The Brilliant Sunset Chorus Festival, with more tha 80 performers, recently appeared with two Los Angeles gospel choirs – Sunnyside Baptist Church and L.A. Community Praise Choir – in an East meets West cultural celebration at West Los Angeles College.
The event was part of the community college’s Global Studies Speaker and Event Series.
Brilliant Sunset provides a series of cultural activities organized by the Culture Committee of Gerontological Society of China.
The purpose of Brilliant Sunset is to provide “patience, care and love” to older citizens and to showcase their talent. The troupe’s dancers and singers were mostly age 60 or older. They have performed throughout Asia, in Russia, Austria and the United States.
In the last few years, West has been integrating global studies into all aspects of the academic experience from the classroom to extracurricular activities.
WLAC now offers a degree in Global Studies and offers short-term study-abroad opportunities to locations including Spain, Morocco, the Dominican Republic and Ireland. In partnership with the University of West Los Angeles, the college is raising funds for 20 study-abroad scholarships to China in the near future.
“What started out as a simple study-abroad program quickly turned into a life changing experience. Prof. Boutry made the class come alive with real life illustrations,” wrote student Kyle Kalmanson of his recent two-week trip to Ireland as part of a WLAC English course.
In the same week as the East meets West event, the Global Studies program also hosted guest speaker, David Goldblatt. Goldblatt, a distinguished writer, journalist and visiting professor at Pitzer College, discussed how the soccer World Cup provides a powerful lens for examining the course of globalization and global history.
Video clips can be seen at www.WLAC.edu/Events/Gallery/Chinese2016.
