Arts

2011 OzAsia Festival Highlights

The fifth annual OzAsia Festival draws to a close this weekend after two memorable weeks of unique storytelling, theatre, dance, music, visual arts, films, cultural collaborations and sharing of ideas through a wide variety of art forms. It is not too late to soak up the rich and diverse offerings of Asia and its interactions with Australia with a variety of arts offerings on the final weekend.

On Monday evening, the Festival’s favourite annual community gathering, The Moon Lantern Festival, saw record attendances for the event. 20,000 people converged on Elder Park to enjoy the free performances, eat moon cakes, and watch the parade of 1,200 school children and community group members with home-made lanterns to celebrate and admire the beauty of the full moon.

Highlights from the 2011 Festival included Ben Walsh’s incredible 10-piece Orkestra of the Underground performing Academy Award-winning writer and illustrator Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. Tan’s graphic novel was brought to life on the big screen; Rāga Shambhala, combined the classical folk music of India and Tibet, and featured Indian sitar maestro Manju Mehta as part of her first Australian tour. The breathtaking extravaganza that was the Shaolin Warriors featured 22 Kung Fu masters; and gifted songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shugo Tokumaru wowed audiences with his exquisitely crafted pop melodies. Jason Yat Sen Li presented an innovative keynote lecture on Australian Fusion: Imagining our Eurasian future.

If you haven’t had a chance to indulge in the cultural offerings of the Festival grab a film this weekend or attend the many free visual arts exhibitions which remain on show to the public: the White Rabbit Contemporary Chinese Art Collection, Samstag Museum of Art runs until 30 September whilst the 2011 Nuido World Embroidery Exhibition, which showcases over 100 magnificent works that embody the tradition, skill and discipline of this ancient art, is on display until 16 October, Adelaide Festival Centre. Don’t miss Post Logical Form, featuring works from Akira Akira, Masato Takasaka and Koji Ryui, three Australian based artists with Japanese heritage at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) until 14 October www.ozasiafestival.com.au

Don’t miss the FREE special Chinese Cultural Event at Samstag tomorrow Saturday 17 September from 2 – 5pm. A guided tour in Mandarin and English by David Zhu, followed by a Chinese tea ceremony, live music, Mahjong demonstrations and refreshments.

Don’t forget to put next years’ OzAsia Festival dates in your diary 14 – 30 September, 2012 and the Moon Lantern Festival will close the Festival on 30 September, Elder Park.

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