explorASIAN 2012: Balinese dance at the Gong! The Gamelan Festival. Photo: Gamelan Gita Asmara
May is Asian Heritage Month, which means the annual explorASIAN Festival returns to Vancouver for a month of fantastic Asian arts and culture events, from May 1 – 31, 2012.
Organized by the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society (VAHMS), explorASIAN 2012 has a packed schedule of events, starting with the Generation One art exhibit on May 1—a showcase for Asian-Canadian artists and emerging artists who are first generation Canadians—then kicking into high gear on May 4 with The Magical Encounter Opening Gala, a “Pan-Asian and inter-arts gala” that includes visual arts, Japanese and Chinese music and dance, Persian ballet, and Uighur belly dance.
Other highlights of explorASIAN 2012 include:
- 16th Annual Korean Dance Festial – May 5, 2012
- ZYRYAB – 8th Annual International Jondo Flamenco Festival – May 6, 2012
- Echoes from the Southwest Benefit Concert (unique music from Southwestern China) – May 12, 2012
- Gong! The Gamelan Festival – May 18 – 20, 2012
ExplorASIAN ends on May 31 with rePercussion, a joint presentation of VAHMS and the City of Bhangra Festival; rePercussion improbably and amazingly “melds” Chinese, Afro-Cuban, Punjabi, and Brazilian styles of drumming “to explore percussion and folk drumming from the variety of cultures that represent Vancouver.”
Find a complete schedule of events—as well as ticket info–at the explorASIAN Festival 2012 site.
