Chuanju Theatre

Wow! What an experience for the children of Padiham Green yesterday when they had the opportunity to see the 'Chongqing Chanju Theatre Troupe' in Preston. Thanks to the Confucius Institute at the University of Central Lancashire, 10 lucky children who have an interest in martial arts watched a series of traditional Chinese dances by some very talented  performers.
First of all we watched the lion dance which is often performed at traditional Chinese festivals or at special events such as weddings.
The dancing, face paints and costumes were incredible, especially the 'water sleeves' which were twirled around in time to the music by a stage full of ladies performing a scene from the 'Sichuan Opera'.
An episode from 'Red Lotus on the Green Lake' was a particularly fun dance where the daughter of the Dragon King falls in love with a young man she sees in a mirror!
The star of the show for most of our children however, was 'Chou', a Chinese clown who balances an oil lamp on his head whilst carrying out a series of contortions and acrobatics!

 

Thank you to all the people involved in the show and to those who let us all come back stage for photographs afterwards!