UIC's 1st International Arts and Culture Festival was successfully launched from December 17 through December 20, 2008. Students and teachers showed their creative talents with exhibitions and performances.
The Opening Ceremony of the First UIC International Arts & Culture Festival
The Opening Ceremony of the First UIC International Arts & Culture Festival was held at the culture square of UIC on December 17, 2008. During the ceremony, many students and teachers gave us their well-rehearsed performances, including the Dragon and Lion Dances, the chorus of the Year Two students, and a solo by Thomas, which gain the students' loud appreciation.
The Dragon and Lion Dance Team was formed in 2006 and many students in the team are from Year Four. Though they were busy with other things, such as looking for jobs, they spent lots of time in the preparation of the show. Prof Kitty Pappas, the organizer of the festival spoke highly of their performance.
Prof. Zhang Cong, Associate Vice-president of UIC, gave a brief speech on the importance of art education in enriching one's life. He pointed out that the main purpose of holding this festival was to give all the students a chance to experience different art and cultures from all parts of the world.
The WPE-Experiential Arts Workshop--A Final Show
The WPE-Experiential Arts Workshop Final Show& Performance given by the graduating class of 2009 was held in the UIC multifunctional hall as part of the 1st International Arts and Culture Festival.
As an important part of the festival, the diverse cultures representing social backgrounds of students were put in the spotlight. Through out the show, Year 4 students expressed this diversity creatively in their dedicated performances. At the end of the performance, it was given a huge round applause.
The Whole Person Education Program highlighted a diverse cultural environment for its students. Students were exposed to diverse cultural activities from different countries. The show provided such an opportunity for us to share the unique understanding and special experience of all the Year 4 students.
The Dancing Class students produced a medley show which included western and eastern elements. With the change of musical style, the audience totally immersed themselves in the journey from the west to the east. Some teachers also joined in, including Mr. Geyi and the choir teacher Mr. Wan Sixi. They gave superb performances on poetry rendition and a solo dance. Finally, Mr. Teng Deqing and Mrs. Huang Guihua were invited to give us a chance to watch a Chinese traditional play-shadow performance.
After the show, Li Zemin, a fourth year student who had given a piano solo in this show, said that because of the cooperation of teachers and students, all of them had performed successfully in the final show, and they were grateful to have sense of achievement.
The Language Culture and International Food Day
The theme of the second day (Dec. 18th) of UIC International Art and Culture Festival was language culture and international food.
There was a big crowd on the Zone F area on the lookout for good food and live performances. Many students were attracted by hearty drinks and food from Germany, India and France. Besides, song and music performances were given by the foreign teachers and UIC students.
This show was a favorite: A Korean song "Traveling", portraited a cheerful journey of culture which was sung by the Korean language class. At the same time, the students from Sun Yat-sen University brought us a colorful dance about Korean culture. Then, the wonderful melody of "Cherry blossom" gave the audience a feeling as if they were walking in the countryside of Japan. After that, Miss Xiao, a Japanese Class teacher, spoke highly of the performances, she hoped the show would let us learn more about Japanese and Korean cultures.
The audiences were immersed in the gaiety of performance and food. At last, everyone joined the dancing and singing party, enjoying the impassioned atmosphere and international cultural environment.
The Third Session of Western Classical Music Concert
The third session of UIC Western Classical Music Concert was held in the UIC Hall on December 18th. Performances were all given by the students.
"We have held this kind of concert since 2005, but this year's is the best one," says Lucia Li, the director of the WPE-Arts and Culture Center. "This year's concert is well-deserved as the top of three years, for we have more students eligible to perform and the number of instrument combinations is bigger."
In addition to piano and violin solos, there were ensembles of the piano and violin, the piano and clarinet, the piano and trumpet and the piano and flute. Students who attended the concert were all delighted with the new combinations.
The teacher of the WPE Center, Prof Kitty Pappas, congratulated all the performers on giving such a wonderful concert. She said the students who have the chance to show their talents on the stage were lucky, for their parents sent them to learn the music when they were younger. She hoped these students could keep their interests in music.
Jiang Tian, a freshman, was chosen as a performer and he felt it was a great honor to perform on stage. During the period of preparation, he did enhance his skill in playing the violin as well as meet some like-minded new friends.
A Year One student Luo Mengdi said that this concert left a good impression on her. She appreciated Whole Person Education at UIC and she hoped that, in the future, the school could invite some professional artists to perform with the students.
Singing Competition Finals
The final show of the First International Asts&Culture Festival was a singing competition which was held at F zone on campus.
Before the competition began, all the players sang a love song together which made audience get high and the atmosphere became warm.
The players from D team-Li Qin, Zhu Zhi and Yu Yifeng--sang a trio called . The sonorous voice from the girl combined perfectly with the two boys. This show received lots of cheering and the emcee said they were the FIR band of UIC.
To make the competition more enjoyable, players and audience were required to sing a piece of the lyric which contained some words, players played and laughed with the audience.
As a familiar melody came over the air, the dancer Wang Xi wearing a red dress appeared on stage. The dance and song from were perfect and the audience enjoyed it tremendously.
At last, Wang Xi won the first price, with her brilliant performance, and Liu Chang became the silver medal winner; his excellent skill of keyboard and original songs impressed the judges. The trio group got the third prize.
The audience was the biggest during the festival. Many of them said that was the highest level singing competition they had in school, and they were very happy to see such an improvement.
( by Doris, Xu Luna Jason, Lang Zheng S. Rhea Teng )
