Since 2007, Celebrating Arts has conducted 14 international arts exchanges, including tours in both the U.S. and China. Explore our gallery timeline below to see tour photos and learn more about these past events.
SEPTEMBER 2007
Beginnings: The CCTV Galaxy Children’s Choir Tour
Celebrating Arts was founded in 2006 after young pianists from Utah traveled to China on a performance tour with their parent chaperones, where they shared the stage with the prestigious CCTV Galaxy Children’s Choir in Beijing. The angelic voices of this 50-voice children’s choir inspired our founder, Julie Haupt, to bring this choir to sing with “America’s choir,” the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Within a nine-month time frame and under the direction of a small group of the parent chaperones from the China tour who formed the non-profit organization, five milestones were accomplished: (a) obtain an invitation to perform by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, (b) receive a letter of introduction to Chinese officials by Utah Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., (c) secure permission from Chinese officials for the CCTV Galaxy Children’s Choir to visit the United States for the first time, (d) raise the money needed to fund a 10-day tour to Utah and California for a 50-member Chinese delegation, and (e) obtain visas in time.
In September 2007, the dream became a reality. The Chinese delegation arrived for a tour that included seven performances, host family stays, cultural exchange activities with American youth, and sightseeing. The tour’s highlight was the performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the Sunday broadcast, Music and the Spoken Word. Through their completely volunteer efforts, the members of the board and various volunteers created a never-to-be forgotten experience for all who participated in the tour, including many members of live audiences and millions in the radio/television broadcast audience.
FEBRUARY 2010
A Bridge to China: The Young Artists of China Tour
Building upon the success of the earlier tour, Celebrating Arts established a relationship with the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), China’s foremost arts organization. CFLAC and Celebrating Children collaborated on a second tour that included the CCTV Galaxy Children’s Choir and Inner Mongolian youth dancers and musicians in an 82-member Chinese delegation. Host homes, performances, and cultural exchanges with local children and youth were again important in establishing the people-to-people connection so crucial to successful cultural exchange. A small group of officers and volunteers again planned, prepared, raised money, and accompanied the tour.
With the objective of strengthening international ties, these young Chinese performers participated in more than 14 performances or youth cultural exchanges during the two-week tour in Hawaii and Utah. Highlights included performing for 2,200 school children in a concert in Abravanel Hall, a special performance in the events center on the campus of BYU-Hawaii, a school performance at BYU’s De Jong Concert Hall, and various exchanges with university programs, youth liaisons, and host families. The final event was an inspiring performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. During this tour, a film crew beautifully captured the tour’s spirit of international goodwill and friendship in the 90-minute documentary, “A Bridge to China” (available for online streaming at www.byutv.org).
JUNE 2011
A Bridge to China Re-Crossed: The American Tapestry Tour
In a generous gesture of international cooperation, CFLAC offered to host and fund a 50-person American youth delegation to China in June 2011. On this remarkable performance tour, the American delegation revisited friends from the 2010 tour while performing and touring in Beijing and Inner Mongolia, as well as Hangzhou. In each of these three Chinese cities, these American youth (ages 15-18) performed An American Tapestry, a Broadway-style extravaganza created and choreographed by talented director, Paul Winkelman. The performing cast was composed of a formation dance team, several ballroom soloists, and vocalists. The 90-minute show presented 27 numbers highlighting various periods of American song and dance from the 1880’s to the present. Complete with videography, brilliant costuming, and Chinese narration, the show was impressive to audiences.
In each city, a cast of 50 local Chinese dancers and singers rehearsed with the American youth and joined the program for several joint elements, symbolizing the grasping of hands across international boundaries. Chinese host families warmly welcomed these young Americans into their Beijing homes, giving these young Americans a deep appreciation for the Chinese people. Sightseeing included the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the 2008 Olympic venues, West Lake, and the wide expanse of the Inner Mongolian grasslands. The tour created unforgettable experiences and memories for these young American performers, as well as for all the Chinese people they touched in audiences, in schools, in host families, and in the streets.
SEPTEMBER 2013
More International Exposure: The 9th Annual China International Folk Arts Festival
Celebrating Arts was invited by CFLAC to bring a 32-member dance troupe to represent America among 14 other nations in the International Folk Arts Festival held once every three years. The prestigious event was held in Yichang (the Three Gorges area) and in Beijing. In collaboration with Utah Valley University, the organization made arrangements for the UVU Ballroom Tour Team, directed by Paul Winkelman, to participate in the event. They gave an exemplary performance in the nationally televised Opening Ceremonies for the event, performed with Chinese dancers in an evening concert in Beijing, and danced frequently at famous Chinese sites, such as the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. They represented well their university, the state of Utah, and the United States in China.
