News & Photos from CCF 2012

Children’s Cultural Festival organized by Turkish Cultural Center Boston took place on Sunday April 29^th, at Boston University Morse Auditorium. The event aimed to foster cultural awareness by providing children a chance for cultural expression. Program started with opening remarks by State representative Kay Khan and Consul General of Turkey, Murat Lutem. Both Rep Khan and Mr Lutem emphasized the importance of organizing such events to increase cultural awareness.

On behalf of Turkish Cultural Center Boston, Children's Cultural Festival Program Director, Ayse Kubra Coskun gave a warm welcome speech. 

 As the theme of the program is “Performances by Children for Children”, there were shows by children from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

Audience enjoyed great visual feast starting with traditional Chinese Lion Dance by GreaterBoston ChineseCultural Association (GBCCA) dance group. Lion dance is a very energetic, popular dance form accompanied by lively music. It is usually performed at the very beginning of a celebration, for example, Chinese new Year, or a ceremony to scare away the “evil spirits” and to summon good luck and fortune. 

The lion dance is followed by dulcimer solo. Dulcimer is one of the traditional Chinese music instruments, which is also known as yanqqin.

 The kids from Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association continued their amazing show with Chinese Yo Yo, that is a popular folk sport in China dating back to the Ming Dynasty. We thank performing kids from GBCCA and the group leader George Chou for their outstanding effort and contribution.

 The program continued with authentic hard shoe dance. Traditional Celtic dance costuming made in Ireland worn by the dancers of Smith Houlihan Irish Dance Academy. We thank Smith Houlihan Irish Dance Academy and the group leader Noreen Houlihan Smith for the amazing show.

Next, the shows by the students of Korean School of New England were amazing. They performed traditional Korean Fan dance and Ganggo Drum dance. We thank Korean School of New England principal Il Nam and dance teacher Jessica Park for their valuable support and contribution.

The festival continued with a contemporary traditional Haitian dance by Youth and Family Enrichment Services (YOFES) kids. We thank Geralde Gabeau, Jean-Martz Vital and Ulmiche Wagnac from YOFES for their support and contribution.

The dance group from Indian Association of Greater Boston performed Medley of Bollywood dance from Om Shanti Om. We thank Choreographer and group leader Nikita Punjabi for this great show.

The world tour continued with Latin America. The kids from La Piñata Latin American Cultural  Family Network, Inc performed three traditional dances; Mangulina from the Dominican Republic, Balincha from Cuzco Peru and Machetes a folkloric popular dance from Mexico. We thank group leader and teacher Rosalba Solis and her students for their contribution.

American Chinese Art Society performed three great pieces; Dynamics, Dance of the Chivalry and Circling the Mountain Forest. We thank dance teacher Jade Lin and her group for their support and contribution.

 
Next show was Nepali Festival Dance by Nepali Dance group from Bosnian Community Center for Resource Development. We thank group coordinators Gyan Sharma and Lolita Sharma for their valuable contribution.

Pniney Emeth – Isreali Dance Troupe reminded us that nonsense can be so funny, especially when you are a kid. Our thanks go to the group leader Alla Shimron for her outstanding support for CCF 2012.

 

Bosnian Community Center Resource Development (BCCRD)’s KUD-Boston Sevdah performed Sota dance, which is a traditional bosnian dance. The dance features the strength  of community, dignity of movement and sensuality of courting/wedding ceremonies. We thank BCCRD executive director Adnan Zubcevic and BCCRD program director Asim Kustura for their amazing performance.

 

We thank our sponsors, participating institutions and  Turkish Cultural Center volunteers for making such an event possible.

Stay tuned for next year's Children's Cultural Festival!