Vancouver’s Chinatown comes alive every Lunar New Year, and a new award-winning documentary is showing why the celebration is so meaningful.
It is not just for the community, but for one family’s legacy.
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Spring After Spring, directed by Vancouver-based filmmaker Jon Chiang, follows the three daughters of the late Maria Mimie Ho as they reunite each year to lead Chinatown’s iconic Lunar New Year parade, which is a tradition their mother helped build and sustain for decades.
The 78-minute documentary focuses on Anabel, Val and Lisa Ho, each accomplished dancers in their own right, as they navigate what it means to honour their mother’s legacy while forging their own paths in dance and performance.
“When I think of the Lunar New Year parade, I really think of the dancers that are part of the Maria Mamie Ho Foundation and the dancers that Mimi brought,” Chiang said.
“I feel like I want people to acknowledge and remember all the people that put things together that create the cultural fabric of our city.”
“It also gives them space to think about what legacies they want to continue in their families, and what traditions they want to carry forward,” Chiang added.
Maria Mimie Ho was a dance educator, artistic director, teacher, and community leader.
Born in Macau and raised in Hong Kong, she immigrated to Canada in 1967 and became a key figure in Vancouver’s Chinese community.
She founded the Strathcona Chinese Dance Company, and each year she brought young dancers to the Lunar New Year parade, teaching generations and making it a cornerstone cultural event.
Lisa Ho, the youngest daughter, is a Broadway performer, and said the parade is more than just a celebration. It’s a way to remember their mother.
“It’s a way to honour my mom, and in some ways it is much more significant than her birthday. These traditional holidays, like Christmas and the Lunar New Year parade, are the way we remember our mom the most,” Lisa Ho said.
“In her fashion, we’re trying to gather, gather the troops, get as many people involved as we can. You don’t have to dance, but you have to have a pulse. And that was sort of like the only requirement,” she added.
Since Ho’s passing in 2010, the sisters have continued leading the parade, keeping their mother’s spirit alive.
Each year, dancers of all ages join the Maria Mimie Ho Foundation, waving flags, spinning silk fans, performing lion dances, and filling the streets with colour and energy, just as their mother did.
The documentary recently won Best Canadian Feature at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival.
It screened at Chinatown Storytelling Centre on Feb. 1, premieres at VIFF Centre on Feb. 6, and airs nationally on Knowledge Network Feb. 17.
The Lunar New Year parade in Vancouver Chinatown takes place on Sunday, Feb. 22, starting at 11 a.m. It will ring in the new year of the fire horse.
