Saugus High School’s Lunar New Year Festival is only three years old, but for some students, it’s already become an event that’s helped to define their high school experience.
That’s because the festival – a showcase of song and dance performances by a mix of Mandarin students at Saugus and professional outside groups – was organized by Mandarin teacher Angela Su, who students said has maintained strong relationships with many students who’ve entered the Mandarin program.
Seth Arguel, a senior, was one of those students, who stood behind an outdoor banquet table last week after the first round of performances, serving people from a biscuit plate in a long line of trays piled with traditional Chinese snacks, including candied grapes.
“I took her course for one year, but I stayed really close to the teacher, helping help out in stuff in the classroom,” Arguel said. “So that’s why I got all my friends to help out every year.”
As the sun went down, students and professional dancers brought a mix of traditional Chinese art, solo exhibitions and even K-Pop to a Saugus High School courtyard outside Su’s classroom.
In the festival’s opening number, the Santa Clarita Chinese Fusion Dance Group performed “Chant of the Water Dragon,” a complex yet fluid piece featuring coordinated fans. West Ranch High School junior Sirui Zhang performed a high-speed solo with a flowing blue dragon banner.
“It’s kind of like that gymnastic stuff, it’s really fun,” Zhang said. “I choreographed the dragon dance … it’s so pretty, and we hope to have more opportunities to perform this one.”
Four of Su’s own students also brought solo performances to the slate. Junior Archer Jeng performed “Remote Xianggelila,” a delicate piano number; freshman Lola Johns sung the 1970s Taiwanese hit “The Moon Represents My Heart” fully in Mandarin; and senior Abigail Smith and freshman Deborah Alvarez performed a hit TikTok dance.
After the performances, attendees were invited to join in on activities stations set up throughout the classrooms next door, including Mahjong, calligraphy writing, face painting, press-on nails and 3D puzzles.
That suite of crowd-pleasers was chosen in the service of what Arguel said has always been the function of the high school’s Lunar Festival: to bring people together, while teaching them to appreciate a culture with a sometimes unsung presence in Santa Clarita.
“I get to see all the hard work that my teacher puts into it culminate into an event where just lots of people come and … enjoy the food, have a good time with other people, and appreciate the Chinese culture,” Arguel said.
