Update: Available dance positions have been filled. Thank you for your interest.

The Chinese Cultural Dance Club at UCLA (CCDC) is expanding its Junior Dance Program and has a limited number of positions open for new dancers. The program is open to children/youth (girls & boys) who are entering 1st grade through 12th grade (generally ages 6 to 18). Interested youth who are entering 7th through 12th grade may also apply and audition to participate in a dance with the college students. Click through to the full post for the PDF document containing detailed information about the requirements for participation and the application/audition process.

Applications are due September 21, 2012.  Dates for the Orientation and auditions will be provided to applicants when they become available.  (Fall Quarter at UCLA begins in late September.)

The Chinese Cultural Dance Club has performed and taught at the FCC-SoCal Heritage Celebrations and several of our children have participated in the program for many years -- read more about the Club, see photos of rehearsals and learn about the history of the Junior Dance Program in the Spring 2011 CCDC Newsletter available on the CCDC website: http://ccdcbruins.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/vol9issue4.pdf

Click through for full information.

What's been happening in Orange County for the past six months or so?  In October we screened the documentary Talking With the Moon Princess followed by a discussion for girls ages 10+ with the filmmaker Priscilla Hefley.  Thank you Priscilla for joining us and to Christine Friend and all the volunteers who helped organize and run this new event.  In November we held our annual art workshop with teacher Melanie Vogel, where kids created works of art to turn into holiday gifts. Thanks Susan Tschabrun for organizing and to the group that helped out on site. December was Holiday Party time, with another great turnout for this OC tradition.  This event took a village - thank you Jenifer Weigand
for all the advance arrangements and to Michelle Sheehan, Tanya Turro-Vilander, Debbie Kistler, Sandy Draper, Maggie Davenport, Mary Wattenberg, Patty Uy, their families, and everyone else who pitched in on this event. In March we got together for our first Dim Sum Sunday of 2012 and were happy to have several families with babies in attendance. Thanks Christine Friend for organizing. 

If you have photos from any of these past events you'd like to share, please send them to ocfccsocal@gmail.com and we'll get them posted.

What's still to come in 2012?  A number of OC parents participated in a March planning meeting to outline the calendar for the rest of the year - see attached.  Many of the dates and times are still to be determined, so check your email and www.fccsocal.org for updates as the year progresses.  Up next is a kickoff gathering for the Blazing Paddles dragonboat team on April 29.  Contact Maggie Davenport at
pdavenport10@cox.net for details.

If you have any questions or want to get involved please email ocfccsocal@gmail.com.

Orange County held our 15th Annual Moon Festival Banquet on September 18.  Keeping with tradition, the event was held at Ten Ten Seafood Restaurant in Artesia.

The evening started off with an icebreaker activity, the Moon Festival Legends Game. Each participant received a sheet about the legends and were tasked with finding images related to the legends, e.g. 10 suns, Chang-e, Hou-yi etc.  Each family was given an envelope of images to hand out and the kids had to run around the room collecting images from other banquet attendees.

As always, everyone enjoyed the delicious menu of egg drop soup, honey walnut shrimp, beef and snow peas, tofu and mushrooms, cashew chicken, house lo mein, yang chow rice, and of course, moon cakes.  Dinner was followed by a variety of entertaining and education performances: 

• Martial Drum: Performer Arthur Chen and instructor Rachael Sysiong
• Beijing Opera Master: Kevin Chai
• Lion Dance Instruction: Jonathan Wong

All attendees had the opportunity to try out the instruments and costumes and learn some of the routines first hand.  The evening ended with prizes for the kids - all went home with an adorable stuffed xiong mao, hou zi, tu zi or other animal.

Many thanks to organizers Susan Tschabrun and Debbie Kistler, and the group of volunteers who helped make this banquet a success! Copy and photos for this post contributed by Patty Uy and Jenifer Weigand.

We are delighted to announce that there are a few additional openings in the China Care Bruins Youth Mentorship "Buddy" Program for the 2011-2012 academic year (October 2011 through June 2012). Founded in 2005, China Care Bruins is a student-run group at UCLA that raises funds to provide medical services for children in China's orphanages and mentors Chinese adoptees and their siblings.

China Care Bruins offers a wonderful enrichment opportunity for FCC children and youth to be part of a nurturing and empowering community of adoptee peers and mentors. The leadership and members of China Care Bruins come from a variety of backgrounds (and have many different majors), but are predominantly Asian American students.

The Buddy Program participants meet in monthly Sunday afternoon get-togethers on the UCLA campus throughout the academic year, enjoying crafts, culture, skits, campus tours, field games and more. Through these ongoing interactive activities, the kids and mentors will build their relationship, solidify friendships and develop camaraderie. The kids also witness the fruits of the teamwork, leadership and dedication of the college students who give of their time and talents to produce the program and to be their mentors.

Click through to full post for more information, FAQs and application.

The Chinese Cultural Dance Club at UCLA (CCDC) is expanding its Junior Dance Program and has a limited number of positions open for new dancers.  A flyer is attached, along with a PDF/Word document containing detailed information about the requirements for participation and the application/audition process.  Note that the program is open to children/youth (girls & boys) ages 8 to 17 (as of October 1). Interested youth who are age 13 and older may also apply and audition to participate in a dance with the college students. If you have any difficulty opening the attachments, please contact CCDC Junior Dance Parent Coordinator Jeri Floyd jerifloyd@ca.rr.com and she will do her best to provide the information in another format.

Applications are due September 23, 2011.

Several of our children have participated in the program for many years -- read more about the Club, see photos of rehearsals and learn about the history of the Junior Dance Program in the Spring 2011 CCDC Newsletter (page 7), which is available on the CCDC website.

Come see CCDC members perform at the upcoming FCC-SoCal Heritage Day event.

Click through for the full post and attachments.

The FCC-SoCal chapter was honored to receive an invitation from the Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China to Los Angeles to attend a luncheon reception to celebrate International Children’s Day. The invitation was sent out to our FCC membership, and over 40 families responded indicating they would like to attend. Due to space limitations the final group consisted of 30 FCC families, staff from the Consulate-General Office and their families, and various additional members of the Chinese-American community in Los Angeles.

The event was held on June 5 in the main meeting hall at the Consulate building, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm. The Consulate staff provided games, entertainment, and gifts for the children, and a highlight of the event was a special video presentation they put together highlighting photos of FCC families along with the families of the Consulate staff. Additionally, the Consul General, Qiu Shaofang, gave a short welcome speech to the group, and then spent the entire two hours getting to know many of the families in attendance. After the games and speeches a delicious Chinese luncheon was shared by all.

It was a delightful afternoon, and the Consul General stated that he would like to make it an annual event. We hope to see many of you at next year’s celebration.

A very special thank you to Albert Olson for organizing the event and contributing this post.

Check out photos from the event.