2012, 2013, 2014
The Dream Continues: Chinese New Year Tours
In February 2012, 2013, and 2014, the newly named organization, Celebrating Arts, collaborated with the Beijing All-Star Children’s Activity Center to give Chinese school children a Utah experience in conjunction with their visit to the U.S. to celebrate and participate in the Chinese New Year parades in Los Angeles. While in Utah for several days, they stayed with host families, participated in school exchanges, saw the NBA’s Utah Jazz in action, and went sledding at Soldier Hollow. In 2012, 50 junior high school students completed a successful and memorable visit. In February 2013, the Chinese group was composed of 125 visitors in total (more than 100 Chinese singers, dancers and musicians, ages 8-17). In 2014, more than 100 Chinese youth performed for local audiences at a high school to share Chinese art and culture.
July 2014
Special Invitation: “Meet in Beijing” Dance Festival
As a result of the successful performance tour to China in September 2013 by the UVU Ballroom Dance Tour Team, leaders of an arts group in Beijing extended an invitation for the team to return to China in July 2014. The non-profit organization made the arrangements for a 16-member ballroom team to accept the invitation, enabling the dance team to further spread good will through cultural exchange in Beijing and Kaiyuan (Liaoning Province), China.
Over the course of the 10-day tour, the team performed 10 times, including 4 formal performances for more than 5,000 people in total. Coverage of this national festival in the China Daily spread quickly through various media outlets with photos and captions posted on dozens of Chinese websites. The Ballroom Team received an Outstanding Performance Award for their exhibition performance at the festival. A highlight of the tour was the visit to Kaiyuan for a cultural exchange with school children and a professional performance, including a long feature story on the local television evening news. In 2015, dance and choral instructors from Utah Valley University led teachers from 5 Chinese provinces in several days of workshops to improve art instruction for children in Chinese afterschool programs.
SEPTEMBER 2015
Expanding Vision: Beijing Baotashan Choir in Utah
In September, the Beijing Baotashan Choir visited the United States to perform in Los Angeles and Utah. Hosting the Utah portion of their trip, the organization made arrangements for them to do exchanges, performances and visits at three universities in Utah (UVU, BYU, and University of Utah). They performed at the State Conference of the Utah Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, visited Arches National Park, and heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform. The choir consists of Chinese retirees who blend the folk music of China, including ethnic folk music from a variety of regions, with professional techniques. The choir is directed by a nationally acclaimed conductor, Mr. Yan Bozheng. With the hosting of a group of Chinese retirees, the organization has expanded its reach beyond the youth it was originally designed to serve and now more broadly serves a variety of art communities.
JULY 2016
Re-imagining Exchange in Idaho, USA and Beijing
The next collaboration between Celebrating Arts and associates in the largest arts organizations in China took 80 youth from premier high schools in Beijing to the studios of Extreme Ballroom in Idaho Falls, Idaho in February 2016 to learn more about Music Dance Theater and to begin work on a production to be staged with 40 Extreme dancers in July 2016. This exchange culminated in a large stage-production Broadway Revue, held in Beijing, China, involving 120 youth in full costume for 25+ numbers, including videography. As the Chinese and U.S. youth shared the stage and entertained Chinese audiences with this Broadway Revue, they also shared a message of the importance of growing up responsibly and learning to contribute well as citizens in their two respective nations.
AUGUST 2019
Coming Full-Circle in Fujian Province and at the 11th China International Folk Arts Festival
In the summer of 2019, Celebrating Arts was honored to collaborate once again with the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Extreme Ballroom Company, and for the first time with the Wuping County Government in Fujian Province, China. In memory of the father of Celebrating Arts’ vice president, Jing Jing Lin, Extreme Ballroom Company visited the Lin family’s hometown of Wuping to perform for the community. This was truly a full-circle moment, as Mr. Lin had been instrumental in some of the earliest U.S.-China cultural exchanges following the formalization of the countries’ diplomatic relations in 1979. Extreme Ballroom’s talented young dancers once again put on a vibrant performance, titled The Stories. Each number told a story of fantasy, joy, love, or hope through music and dance from classic American films, singers, and more. While in Wuping, the group also had the opportunity to meet local high school students and create new friendships.
Following a successful week in Wuping, the group traveled to the provincial capital of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, to represent the United States in the 11th China International Folk Arts Festival. Along with performing groups from over a dozen other nations, Extreme Ballroom performed in two nights of televised performances and traveled throughout the greater Hohhot area to perform for local audiences.