Visit Asia from Towson

By Jessica Novak
Examiner Staff Writer 9/1/08

The Many Moons Festival is Saturday at Towson University. TOWSON – The Beijing Olympics are over, but your curiosity about Asian culture doesn’t have to disappear with the live coverage from the Bird’s Nest.

Towson University’s 4th annual Many Moons Festival promises anime, martial arts, calligraphy, origami, kimono, healing arts and doll-making demonstrations.

A very basic, yet noble, idea drives the all-day festival.

“We try to bring people together, through arts and cultural practices, to connect East with West and the past with the present,” said Taiwan-native Suewhei Shieh, founder of the Many Moons Festival and director of Towson’s Asian Arts and Culture Center.

“The idea is to present as many Asian cultures as possible in one event,” said Shieh, who expects about 3,000 to attend. “It’s such a privilege to be able to introduce the culture that I’m from to a community that is almost another world. Experiencing the festival is like going on a journey to all the different Asian countries without boarding on a plane.”

Gamelan Mitra Kusuma, a group of Americans and Indonesians, will come together at Many Moons to perform Gamelan Angklung style dances — movements rooted in Hindu rituals performed to traditional Balinese percussive instruments “We’ve had wonderful responses from people to our dance. They enjoy the graceful and dynamic hand and head movements and the colorful costumes,” said Gamelan member Latifah Alsegaf.

More than 10,000 miles from her native land, Alsegaf found the door to her heritage through Gamelan Mitra Kusuma, she said. “After being raised in Maryland since I was two, I became more interested in my own culture and dance was a way for me to get back into learning more about Bali, Indonesia.”

Japan, China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Tibet are among the countries represented at Many Moons.

IF YOU GO
Many Moons Festival
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Center for the Arts, Towson University
8000 York Road, Towson
Cost: $13 advanced purchase, $15 at the door, Free for TU students with valid ID.
Info: www.towson.edu/asianarts/ManyMoons08.html

While at the festival, visit the exhibit “Myth and Symbols in Korean American Art,” opening Saturday in conjunction with the Many Moons Festival. In the display, six artists present their personal myths and symbols in every medium from oil painting, to ink work and metal.

jnovak@baltimoreexaminer.com

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