The Sound of Tea Festival
The Forge in Camden, is delighted to host the second Sound of Tea Festival - a celebration of ancient Chinese culture brought to life with contemporary performing arts.
Across two afternoons in May, The Forge on Delancey Street will embark on an exciting collaboration of tea, dance and music, in association with The Chinese Tea Company.
Tea is one of the great British institutions and is set to be a hot trend for 2012, with all the exciting things going on in London, such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.
The Sound of Tea Festival will be a great way to tap into this very British tradition whilst exploring the ancient roots of tea, as well as experiencing a ritualistic performance of traditional Chinese tea ceremony combined with an ancient Chinese music and Taiji, the age-old dance traditionally performed in Chinese tea ceremonies.
The Forge is recognised as one of London’s most exciting small venues, presenting both established and up-and-coming new artists side-by-side and prides itself on providing innovative events throughout the year.
The Sound of Tea Festival
On Sunday 27th May and Wednesday 30th May
Chinese Lutenist and Counter Tenor Cheng-Ying Chuang and Tea Artisan, Audrey Sun perform the Chinese Tea Ceremony Award-winning musician Cheng-Ying Chuang is joined by Tea Artisan, Audrey Sun for an evening that explores a cultural and inspirational take on Taiji, Tea and Music.
A combination of traditional and modern culture, The Sound of Tea event embarks on a journey of the traditional Chinese tea ceremony accompanied with ancient Chinese music.
The ceremony will be divided into 3 sections:
1. Pure music recital: Beginning with a solo performance from Cheng-Ying, playing pieces of music which derive from a first chosen tea’s, growing land
2. Tea Ceremony with music: Cheng Ying and Audrey Sun perform the typical Ancient Chinese Tea Ceremony. This performance focuses on the second chosen tea.
3. Taiji merges into the Tea Ceremony with Music: The performance concludes by merging Taiji, a form of martial arts into the ceremony. Cheng Ying also combines Buddhist percussion instruments with her Chinese Lute which is accompanied with chanting from Audrey Sun.
The History of the Tea Ceremony
For centuries, the Chinese and Japanese have practised the tea ceremony as a way of relaxing the mind and encouraging social bonding.
This ancient, poetic and hypnotic ritual takes years of training. The purpose of the tea ceremony is to produce the finest and most aromatic brew from high quality tea, and to taste the variations in flavour and finish as the tea changes over many infusions. All of this is done with the artistic skill, knowledge and movement of the tea master.
All the tea used is provided by The Chinese Tea Company. The audience will also be given a small tea sample as a complementary gift.
Sunday 27th May
Doors open at 3.00pm for 3.30pm start.
Wednesday 30th May
Doors open at 7.00pm for 7.30pm start.
Tickets for both days are priced at £12/10 online and £15/12 on the door