On Feb. 9, Cheer Pan expects sightseers to line up near the Giant Wheel at Irvine Spectrum Center, as they’ve done for the past four years, to celebrate Lunar New Year and watch the troupe of Chinese folk dancers she directs. To commemorate the Year of the Snake, the familiar dragon and lion will be joined by two dancing snakes.
Pan, who took her first steps in a dance studio in Beijing and later was a child star on national TV, immigrated to the United States at age 17 to attend school in Arizona. She moved to Irvine in 2000, and 19 years later she co-founded the Chinese Dance Company of Southern California, under the auspices of the Irvine-based South Coast Chinese Cultural Center.
Pan says she loves teaching all kinds of dance but is passionate about supporting traditional choreography, which she says “is part of who we are and could really help future generations connect with our roots and heritage.” The troupe has 50 members, ages 7 to 30-plus, who perform in and out of Irvine for free, several times a year.
A serpentine spectacle
The Year of the Snake begins Jan. 29, and it’s the sixth in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, with each year represented by an animal. Pan’s dancers plan to commemorate the occasion with an original dance based on the legend of the white snake.
According to the legend, after spending centuries in meditation, a white snake and a green snake living on a mountain became immortal and transformed themselves into two beautiful maidens. The white snake later comes to a tragic end after falling in love with a human. But Pan says her troupe’s dance, which will use props, including an umbrella and round fan, will focus on a more positive element of the story: the sisterly bond between the two snakes.
“We aim to seamlessly blend the fluidity and control of Chinese classical dance to vividly portray this millennia-long sisterly connection while also capturing the elegance and charm of Eastern traditions,” she says.
A ‘variety show’ of traditional culture
Visitors to Spectrum Center will have three opportunities on Feb. 9 to catch the snake performance between noon and 3 p.m. The entertainment will also include musicians – playing bamboo flutes and a two-string Chinese violin – and martial arts demonstrations.
Lunar New Year is the busiest time for Pan’s group; last year it performed 18 times in February alone. Pan says the Spectrum event is the dancers’ favorite venue. “The space is very open, with such beautiful scenery, and for the past four years we have had such a loyal audience,” she says. “They show up an hour before we start so they can get a good spot, and they are all so passionate and nice. It’s just really fun to be with them.”
