This is a consecutive year of postponement for the 14th Annual Asian Cultural Expo from October to November due to hurricane Milton! Yet, all the Dragon boat teams and performing groups were not discouraged by the change of date nor the weather!
At early Sunday morning (3rd November), all the Dragon boat teams were ready to compete the GWN Dragon Boat 16th Annual Orlando International Dragon Boat Festival at the Bill Frederick Park Turkey Lake Park! By 10am the stage program was on whilst the Dragon boats were competing. Everybody enjoys the traditional Lion dance, especially when the REACH of Central Florida (Recognizing Experiencing Asian Culture Heritage) team who led the dance held a workshop afterwards, the audience’s eyes were brightened up when they had a chance to hold the lion costume and move about! We had 2 Chinese dances: one by two sisters, Isabel and Lydia, called ‘A Stroll into the Spring’; and the other called ‘Picturesque Jiang Nan’ by Meiyu Dance group – both fully demonstrated the grace and technique in the movements of folk dances in ancient China. Indonesian dancers performed a dance called ‘Ondel Ondel’ which drew the full attention of the audience as usual. Then, switched to the very popular KPop dance which is always a favourite for the younger generation! The students (aged between 5-10 ) from CAACF sang us a fun song which was very cute! There was also the fascinating Yo-yo demonstration, also by the students of CAACF. The audience was really excited and eager to have a go on handling the yo-yo themselves when the workshop started! The last workshop was conducted by the Kalena’s Polynesian Ohana group after their wonderful performance of several Polynesian dances. It is so interesting to learn to maneuver the lower body which almost all the Pacific Islands dances require – it’s a lot of fun!
In the past years, Taiji has been ACExpo’s main Chinese Kung Fu demonstration. This year we have Wing Chun Kung Fu demonstration by Sifu Moy and students for a change. As far as I know, there are certain similarities between these two types of Chinese Kung Fu such as the slow movements. However, I think the main difference is when one does Wing Chun, one normally uses a wooden (like a tree trunk with branches sticking out) target to practice the movements with where as Taiji is free hand movements! It seemed the audience was keen to find out how does it work in terms of defending oneself!
It is worth mentioning there is a ’Breast Cancer Survivor Ceremony’ during this event when the survivors would throw flowers into the lake and have a moment of silence!
The weather had been fantastic and everybody who came out for the day should have had an enjoyable time! Asia Trend organizes the Asian Cultural Expo event every year, and 3 of it’s members are also in the CHARGE Dragon Boat team which won the Gold medal in it’s league for the 3rd consecutive year – many congratulations!
Thank you to all Sponsors, Vendors, Performers and volunteers who contributed to the success of the event! See you again at ACExpo 2025!
Please accept our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to making the 14th Annual Asian Cultural EXPO 2024 a memorable event. We had a fabulous time. Our diverse community is grateful for all of you who came out to celebrate! Thanks to the sponsors, vendors, performers, and audiences who made it unforgettable. To all GWN Dragon Boat racers, what an incredible performance.
Thanks to the sponsors who make this event possible: GWN Dragon Boat, Dr Puxiao Cen, and The DAVE School. Vendors include NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Blended Bistro & Boba, Cruncheese Korean Hot Dog, Inihaw Filipino Food, Sweet shiba Asian street food, Yumsty’s Filipino Kakanin, Taste of Indonesia, Chinese American Association of Central Florida CAACF, The Chinese School of CAACF 中佛州中華學校, and R.E.A.C.H. of Central Florida.
We are able to continue and support many Asian cultural performing groups because of you! Thank you Kalena’s Polynesian ‘Ohana – Florida, Isabel & Lydia Zou, Indonesian Cultural Group, Meiyu Dance Group, StarFire K-pop Dance Group, Wing Chun Kung Fu Sifu John Moy and students.
