Shirley Chock teaches Liz Celotto how to use a tai chi fan. Photos Kapp Singer.
With a decisive snap of the wrist, Shirley Chock opened her hand fan. A confident thwap echoed through the air. Liz Celotto looked on carefully and tried to mimic her movements. The two went back and forth—teacher and student—grasping their fans, outstretching their arms, and then flicking them at just the right angle until Celotto could unfurl hers with speed.
At a pop-up sponsored by the pan-Asian collective aapiNHV, Chock taught people from around the city the basics of the tai chi fan. The pop-up was one of over 100 stations at Friday’s New Haven Night Market, which drew thousands to the Ninth Square for food, art, music, games, and more. The bazaar is hosted twice a year by the Town Green Special Services District.
“I want people to see tai chi as not something that seniors just do. It has a rich tradition as a martial art,” said Chock, the owner of the Milford-based tai chi studio Aiping Tai Chi whose fan demonstration videos have garnered her over 100,000 followers on Instagram and 1.1 million likes on TikTok.
“The sound of the fan, the look of the fan—it’s just pretty cool,” she added.
Next door, Charlie, age 6, was drawing a cupcake on a paper plate. She grasped a red marker, putting the finishing touches on the confection which sat next to a pizza and a strawberry. After illustrating the meal, she pinned it up on a board next to dozens of others. The activity, also part of aapiNHV’s pop-up, was created by Ming Thompson, an architect and member of A Rising Tide, a collective working to promote Asian and Pacific Islander designers.
Charlie, 6, draws a cupcake.
“Night markets are all over major Asian cities,” said Christine Kim, the founder of aapiNHV. “It’s great that this culture is starting here in New Haven”
Tung Huang, an instructor at Creative Arts Workshop, demonstrated how screen printing works. “When the ink gets everywhere, it gets everywhere,” he said as he covered the screen and pulled the squeegee across, transferring the ink to the plate.
“It’s completely mesmerizing,” said Creative Arts Workshop Director Trina Learned as she looked on. Over the course of the night, Huang printed dozens of pages and hung them up, which, once dry, participants could pick up and take home.
The Timmy Maia Experience performed on the northwest corner of Orange St and Crown St, playing a range of soul, R&B, and Motown hits that got the crowd dancing.
Peace, Love, Books, a mobile bookstore run by Jennifer and Rich Cecarelli of North Haven, offered novels and nonfiction for attendees. The store is a converted 1968 Volkswagen Transporter, which Jennifer, a teacher, and Rich, a farmer, built as a “pandemic passion project.”
“It always seems to make people happy when they see it, which makes us happy,” said TK. “And it’s nice to see kids get excited.”
They donate all of their proceeds, many of which will be supporting Possible Futures’ Little Free Library project.
Jennifer Gargiulio, manager at the New Haven Free Public Library’s Ives Squared center, made complementary buttons for library lovers.
Jean Coriolan chose a “Black authors are lit!” button. She said she specifically picked it for her sister, Cindy Cadet, who writes children’s books.
Brendan, Harper, and Liz Keen, came to the night market from Westville to enjoy ice cream on a warm spring night.