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Chinese New Year Celebrations with picture gallery
THIS multi-coloured roaring dragon will be dancing its way into Sheffield for Chinese New Year.
The New Year celebrations will have special meaning for Sheffield's Chinese community this month.
Pupils of the Sheffield Chinese School will perform their lion and dragon dances for the first time, thanks to a 6,000 grant.
The cash, from the Local Network Fund through South Yorkshire Community Foundation, has allowed Paul Cheung and volunteers from the 3,000 strong Chinese community to set up a cultural performance group.
Their first public appearances will be at the Oasis in Meadowhall on Tuesday February 13 and outside the Sheffield Town Hall on their New Year's Eve, on Saturday February 17.
Mr Cheung said: "We have 34 children and adults learning the dragon dance, which needs a lot of people, and the Lion dance which needs only two - one at the head and the other at the tail. We also have four young people learning to play traditional instruments and 10 girls learning Chinese folk dances.
"It will be the first time that we've done such a performance in South Yorkshire so we are really excited about it."
He added: "The dragon dance attracts a mix of people. It's the New Year dance and there would not be a celebration without it. It's a really important part of our culture."
The Chinese School, which has been operating since 1974 and is run by volunteers, holds cultural classes at King Edward VII School on Glossop Road, Broomhill, every Sunday, including language classes in Mandarin and Cantonese.
The management committee is now applying for charitable status to access more funding to help keep the school going.
Pauline Grice, chief executive of the South Yorkshire Community Foundation, said: "Their project was an ideal one to be funded from the Local Network Fund. It's part of a national programme which enables over 900,000 to be dist-ributed to community groups."
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
