LaGuardia Community College is Hosting an Asian Cultural Festival ...

For more information, please contact
Randy Fader-Smith at (718) 482-5985
Susan Lyddon at (718) 482-5061
Randyfs@lagcc.cuny.edu
Slyddon@lagcc.cuny.edu
LaGuardia Community College is Hosting an
Asian Cultural Festival on May 11
Free and Open to the Public
Long Island City, NY—May 4, 2011--To celebrate the wide range of Asian cultures that make
up its student population, LaGuardia Community College on May 11 is hosting a festival
featuring talented performers from China, Japan and the Philippines. The event is free and open
to the public.
The line up includes:
• Chinese Student Club – the student singing and dancing group will perform English
and Chinese songs and hip pop dances.
• Gulam Kibria Group – the Bengali troupe will perform dance with a folk song. Folk
song or Baul Sangeet, which has always held a special place in Indian subcontinent
culture, is a folk dialect of Bengali music that is spiritual in nature.
• Kinding Sindaw – the dance theater ensemble will perform the traditions of dance,
music, martial arts and storytelling of the indigenous people of the Philippines. The
troupe, which has been a resident of La Mama Experimental Theater since 2000, has
a broad repertory of dance and music dramas from several epic myths and legends of the
country’s indigenous tribes.
• Li Liu – the professionally trained acrobat from China will bring the same talents to
LaGuardia that she displayed as a performer for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey
Circus. Before coming to America, she traveled extensively throughout Europe, Africa
and Asia with the Liaoning Acrobatic Arts Troupe for many years, and has performed
with Zirkus Knie in Switzerland, Circus Krone in Germany and other touring shows in
Italy, Holland, France, South Africa, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia.
• National Women’s Dance Troupe of Sri Lanka – the dance company will perform
two distinct kinds of dance—the up country and the low country—that combine lithe
graceful movements with vigorous motions.

• Reni Mimura - the Japanese singer and dancer will entertain her audience with a highenergy
and futuristic performance. Her latest CD album “Sakura” was released in 2009
and she published her first photo book “Maid in NY” in March 2010.
• The New York Chinese Cultural Center – the award-winning professional troupe of
professional dancers and musicians that will bring the richness of traditional dance,
Peking Opera and music to the LaGuardia stage. The company each year presents over
750 performances, workshops, master classes and lecture/demonstrations throughout the
U.S.
• Taiko Drums and Awa Dance - a shamisen (Japanese guitar) master and Awa dancers
will present an ensemble to the beat of Taiko drums played by Dr. Kyoko Toayama, a
faculty member of LaGuardia. Mr. Yukio Koma, the Shamisen teacher, lost his mother,
aunt and four other relatives from the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and he is
playing shamisen for his lost family members. Beautifully dressed dancers will join the
drummers.
The event will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the college’s Cobblestone Courtyard at
31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City. For more information, please call (718) 482-5213.
Culinary delights from different regions of the world will be served. Also, faculty and students
will model traditional clothing from Asian countries.
LaGuardia, which has one of the most diverse student populations in the nation, serves students
from more than 46 Asian countries and areas including China, South Korea, Japan, Bangladesh,
Philippines, India, and Pakistan. Asians comprise 21% of the College’s student population and
represent the fastest growing ethnic group at LaGuardia.
• • • •
LaGuardia Community College located in Long Island City, Queens, was founded in 1971 as a
bold experiment in opening the doors of higher education to all, and we proudly carry forward
that legacy today. LaGuardia educates students through over 50 degree, certificate and
continuing education programs, providing an inspiring place for students to achieve their dreams.
Upon graduation, LaGuardia students’ lives are transformed as family income increases 17%,
and students transfer to four-year colleges at twice the national average. Part of the City
University of New York (CUNY), LaGuardia is a nationally recognized leader among
community colleges for boundary-breaking success educating underserved students. At
LaGuardia we imagine new ideas, create new curriculum and pioneer programs to make our
community and our country stronger. Visit www.laguardia.edu to learn more.
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