Celebrate the Lunar New Year with dance, music and food

Members of the Boston-based Chinese Folk Art Workshop performed at Westbrook Performing Arts Center as part of the Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine’s lunar new year celebration in 2023. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

The Year of the Snake has begun.

The Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine is hosting its annual Lunar New Year celebration Saturday at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center. Hundreds of people attend the festivities every year. This year’s event will include food, music, dancing, calligraphy, craft tables, lectures, tea tasting and a demonstration of dumpling making.

Willa Wang is a senior from Beijing who is studying history and philosophy. She is organizing more than 30 students from the college to perform in a showcase of music, dance and opera. She answered five questions about the upcoming event and the Lunar New Year. This interview has been edited for length.

What are you looking forward to at the upcoming Lunar New Year celebration?

Chinese students or Asian students here, we do not know many people from the local community that are not part of the school, so we want to know more people from Maine. That’s a perfect opportunity.

I’m very excited to see my peers performing in the showcase. We know everyone is busy and working hard in rehearsal and preparing for the performance. I’m so excited for what they are putting together.

There will be people who will be playing violin with traditional Chinese music. There will be opera. There will be kuaiban (a traditional form of storytelling).

What will you be performing?

I am mainly organizing, but I am performing a dance piece which is about 90 seconds. It’s a very short piece, but we have 10 students getting involved. It’s a mix of different types of dance — jazz but also hip hop. The style is very good for beginners because we’re trying to include as many students as possible.

What do you like about dance?

We have a club here — Ace Plus — it’s a dance club that celebrates Asian culture. It began back in 2022 when I was a freshman. I also do a little bit of flamenco. I learned it here at Bates. I took three semesters of flamenco. It’s really part of my life. For me, it is a way to relax, to get away from what I’m doing every day, like studying. It gives me some time to be in my own world with the music and the movement. It makes me very relaxed. I met a lot of fun people and good friends in dancing, so it is part of my community.

What do you usually do to celebrate the Lunar New Year?

There’s different things to do on different days. Usually, people will have a meal with their family members. There will be dumplings, noodles, fireworks. Usually, there will be a TV showcase, and all Chinese people watch it.

Before New Year, there is more preparation. For example, calligraphy. You usually write a New Year couplet and put them on the two sides of your door for good luck. There is food people would usually make, such as rice cakes. Some families would have chicken, like turkey here for Thanksgiving.

What’s your favorite part of Lunar New Year?

I grew up in Beijing, but when we want to celebrate Lunar New Year, we have to go back to one of my parent’s hometowns. Usually we need to fly back, and there will be other family relatives, and they will have a lot of good food. Everyone will be there, and it is so nice to see people in the family. Just gathering is very meaningful.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Lunar New Year celebration hosted by the Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine

WHEN: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Westbrook Performing Arts Center, 471 Stroudwater St., Westbrook

HOW MUCH: Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for anyone between the ages of 5 and 18. Children under 5 get in free. Tickets are available in advance on EventBrite or at the door with cash or check.

INFO: For more details about the event or the Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine, visit cafammaine.org

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