Lion dancing, dragon dancing and a panda were crowd-pleasers at the annual Lunar New Year assembly performance, put on by all of the Mandarin classes.

Each year, the performance is completely unique, coordinated by Jasmine Xiang, Branson’s Mandarin teacher. The end result demonstrated her and her students’ hard efforts. 

“I feel very proud of them because they really work hard on it,” Xiang said. “You can see their smiling faces, their confidence and their interaction. I really appreciate it.”

A lot of energy and time is put into each performance: Xiang spent over 15 hours ironing the costumes over the course of four nights at Branson.

“It’s very hard to put different students from different classes together, especially because I’m the only Chinese teacher here, teaching six different classes,” she said. 

These performances have been a tradition at Branson ever since Xiang joined the faculty.

“This is, I think, the fourth year of this performance,” she said. “I came to Branson in the summer of 2020, and then in 2021, I don’t think I put it on because of Covid.”

As for where she gets her ideas for the performance, Xiang said she gets inspiration from a variety of places over the course of the school year.

“When I watch musicals at San Francisco Opera House or I see the films or whatever I do, I think, ‘How can I bring in something, integrate them into my Chinese and teaching and the Chinese performances?’” said Xiang.