The Education Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in LA and the Taiwan Alumni Association (TAA) jointly held the Taiwanese Cultural Festivity—Dragon Dance  at the Culture Center of TECO-LA on June, 30th. More than 30 American friends, including 8 TAA members who came back from Taiwan for study on government scholarship and 2 newly selected scholarship recipients who are about to study in Taiwan and Professor Shin Liu, the trustee of Cerritos College and more than 20 students from Cerritos College and Rio Hondo College who will go to Taiwan for the English teaching internship in Taipei City and New Taipei City all attended the festivity. 4 instructors Frank Tse, Tom Liu, Yuan Nien Wang and Nicole Liu, who are not only dragon dance lovers but also architecture, psychology, structure engineering and social work professionals volunteered to coach the participants how to dance and share their knowledge and passion about this valuable cultural heritage.

TAA President Alyssa Johnson gave an opening speech, introducing TAA and recognizing this opportunity to meet with other alumni to reflect on their individual experiences living in Taiwan and share them with those who are going to Taiwan for Chinese learning and the internship. She expressed her excitement for the dragon dance learning and expectation for more related activities to promote Taiwanese culture in the future. When addressed to the participants, Director Rebecca Lan of Education Division, TECO expresses her thanks to Alyssa and members for coordinating events to keep TAA active and she encouraged the intern students to take advantage of the opportunity to explore Taiwan, hoping all of them can better understand Taiwan and enjoy the study abroad and internship opportunity to the Island Formosa where is a society of freedom and democracy, full of friendly and hospitable people, diversified cultures and delicious cuisines.

Dragon Dance is a form of traditional dance and performance in Chinese culture. Through the festivity, TAA members and students learnt how to manipulate a long flexible figure of a dragon using poles positioned at regular intervals along the length of the dragon. They practiced repeatedly as a team to simulate the imagined movements of a dragon in a sinuous, undulating manner. The movements in a dragon dance performance traditionally symbolize historical roles of dragons demonstrating power and dignity.

Those who are going to Taiwan for the internship of English teaching program also learnt more about Taiwan and anticipated the coming journey this summer. It is expected that these students can actively explore Taiwan in the near future, and strengthen their motivation for further enhancing their language ability, culture understanding and many other soft skills.

TAA members, the Director of Education Division Rebecca Lan (in the middle) and volunteer teachers gathering for the Taiwanese Cultural Festivity--Dragon Dance in Cultural Center of TECO-LA.

TAA members learnt how to dance a dragon dance in the Taiwanese Cultural Festivity.