DANCE : A Harvest of Cultural Diversity

Chinese folk dancers will make their own music in a joyful harvest dance to be performed at this weekend’s 25th annual Laguna Folkdance Festival.

The “Tea Cups and Chop Sticks” dance, wherein those utensils are tapped together rhythmically, can be traced to the Mew people of northern China, said Susie Chu, coordinating the Irvine Evergreen Chinese Dancers’ appearance.

“In small, remote villages, people used whatever they had for instruments, including household utensils, to make certain sounds and rhythms,” said Chu, president of the Irvine Evergreen Chinese Senior Assn., the dancers’ sponsor.

The dance celebrates a good harvest, Chu said, and is typically performed by single young women “who roll their shoulders and bat their eyelashes to flirt with the men watching them. It’s very playful.”

The Laguna Folkdancers’ annual festival, one of Southern California’s major folk attractions, runs Friday through Sunday. Hundreds of dance enthusiasts are expected at the event, which includes workshops, dance parties and Sunday’s afternoon concert, in which four Irvine Evergreen Chinese Dancers will perform “Tea Cups and Chop Sticks” and other area troupes will perform traditional dances from around the world. Those troupes are the Skandia Dancers, Dunaj International Dance Ensemble, Polskie Iskry, Fuundala and Tanza.

The eight women and 20 children in the Irvine Evergreen troupe are daughters, grandchildren or friends of the Irvine senior association’s members, Chu said.

“The troupe was formed to support programs at our monthly meetings and celebrations,” she said, “and they help to promote Chinese culture in the community through dance,” performing at such venues as the Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange.

Some members learned folk dance in Taiwan, Chu said, and others learned from troupe choreographer Mei Ling Lee, a Taiwan native who studied various forms of dance there and in Japan and now teaches at Irvine’s Lakeview Senior Center. (Lee teaches a free introductory Chinese folk dance class at the center on Tuesdays at 8:30 a.m.)

“The dancers started folk dancing as a hobby and for exercise, then they started performing together and found out it’s a lot of fun. They are all volunteers doing it for the fun and love of dance.”

* What: 25th Annual Laguna Folkdance Festival.

* When: Friday, Feb. 10, through Sunday, Feb. 12. Friday: dance workshop, 7:30-9:30 p.m.; dance party, 9:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday: advanced workshop, 10 a.m.-noon; various workshops, 1:30-4:30 p.m.; Valentine dance and party, 7:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Sunday: free introduction to folk dancing, 11:45-1:15 p.m. in school cafeteria; Kolo (Yugoslavian dances) party, noon-1:15 p.m.; dance concert with six folk dance troupes, 1:30-3 p.m.; dance party, 3-5:30 p.m.

* Where: Ensign Intermediate School gymnasium, 2000 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach.

* Whereabouts: Corona del Mar (73) Freeway south to Irvine Avenue. Go south on Irvine Avenue, then turn left on Cliff Drive.

* Wherewithal: Admission to the entire three-day festival is $33 at the door; admission to Sunday’s performance only is $8. Tickets to other events, such as workshops and dance parties, may be purchased without attending the entire festival; prices range from $6 to $9.

* Where to call: (714) 646-7082, (714) 545-1957 or (714) 494-7683.

MORE DANCE:

The Van Nuys-based Djimbe West African Drummers and Dancers perform Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Cal State Long Beach. The troupe, which performs in styles from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Liberia, has appeared at the Kaleidoscope festival in Costa Mesa, and was part of South Coast Repertory’s 1992 production of “Twelfth Night.” $6; $4 for children 12 and under. (310) 985-7000.