Journey To China
In 2006 and again in 2007, we presented a Journey To China, a full production highlighting the youth with whom we have worked in our World Music In-School program at Alice Fong Yu Alternative School in San Francisco. For 7 years, we hired master instructors from China to work with several hundred students each year after school to learn Chinese traditional arts, including music, dance, calligraphy, lion dancing, martial arts, and more. Students were involved at all levels of the production, including filming in China, writing scripts, helping with make-up and costumes, and performing on stage.
In 2007, "A Journey to China: Scholars, Goddesses & Warriors" featured over 125 music and performing arts students from Alice Fong Yu Alternative School in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater. Five scholars, goddesses and warriors of China tell their tales through ancient music, thundering percussion, elegant dancing, Cantonese opera, brush painting, martial arts sparring and more. Combining documentary film footage and an original script written by the 8th graders, with special sets and lighting design, Chinese master artists from different disciplines work together with these young artists to create an original multi-dimensional performance.
