New members of the cultural mosaic debut at Cleveland's International Folk ...

Every day, new Americans walk into the International Services Center in downtown Cleveland and take another step toward success in their new home. The 95-year-old nonprofit agency guides refugee families, runs a language bank, and offers job training and English classes.

Once a year, it stages a festival that displays the fruits of its labors, the talent and cultures it helps to nurture in Northeast Ohio.

Next Sunday, the 22nd annual International Folk Festival will feature more than a dozen performing arts groups at Wade Oval in University Circle. Many of the acts spring from cultures just emerging in the Cleveland mosaic.

The playbill features the Cleveland Contemporary Chinese Dancers, Dance Israeli! Liberian folk dancers and a Bhutanese song and dance troupe.

They will join better-known and acclaimed ethnic arts groups like the Csardas Dance Company and the Murphy Irish Dancers. Food trucks from the C-Town Chow-Down--including Umami Moto, Jibaro and The Nosh Box--will spice the menu.

The folk festival is a major fundraiser for the services center, which opened in 1916 to help shield immigrant women from sweatshops and grew into a full-service resettlement agency.

Sponsors like Nordson Corp, Forest City Enterprises and Huntington Bank help to make the festival free. Learn more at www.internationalservicescenter.org/

Zingen and singin' again: It's been generations since Yiddish resounded in the Jewish community, but memories of the mamaloshen ("mother tongue") will come whistling back in harmony Thursday, when the Sisters of Sheynville perform at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights.

The Toronto-based all-girls Klezmer swing band will headline the 33rd Annual Workmen's Circle Free Yiddish Concert. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. June 23 at Evans Amphitheater.

Cleveland's Jewish immigrant community hung on to Yiddish longer than most.According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the main city Yiddish newspaper, Die Yiddishe Velt, had a daily circulation of 16,000 in 1936 and published until 1952.

The World Next Door: Nearly 30 ethnic groups and national flavor Lorain, a small town with a shiny suit of clothes. You can see the colors of the world, at the 45th Lorain Lorain International Festival and Bazaar.

The festival takes place all week with various events in and around downtown but it reached its peak with the Bazaar Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Black River Landing. More than 40 ethnic food vendors will set up along the Black River. Greek bands, Puerto Rican dancers and Russian orchestras will perform.

Characteristics of Chinese Folk Dance | Articles | Folk Dance ...

Characteristics of Chinese Folk Dance

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Historically, Chinese folk dances were ritual performances based around superstitious beliefs. Chinese hunter-gatherers believed performing a ritual dance would persuade the gods to allow a good harvest or a good hunt. Today, Chinese folk dances are a highly elaborate and sophisticated means of ethnic expression used to celebrate official ceremonies. Common characteristics of Chinese folk dancing include dancing with stage props, singing while dancing, intricate plots and beautiful imagery. Chinese folk dancing commonly incorporates handkerchiefs, bells, drums, stilts, fans, swords, ribbons and masks to accent the dance movements. For instance, the Dragon Dance uses acrobatic dancers, leaping in patterns that imitate the swooping movements of a dragon. The dancers hold poles attached to a mock version of the animal. Raising, lowering, and swinging the poles animates the dragon.

Singing While Dancing

Chinese folk dancing typically incorporates singing while dancing. Each ethnic minority adds its own local flavor and charm to the performance style of dance. The Yangko, Caicha, Mangshi and Xuanzi dances all incorporate singing into the folk dance routines.

Intricate Plots

Many Chinese folk dances are based on stories. Ethnic minority folk dances symbolize aspects of each of minority’s culture, including the group’s religious and historical background. Many ethnic minority folk dances share common plot themes such as communal bond, love, rivalry, forgiveness and jealously. Dances include elements of their different environments, national characteristics, beliefs, customs, cultures and lifestyles.

Beautiful Imagery

Chinese folk dances use beautiful imagery to emphasize the character of the various nationalities within China. Dancers often move in spirals and circles because the Chinese believe circles symbolize harmony. Complex hand gestures and hand-eye coordination are also used to symbolize important elements of Chinese art: concentration, flow of energy, strength, discipline and spirit. Performances use colorful stage costumes, dramatic background music and superior dancing talent.

Chinese Folk Dance Association collection

Chinese folk dances

The story of Dai Ailian, icon of Chinese folk dance, pioneer of Chinese ballet

World and Its Peoples, Eastern and Southern Asia

Chinese America: History and Perspectives 2001