The Year of the Rooster, according to Chinese astrology, is marked by certain character traits 鈥� being active, amusing and popular.
Those three things summed Neezar Joseph鈥檚 job description for LunarFest held at Queen Elizabeth Plaza this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 been a rooster before,鈥� Joseph said while he stepped into the fuzzy yellow bird costume backstage prior to Saturday鈥檚 roaming performances. 鈥淚鈥檝e been a duck and some other birds, a heron and there was a Canada goose in there鈥� But I love the rooster. As a performer and character, the rooster is boisterous and loud. A loud and proud character.鈥�
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Joseph is involved in the circus arts with his company NZR Productions. Crowds don鈥檛 scare him, he said, nor do little kids who sometimes dart under his stilts. His 20-years of professional experience include musical theatre where he recently toured the country with sci-fi musical sex comedy Broken Sex Doll (Joseph wore towering stilts, much higher than the jumping stilts he used during LunarFest, for his role as the King).
His penchant for performance began as vocalist for various bands during the 1990s including Bloody Worm and Duke of Medulla. During that time, he expanded his frontman duties to include fire-breathing. From there, the path to the circus arts was cleared.
鈥淚 was really into Queen, KISS and all those theatrical rock and roll bands. I was in a band, so that鈥檚 how this all started. This is a dream come true,鈥� Joseph said as he flapped the wings on his costume as if to accentuate his point and laughed. 鈥淎s I say while wearing a rooster costume.鈥�
Along with Joseph鈥檚 roaming rooster, LunarFest also featured crafts for kids, carnival games, puppet performances, fortune telling, pottery workshops and, because eating is one of the four key elements of Chinese New Year, a menu that included pork siu mai, shrimp dumplings, pork buns and gyoza.
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LunarFest鈥檚 range was representative of the different cultures that celebrate the Lunar New Year, said Eddy Kuo, one of the celebration鈥檚 project managers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the Chinese who celebrate it, it鈥檚 also the Korean community, Vietnamese, Thai... We want to bring attention to the fact that this is a very important celebration for many Asian cultures,鈥� said Kuo. 鈥淥ur big hope with LunarFest is that, through engagement, we can bring communities together.鈥�
LunarFest is hosted by the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association. The group started in 2009 to participate in the 麻豆传媒映画Winter Olympics Legacy events and the first LunarFest in 2010 was held on Granville Street, marked with a LED-lit Lantern Forest.
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This year, LunarFest also has an art exhibition titled 鈥淎rt of the Rooster鈥� at Oakridge Centre until Feb. 5, which features works of emerging artists from Taiwan. One of the featured artworks is an upside-down traditional Taiwanese home from the 1970s called 鈥淣ew Year 鈥楧ao.鈥欌��
Lunar New Year festivities traditionally start the day before the New Year (this year, Lunar New Year was Jan. 28) and continue until Lantern Festival on Feb. 11.
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CL Lunar 10 鈥�
