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Taipei girls' marching band to perform in US parades

Taipei First Girls High School marching band yesterday perform a dance piece on campus during a ceremony before their departure for the US. PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

The celebrated Taipei First Girls High School marching band has been invited to take part in a number of parades marking the 230th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.

Taipei Deputy Mayor King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) presented the national flag to the 160-member marching band at a ceremony held at the high school yesterday.

`Sunshine Mulans'

He gave his blessing to members of the band, exhorting them to demonstrate all the talent and energy of Taiwanese girls, and to be "sunshine Mulans" -- a reference to an ancient Chinese heroine who posed as a man to join the army in place of her aged father and was later commended by the king for her service.

The marching band is scheduled to take part in Independence Day parades in Longweed Gardens, Pennsylvania, on July 2, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington on July 3 and Annapolis, Maryland, on July 4.

The marching band has been a source of national pride since it first performed overseas in 1996.

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The band won rapturous applause when it marched and played in the Pasadena Rose Parade in California in December that year.

The band has been invited to take part in parades in the US almost every year since, and has also given performances in Japan, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and China.
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