综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

CULTURE

CULTURE

Texas attempts to wrangle a Lunar New Year tradition

By May Zhou in Houston????|????China Daily????|???? Updated: 2026-02-28 09:41

Share - WeChat
Two opera singers, dressed as a tiger and dragon, welcome the audience to watch The Big Swim on Feb 20 at Asia Society Texas in Houston. [Photo by May Zhou/China Daily]

The Asia Society Texas' theater was packed on Feb 20 for the opening night of The Big Swim, an opera based on the 12 zodiac animals produced specifically for the Lunar New Year.

The Big Swim was developed by the Asia Society Texas Center and the Houston Grand Opera, says Michael Buening, director of the Asia Society Texas' performing arts and culture department.

"We hoped to develop an annual Lunar New Year-themed piece for families," says Buening. "We want it to be the Nutcracker of the Lunar New Year, something that families across Houston can attend every year to celebrate the holiday together."

The classical ballet The Nutcracker is performed in over a hundred US cities during the Christmas season.

The Big Swim premiered in 2024, and this was its third year. From Buening's perspective, the goal of creating a Lunar New Year tradition in Houston has begun to take shape.

"Last year, the second year, we started to see families return. They're excited to see it again. They remembered their favorite animal. We let them meet the actors afterward and take photos. It's turning out how we dreamed it would, and people are excited to see it again," Buening says.

Creating a whole experience around the opera and engaging the audience were key elements, he adds.

A shadow puppet theater was set up to entertain children before the show. People tried their hand at calligraphy, such as writing words related to the New Year.

A tiger and a dragon also entered the grand hall to sing and welcome the audience into the "emperor's palace" to watch the great race portrayed in the opera.

The Big Swim was written by Melisa Tien, a playwright and opera librettist based in New York, with the music composed by Meilina Tsui from Orlando, Florida.

Tien, who grew up immersed in Chinese culture in the US, knew of the 12 zodiac animals since she was a child.

"The emperor gathered the animals for a race. Their order in the zodiac is because they won the race in this specific order," Tien explains.

To make a simple tale into an hour-long opera, Tien had to fill in details and give each animal a distinct personality.

"Chinese culture has attached the monkey to a very specific legendary character. So, I brought some elements of that into the play," Tien says. In the opera, the monkey is a very energetic character, like the famous Monkey King from the classic novel Journey to the West.

Since the monkey, dragon, tiger, and snake are culturally significant, Tien says she subconsciously created a bit more distinction "in terms of how they behaved and interacted with the other characters."

1 2 Next   >>|

Registration Number: 130349

Mobile

English

中文
Desktop
Copyright 1994-. All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co(CDIC).Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form.
高阳县| 襄城县| 杭锦后旗| 宁乡县| 延长县| 吴江市| 招远市| 开原市| 聂拉木县| 榆社县| 博野县| 葵青区| 双峰县| 定陶县| 远安县| 天津市| 桐庐县| 扶绥县| 盈江县| 鹤庆县| 霍山县| 海城市| 平山县| 湘潭市| 外汇| 磐石市| 连南| 福安市| 宁夏| 台东县| 衢州市| 平顶山市| 新竹市| 盐亭县| 奉贤区| 衡阳市| 仁怀市| 文登市| 云霄县| 扬中市| 临安市|