The Little Pear Garden Collective Presents:

Demystifying Chinese Aesthetics- Chinese Opera and Dance Symposium & Workshops
A Celebration of Little Pear Garden Collective’s 15th Anniversary
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Little Pear Garden Collective is proud to present Demystifying Chinese Aesthetics, a one-day symposium aimed to enrich audience participants appreciation of Chinese opera and Chinese dance, as well as to encourage collaborations among different cultural arts. The symposium will be presented by scholars on the aesthetics of Chinese culture, and it will be followed by an open panel discussion. There will be two parts to the symposium, with the first half of the day dedicated to Chinese opera, and the second half to Chinese dance. Following the symposium, there will be Chinese opera and dance Hands-on workshops offered on Saturday, March 14th, 2009. The workshops are open for anyone to join, regardless of symposium participation. However, symposium participants get 50% off of the workshop fee. Each workshop has a limited registration of 25.

Symposium
Venue: Hart House, East Common Room, 7 Hart House Circle, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date: March 12th, 2009 (Thursday)
Time: 8:30am- 4:45pm
Fee: Adult $50, $25 Student/CADA/Group of 5 or more
(Early Bird Special: $5 off for registrations before March 10, 2009 on LPGC website: www.littlepeargarden.com)

What are the benefits of Demystifying Chinese Aesthetics?
- improve understanding of the values and philosophy behind Chinese art form
- clarify common misconception of Chinese arts
- encourage intercultural collaborations between other cultures and Chinese artists

What are the benefits of intercultural collaborations?
- increase awareness and positive exchange among cultures within Canada
- create new vocabularies and bring new perspectives to both cultures
- generate more interest in culture and the Arts from the general public

Description:
A symposium presented by a number of scholars on the aesthetics of Chinese culture as seen in Chinese Opera and Chinese Dance. The goal is to presents the values, philosophies and meaning in the various art forms to help enhance audiences’ appreciation towards Chinese culture. The second goal of Demystifying Chinese Aesthetics is to encourage more cultural collaborations in different cultures with Chinese artists.

Speakers include Professor Dongshin Chang from University of Guelph; Mr. William Lau, a Chinese-Canadian Nandan artists from Ottawa; Professor Yin Mei Critchell from Queens College of New York ; Professor Su Ya from Beijing Dance Academy; Professor Shih-Ming Li Chang from Wittenberg University of Ohio, Professor Robert Reid from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, and Mr. Jinsheng Zhao from York University, Toronto, Canada.

After each section, there will be a panel discussion facilitated by Dr. Margaret Chan.  Dr. Margaret Chan obtained her doctoral degree in ethnomusicology, York University and is currently the Senior Arts Development Coordinator at the City of Toronto, Cultural Services, promoting community arts across the city. They will be discussing current issue about Chinese Aesthetics and will also encourage audiences’ participation.

Workshops
Venue: Toronto Dance Theater, Studio A, 80 Winchester Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date: March 14th, 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 1:15pm- 8:00pm
Fee: $20 for each 1.5hr workshop. Symposium participants get 50% off for each workshop.

Description:
The purpose of the workshops is to encourage and allow participant in gaining hands on experience after a full day discussion from the Symposium. The workshop is 1 and a half hour each, each session will be taught by some of our speakers. By attending to the various workshops, dancers, artists and choreographers will develop a better understanding of the basis and background of the different types of Chinese dance. The workshops will also allow new working relationships to form and lead to future potential collaborations and contemporary works produced involving various degree of Chinese dance vocabularies.