Although Brandeis Chinese Cultural Connection puts on a Lunar New Year show every year, some years are decisively more successful than others. This year's show, almost four hours in length including the intermission, managed to pack in a lot of great acts. Most noticeable was a palpable sense of friendship among performers and audience members alike-the visible camaraderie onstage translated into an enthusiastic, receptive and boisterous audience. Overall, the show would have benefited from fewer acts and a slightly more polished production, but the charm and talent of many of the performers kept the audience entertained. The show started a little later than the scheduled 6 p.m. on Saturday, but one could immediately see the great effort that had gone into decorating the Carl J. Shapiro Theater, which was packed beyond full capacity. Red and gold streamers were strung all along the aisles, and paper lanterns and red banners hung about the stage in front of a lovely backdrop of a gold painted tiger. Emcees Olen Shen '10 and Charles Hu '11 started off the ceremony with a brief explanation of the origins of the Chinese zodiac as well as some facts about the year of the tiger, then introduced the first act of the evening, a friendly group sing-along comprised of BC3's executive board members: Co-Presidents Ann-Nin Wong '11 and Karen Hu '12, Treasurer Travis Chui '12, Publicity Chair Wei-Huan Chen '12, Secretary Tina Rong '11 and Intercultural Center Representative Max Xu '13. Traditionally, each Lunar New Year show also contains a "freshman skit," and this year was no exception. Five brave first-years (in addition to some older guests) performed a humorous, glib morality skit about spending money obtained from hong bao, or the red envelopes received as gifts from Chinese relatives during the holidays.

This was followed by what was easily the most adorable performance of the evening, a young troupe of Chinese yo-yo performers from the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association. The children could not have been older than ages eight to 13, and the initial performance-a group of children spinning glow-in-the-dark yo-yos-was followed by even more impressive individual performances involving a variety of tricks in addition to even more complicated maneuvers involving multiple spinners. True, the children did drop the yo-yos on occasion, but this seemed to endear them to the audience even further, for you could often see the performers' disappointed expressions. Clearly, they were very skilled, but they were certainly not icy professionals, which helped contribute to the convivial atmosphere of the show.

The rest of the first act was mostly followed by a number of vocal performances that were generally sweet and competently performed but did not quite match the dynamic level of the yo-yo performers, although there was certainly a lot of powerful emoting. Many of these songs were quite recognizable to the audience, such as Jay Chou's "An Jing," during which I could hear people behind me singing along. One act that stood out was a "voice double" comedy skit performed by Lisa Qi '11 and Chui, in which Chui read a script while Qi performed the script. Now, I think comedy is even harder to pull off than effective vocal or dance performances, but this pair managed to make it work with a combination of Qi's exasperated seriousness foiled by Chui's almost buoyant effervescence. Act I ended with a presentation on China Care, a charity devoted to improving the health care of orphans in China.

Act II began with a lion dance by members of the Calvin Chin Martial Arts Academy, which was entertaining if standard fare, followed by some martial arts performances. Unusually, this year's show also included an interactive trivia section in which the emcees quizzed the audience about various facts relating to the Lunar New Year, handing out various prizes to the correct guessers. I am one of those people who is always a little disappointed when "cultural" shows are composed of nothing more than tasty food and flashy dances, so I was pleased to see that some measure of knowledge was being foisted upon the audience. Members of the GBCCA (a few of whom I recognized from the yo-yo act) next performed songs on the erhu, a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument. Although they began with somewhat of a novelty piece, a theme from the Lord of the Rings film franchise that was recognizable but curiously distorted, they were really at their best when performing traditional pieces meant to be played on the erhu, such as their last song, "Horse Running on a Field." Somehow, the instruments really managed to not only recreate the clip-clop of hooves but the imagined grace of those running horses, even ending on an instrument-created whinny.

Other pieces from Act II included a traditional fan dance that morphed into a hip-hop piece involving no fans and Lady Gaga's "Lovegame," a pleasant and entertaining fusion of seemingly conflicting dance styles. A team of first-year girls also performed "You're the Most Popular," an energetic vocal piece that highlighted their strong voices but suffered from the same technical mishaps that had plagued some earlier performances. Microphones seemed to go in and out of service, most prominently in this act, when one girl had to share a mike with her peer for most of the song. However, this was followed by perhaps the most impressive act, a trio of break dancers called "Level Up Boy," who were not only highly skilled but also humorously self-effacing. They provided some of the most entertaining moments of the evening when they combined some wince-inducing physical feats with a self-deprecating air. Lunar New Year ended, as it often does, with a fashion show featuring many of its performers that gradually segued into a series of effusive and heartfelt thank-yous from the e-board. Then the audience was ushered out to enjoy the mounds of Americanized Chinese food that awaited them in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium-perhaps a little worn from the length of the performance, but in genial spirits nonetheless.

Editor's note: Wei-Huan Chen is a Justice staff writer.