BALTIMORE–Baltimore is about to begin a new holiday tradition. Mayor Sheila Dixon designated this December 18th as Holiday Wonders Day in Baltimore, and urged fellow citizens to join in the celebration.
"The Holiday Wonders show, with its amazing dancers and musicians and beautiful costumes and stage effects, will mark the beginning of a new holiday tradition for much of its audience," says the mayor's proclamation.
December 18th marks the date of the first stop of the worldwide tour of the Divine Performing Arts, starting with the Holiday Wonders performance in Baltimore's Lyric Opera House. It features Chinese classical dance and Chinese music written exclusively for the show.
"I have a great relationship with the Asian community and am still doing more outreach efforts," said Mayor Dixon. Mayor Dixon has been practicing martial arts for 18 years since she was in college, and she credits it for helping her be energetic and mentally sharp.
The proclamation makes a point of saying that the city of Baltimore values diversity and free expression. The mayor knows from personal experience the meaning of diversity, being the first African-American woman to be elected as City Council President.
Many Baltimoreans learned about the Holiday Wonders show from two existing holiday traditions in the area: the Baltimore Thanksgiving parade (56 years) in the downtown Inner Harbor area, and the Mayor's Annual Christmas Parade (35 years) in Hampden.
In both parades this year, the sponsor of the Holiday Wonders show, Falun Dafa Practitioners Association of Washington, DC was the only and first ever Asian group. And they brought with them information about the Holiday Wonders, with its emphasis on authentic Chinese culture.
The Chinese Group
Many people at the two parades expressed excitement at seeing a Chinese group for the first time. Referring to "the Chinese group," many said, "definitely a keeper."
During the annual Christmas parade, Eleanor Johnson, who has been watching the parade for 35 years since its inception, said she was nicely surprised by "the Chinese group." Tom Brown, who knew much about Chinese history, said that he was happy to see the Chinese group. He voted the Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) group as the best group in the parade.
When Baltimorean Jocelyn Cannan saw Chinese fairies holding the Holiday Wonders banner, she responded loudly: "Cool!"
"Our area has really developed. I have never seen this level of diversity before. I grew up in Baltimore. I have never seen such cool stuff here," said Ms. Cannan, a medical student and art lover.
The group has promoted the Holiday Wonders in various shopping malls such as the Towson Center Mall, Owings Mill Mall, and the Columbia Mall. Upon watching the DVD of last year's performance, many acquired an interest in Chinese classical dance.
Bob and Sophia Fudge went to the Columbia Mall to see the event promotions after they saw an announcement in a local newspaper. Sophia was especially attracted by Chinese classical dance. She commented on the dance style: "This is very delicate. The hand movement, everything, every part of the body seems to be in tune. It's beautiful!" They had just come back from a trip to China.
During 2006–2007 holiday seasons, the Holiday Wonders performance delighted over 200,000 people with 82 live shows in 32 cities across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, according to Julianne Xu from the Public Relations Department of the New Tang Dynasty Television. This year, the performance is expected to reach 600,000 live audiences in more than 70 cities.
See this link for the show in Baltimore: http://www.holidaywonders-dc.com
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