The Chinese New Year demo season has been over for weeks now...however, we had some other loose ends to tie up.  Just a couple more performances, like the Federation banquet.  That was fun and easy, since we do it every year.  Our last obligation however was a short lion dance at Harvard University to open up their lecture on martial arts and Chinese medicine.  It was supposed to be the simplest of jobs...they only wanted one lion.  They wanted it short, so about 5-10 minutes.  We couldn't even eat oranges or lettuce because of the mess it would make in the lecture hall.  Well, then that slightly did complicate things.  No fruits & veggies meant then we had to do a banner presentation which then also meant high tricks, picks, jumps up in the air.  Did I mention also that I was working with a new tail for this particular dance?  Hmmm....maybe that was why I was slightly nervous that day.  In case you had forgotten, did I mention again that we were at Harvard?  Yes, Harvard...where all the smart people live.

Well, in case you were curious, the lion dance went just fine.  Not stellar, not extraordinary, but I certainly got tossed around high enough to make it somewhat impressive. I even threw in a split at the very end.  That tends to elicit some kind of positive response...even from the most jaded and bored crowds and we know all about some tough crowds.  I tell you what though...the Harvard community is much more appreciative (i.e. claps a lot more) than the MIT crowd.

After we were done, our hard work was rewarded with now being able to watch some other small performances from wushu and qigong practitioners.  I'll be honest, I didn't catch their names in the beginning...probably because I was still catching my breath.  However, they had very nice presentations of tai chi and hard body qigong.

Finally, we stayed for another hour to listen to the rest of the lecture which discussed the connection between Chinese martial arts and Chinese medicine.  Their panel included Peter Wayne whom I know from his work with the research center of my acupuncture school and a Dr. Chou who I believed was employed by the FDA in regards to Chinese medicinals.  I could be wrong though.  I wasn't listening too well in the beginning of the lecture.  Perhaps it was because they were talking about the very realm of knowledge where I already dwell on a daily basis.  I do admit though that I did learn some other things and was very happy we stayed to listen.  Funny huh?  We go to Harvard to do a lion dance and we all actually wanted to stay for the lecture. I feel smarter already!

** Performers photos taken by moi

technorati tags: Harvard, lion, dance, Chinese, martial, arts, medicine, lecture

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