10:00AM-5:00PM
SAT 27 JULY 2024
The Arts Centre Christchurch
A lively day to celebrate the diversity of Asian arts and cultures. Asian Arts Festival is a vibrant arts festival bursting with music, theatre, dance, children fashion show, talk show, workshops, food, an art market, colourful cultural performances and presentations to address the city's cultural inclusiveness and the special contribution made by the wider ethnic communities, especially the Asian communities.
A multi-cultural and entertaining atmosphere is specifically promoted in this festival, and it is interesting, colourful, surprising and family and children friendly. The proposed performances and activities are indoors and outdoors, aiming to encourage the wider public to explore the heritage city centre and help the ethnic communities art forms flourish in the Christchurch city centre. As with 2023, participating backgrounds will reflect the communities of wider Asian arts, including the Japanese art, Persian art, Malaysian art, Kazakhstan art, Bangladesh art, Chinese art, Balinese art, Vietnamese art, Taiwanese art, Philippines art, etc., with a variety of art forms such as music, dance, opera, theatre, fashion show, live music, rock band and dancing.
The Asian Arts Festival is not only a cultural feast but also a bridge connecting people. Here, you can interact with people from different cultural backgrounds, share each other's cultures and artistic ideas, and enhance mutual understanding and friendship. Whether you are from Asia, New Zealand, or other countries, you can find opportunities for resonance and communication here.
Talk Show
Summer and Annie are Chinese background talk show performers who have shown their talent in talk show recently.
ETHEREAL
En Beats Elite Kpop Group
From TVNZ’s Kpop Academy
Guest performing at Armageddon & YG Ent NZ performance
To producing an Idol Trainee at More Vision
En Beat Dance has been in the forefront of working in Kpop since 2016
Cornermental Asian pop/rock band
The band was formed in 2019, with the singers, Eric, Nodoka, Honza and Aaron, lead guitarist Glen, guitarist Honza, guitarist Jimcy, drummer Nelson, and bass Sam.
Children's Fashion Show
Children's fashion show is an important part of the Asian Arts festival. It is a demonstration of traditional costumes from Asian cultures or some costumes with Asian elements will be presented by children who are from Asian backgrounds and/or those who are interested in Asian culture and arts.
M.Y.B : ‘Mind Your Body’
Bollywood Dance Workshop
A transformative series by Ambaree Rege, designed to nurture harmony between body and mind through dance.
Not just for dancers, MYB welcomes all into a safe space to explore movement, connect with surroundings, and learn Indian classical dance.
Is MYB exclusive to a particular community? Absolutely not!
Open to all ethnicities and genders, ages 8 and above.
Join us in this journey of self-discovery!
Simurgh Persian Music Group
Traditional Persian performance group from Simurgh Music School. Founded in 2022 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Simurgh is a community of musicians sharing their passion for traditional instruments of Persia and the surrounding regions of the Middle-East. This performance will feature a Persian percussion group of daf & tonbak drums led by instructor Esmail Fathi, as well as some Persian stringed instruments such as santur, tar and setar.
Canterbury Kazakh Community
Performance Group
Recently formed by members of the Christchurch Kazakhstan community is the first and only Kazakh performance group in Aotearoa. Led by pianist and music teacher Madina Pitt, the group performs traditional and modern songs, with lively dances and vibrant Kazakh attire. The group also features dombra players, a two-stringed instrument which is the national instrument of Kazakhstan.
UC Gamelan Ensemble
Based out of the University of Canterbury School of Music, this ensemble plays a traditional form of Indonesian music known as gamelan, which is a widespread tradition across Indonesia with many different regional varieties. This type of gamelan in particular is called Gong Kebyar and comes from Bali. It is known for using complex interlocking rhythmic patterns on various metallophones, gongs and drums of different sizes to create fast, dynamic and exciting performance.
Bangla Dance Group
Christchurch is a non-profit ethnic dance group which promotes Bengali music and culture through their dance performances to the wider community of Christchurch, New Zealand.
The word "Bangla" is the edonym of Bengali language which is the official language of Bangladesh and also the official state language of West Bengal, Tripura and Barak Valley in the state of Assam. Bengali is the 7th most widely spoken language in the world. Through Bangla Dance Group, Christchurch, the members, originally from Bangladesh and India, are celebrating their heritage culture and language.
They are performing on the Tagore song- "Eki Labonye" which is inspired by a Carnatic Rāga named "Lāvanya Rāmā". The composition that we are using tonight contains both of the parts (the original and the Tagore adaptation) and it portrays the beauty of nature, life and spirituality.
Art
Market
"My art theme comes from Japanese culture
where I have grown up. I especially appreciate its
traditional designs and patterns used in kimono
and love to incorporate them into my art. I use red and black as main colors to enjoy the vividness they can
create. I will have hand-painted ornaments, canvas paints, and other art crafts on my stall."
By Iwane Fumiyo
Visual Art Exhibition
Pūmanawa community exhibition space
10.00am - 5.00pm 24-27 July