14
QUEENS WEEKLY, MAY 12, 2019
Chinese Music Society to perform ‘Changes’ at Flushing
celebration of Asian American Heritage Month
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
In celebration of Asian
American Heritage Month,
The Chinese Ba Ban Music
Society will be presenting
their experimental and
immersive performance
of “Changes.”
Ba Ban’s experimental
original work on Saturday,
May 18, will configure
Flushing Town Hall’s
theater into a shape of a
bagua, a Chinese religious
motif that incorporates
the eight trigrams of the I
Ching (Book of Changes),
arranged around a symbol
denoting the balance of yin
and yang.
The performance
will incorporate ancient
Chinese music, dancing,
singing and tai chi to
explore the power of
change and the universal
energy that emanates from
humans and nature. In this
site-specific show, eight
performers will improvise
based on audience response
and interaction.
“May is Asian
American Heritage Month,
a celebration of the culture,
traditions, and history
of Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders,” says
Flushing Town Hall
Executive and Artistic
Director Ellen Kodadek.
“Flushing Town Hall is
proud to elevate Asian and
Asian American artists and
groups like Ba Ban through
our extensive global arts
programming, and we are
thrilled to present Changes
this month.”
Led by pipa virtuoso
Zhou Yi, Ba Ban is dedicated
to the preservation,
creation, and presentation
of Chinese traditional and
contemporary performing
arts. Named after an ancient
piece of folk music, Ba Ban
means “eight beats,” which
is the structural basis for
the grouping of notes in
traditional Chinese music.
“We are thrilled to be
presenting our original
work at Flushing Town
Hall,” said Yi. “It will
immerse the audience in
the resonance of thousandyear
old Chinese musical
instruments, swaying
silken water sleeve dance,
the pleasant fluctuation of
singing sound waves, and
the refreshing energy flow
of tai chi.”
Ba Ban’s ensemble
includes highly
accomplished artists who
perform on silk and bamboo
instruments, including
dizi (bamboo flutes), sheng
(mouth organ), pipa (lute),
ruan (alto lute), guzheng
(zither), huqin (fiddle), and
yangqin (dulcimer). For
this performance, Ba Ban
will be joined by guest
dancers Ling Tang and
Guanglei Hui.
Since its founding
in 1999, the group has
performed at Carnegie
Hall, Lincoln Center, the
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York University,
Harvard, Princeton, Yale,
Peabody Conservatory of
Music, Eastman School
of Music, and the Longy
School of Music.
Also this month brings
the family-friendly Beauty
and the Beast show from
National Marionette
Theatre on May 11 and
Country Blues & Dance on
May 31, a celebration of the
shared music and dance
traditions of the Piedmont
and Appalachian regions.
Tickets are $16 for
members $10 for students,
and free for teens. Tickets
can be purchased at
flushingtownhall.org or
by calling (718) 463-7700,
ext. 222.
Flushing Town Hall
is accessible by car, bus,
train and foot – located a
short distance from the 7
train – at 137-35 Northern
Blvd, in Flushing. Access
for wheelchair users and
individuals with limited
mobility is available.
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by email at
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at
(718) 260–4526.
The Ba Ban Chinese Music Society
Photo courtesy of Flushing Town Hall
Queens has just seven early voting sites thus far for 2019
BY BILL PARRY
A Queens lawmaker
wants the city’s Board of
Elections (BOE) to go back
to the drawing board when
it comes to early voting
sites in the borough.
At a press conference
on May 3 at LaGuardia
Community College, state
Senator Michael Gianaris
called on the BOE to create
more than seven early poll
sites for voters in Queens,
which has the secondhighest
population in the
state (by county) and the
largest geographic area in
the city.
“Seven polling sites
for more than two million
people is an affront to
democracy. The Board of
Elections plan deserves a
recount,” Gianaris said.
“We passed this law to
make it easier for millions
of New Yorkers to vote.
The Board of Elections
needs to step up so more
New Yorkers will vote.”
Under the state’s new
early-voting law, Queens
residents will be able to
cast their votes nine days
before Election Day this
year. But the BOE plan
submitted to the state
this week had just the
seven locations, and “the
few sites chosen are not
even convenient for many
residents,” Gianaris wrote
in a letter to the Board
of Elections.
He charged that BOE
had “submitted the
minimum necessary for
legal compliance, in the
process setting the stage
for failure of the early
voting process by only
having one site for every
337,000 Queens residents.”
The preliminary
list of locations chosen,
according to Gothamist/
WNYC are Rentar Plaza
in Middle Village;
LaGuardia Community
College in Long Island
City; York College in
Jamaica; Queens Borough
Hall in Kew Gardens,
Resorts World Casino New
York City at Aqueduct
Racetrack in South Ozone
Park; the Al Oerter
Recreation Center in
Flushing Meadows Corona
Park ;and the Rockaway
YMCA at Arverne
by the Sea.
“Early voting should
enable the most people
possible to cast ballots
prior to Election Day and
that requires more sites,
in more neighborhoods
that are easily accessible
to public transportation,”
Gianaris wrote.
City Councilman Costa
Constantinides took
issue with the BOE for
placing a single polling
site in western Queens,
at LaGuardia Community
College in Long
Island City.
“It is shameful that the
Board of Elections has
stymied the ability to vote
early in western Queens,”
Constantinides said.
“We are on of the densest
parts of the second-most
populous section of New
York City, yet our borough
will have a paltry seven
sites. Earlier voting is
supposed to make our
American right easier,
not harder.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio
urged the BOE to use $75
million dedicated in his
executive budget to open
100 early voting sites
across the city.”
During a City Hall
hearing on April 30, the
BOE’s executive director
Michael Ryan said they
were facing resistance
from locations that did
not want to be used for
early voting because it
consumed too much time.
Each election will now be
an eleven day event for
early voting and a set-up
day prior to Election Day.
“The Board of
Elections is doing the bare
minimum to implement
early voting, especially in
Queens where there are
more voters assigned to
each polling site than any
other borough,”Common
Cause New York Executive
Director Susan Lerner
said. “This is not only
inexcusable, but likely a
violation of state law. We
need between 50-100 voting
centers across the city to
serve New Yorkers in nontraditional
locations, close
to transportation, boroughwide,
and including city
and state facilities. Both
the city and the state have
devoted millions of dollars
to make early voting a
success, it’s time for the
BOE to step up.”
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by email at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
Voters at St. Margaret School in Middle Village on Election
Day 2018. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
/flushingtownhall.org
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