Children's Museum 100th anniversary.

100 years ago the Boston Children's Museum opened at the Pinebank Mansion, Jamaica Pond. Last night they commemorated their 100th year anniversary. The hired Gund Kwok for Dragon dance and Gund Kwok brought us in to do lion due because they didn't have the people to do both that night. It was fun, exciting.. it was as the coordinator told me it would be... organized chaos. The plans kept changing as we went along. But the truth is lion dancers should thrive in situations like this. Nothing is more organized chaos than Chinese New Year. Added to the many teams going to different restaurants and businesses while customers are till going in and out, and while chiang's are set up and firecrackers set off, is much more chaotic than the controlled setting that e had last night. But still, it was out of our Chinatown element. I saw some younger members of the team grow a few years in experience and adapt to the surroundings. There was adrenaline, there was the unexpected, and they did it anyway.
A lot of the communication was done by last minute eye contact, the coordinator signaling me, a Gund Kwok member signaling me, and then me signaling the drum and talking to the head and the tail. It was great. It was a rush. It was true sport, true lion dance, true team work. The fact that your not sure what exactly is coming next, does not mean that you don't know what you're doing. I was signaled to end the dance early as the Boston Youth Choir was already set up, and then they started their performance.
It was one of the better dances I was part of. It reminded me of the when I organized the Mother's Day/Asian American Pacific Islander Event a couple years ago. When things happen differently (and not necessarily worse) than you expect, you can either adapt and enjoy it, or get stuck at that and replay your negative thoughts. Instead of throwing out gut reflexes to changing situations focus on the positive. Positive events, positive people, positive energy. Speaking of which off I go to teach my 10am Kung Fu and Lion Dance class for children and their parents at Pine Bank, Jamaica Pond, where the Children's museum started. And a class full of excited energized children.