From Dragon dances and beautiful music, to Chinese food and cultural art, the Chinese New Year is being celebrated this week in Casper.

On Thursday, January 31st, Paradise Valley Elementary School will present  "The Heaven Sent Pig", a "narrated musical story" performed by students of the Mandarin Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program. That program is in its sixth year at the school, and gives students half-day immersion within the Mandarin language.

This is the Year Of The Pig by the Zodiac calendar, said music teacher Nathan Gurtler. Once they found the story of the Heaven Sent Pig, they adapted and wrote the script, and added the music, choreography and video elements, and the celebration involves more than the performances.  "The entire school transforms from school hallways to Chinatown alleyways with student art work," said Gurtler. "Everything is done by students, and it's just incredible to walk through and to be a part of."

A series of school performances for all grades will be held throughout the day, including a livestream of the 9:00am 5th Grade Performance which you can watch HERE.

The celebration continues Friday, February 1st with Chinese New Year at The Nic, from 5:30pm to 8:00pm at the Nicolaysen Art Museum.

The event will include a performance of "The Heaven Sent Pig" and a cultural presentation along with Dragon and Lion Dances, J S Chinese Food and drinks for purchase, an art sale and art projects, and a raffle.

Admission $5.00, $3.00 for children, free for Children under 2 and NIC members.

Courtesy Nathan Gurtler
Courtesy Nathan Gurtler
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