Guardians of the Earth and Sky at Palmisano Park

Come on an adventure with the Four Celestial Guardians: the White Tiger of the West, the Black Tortoise of the North, the Azure Dragon of the East, and the Vermilion Bird of the South!

Explore seasons, elements, colors, and constellations through storytelling, music, and dance in this interactive performance by Irene Hsiao in collaboration with tai chi master Peter Wong, dancers Amanda Maraist and Darling Shear, musicians Paige Brown and Hunter Diamond, visual artist Titus Lau, and storyteller Penny Li.

Performances are free, and art supplies will be provided to create fans to take home in this all-ages event. Dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes for walking approximately one mile.

Guardians of the Earth and Sky

July 11, 2026, 2-4PM

Palmisano Park -- meet in McGuane Park Fieldhouse

2901 S. Poplar Ave, 60608

Free

About the Artists

is a dancer, writer, and multidisciplinary artist. She creates site-specific participatory performance installations, a practice that experiments with place and environment, created and found objects, projections, community art, dance, and other live performance. Currently, she is working on Shared Earth Flowing Water, a performance series dedicated to peace, community, and the natural world. She is a 2025 Radicle Studio Artist at the Hyde Park Art Center, the 2024 Resident Artist at the Heritage Museum of Asian Art, inaugural Artist in Residence at the Smart Museum of Art in 2020 and 2021, 2022-23 Fellow at High Concept Labs, first Artist in Residence at 21c Museum Hotel in 2022-2023, and a 2020 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist.

Vocalist, pianist and composer believes in the use of voice as a channel, and the use of the instrument/body as a voice. Having inherited a version of the deep, resonant voice of her father and her late grandfather, she rejoices in the ability to play inside that resonance, bringing that sound to bear in songs that speak of joy, love, grief, and hope. She draws from a broad spectrum of influences that range from high school madrigal singers to college gospel choir, skipping from soul to funk to folk and weaving through sounds somewhere in between. Emerging from her compositional chrysalis, she is currently developing the inner mechanisms and connections to deepen and externalize her own artistic practice more fully, reacquainting herself with the simple, playful practices that attracted her to Music, her first love.

is a creative woodwind and sound artist based in Chicago. Though he is most at home in the improvised music scene, a mixture of conceptual, composed, and improvised performance keeps him perpetually present in the interdisciplinary Chicago creative arts community. In 2021 Diamond founded Curio Records, which serves as the primary outlet for his recorded work. 2026 will see the release of several new recordings including the debut album from Public Sentiment, the fifth album from Black Diamond, and a string quintet about Israel/Palestine.

Titus Lau is an illustrator from Chicago, working across diverse mediums of art including fiber arts, graphic design, and 3d modeling. Recently graduating from the CAAP program at SAIC, he has taken his love for Chicago architecture as a future Yale undergraduate student. Connecting with his Chinese identity, he creates pieces inspired by traditional motifs and combining his signature style, incorporating modern elements through detailed linework and striking compositions.

is a singer-songwriter who treats music as a personal diary—an intimate, intuitive reflection of her observations, emotions, and connections with the world. Multilingual, she creates and draws inspiration from Chinese, English, Korean, and Japanese music. Based in the Greater Chicago area, Penny is also an educator and development professional passionate about the transformative power of art interpretation and engagement. A lover of food, photography, psychology, and theatre, she finds creativity in all aspects of life.

is a dancemaker and performance community advocate making performance work and arts programming in Chicago. Her work synthesizes mutualism, play, world-building, and ethnographic research into practical somatic strategies for thriving. She simultaneously produces her own artistic performance work while also co-directing bim bom studios; an accessible, sliding scale hourly movement rehearsal + performance space in Belmont Cragin. These two efforts exist in symbiotic tandem: creating performance that is collaborative and accessible - as well as creating physical spaces within the dance ecosystem that fill gaps left by evaporating institutions. Her commitment to support the community, and the strategies employed to arrive at something that both survives and thrives, show up in the aesthetics and actions of her performance and the spaces she imagines.

is a Chicago native with Atlanta roots and trained in Ballet, Modern, Jazz and African. After high school, Darling began dancing professionally with Bubba Carr, Cher’s choreographer, Rhonda Henriksen, Twyla Tharp, Tracy Vogt, Hinton Battle, and Lauri Stallings. As a freelance dancer/ choreographer, Darling has worked with The Fly Honeys, Soho House Chicago, EXPO Chicago, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, MCA, Salonathon, Open TV and many others. Awards include: Impulstanz Between Gestures scholarship (Vienna, Austria), Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist, CDF 10X10 Choreographer, Links Hall CoMission Fellowship, 3Arts nominee (2019, 2022). Darling's career has been one with a strong spiritual center and allowance of universal well-being.

Peter Wong is a fifth-generation practitioner of Yang Style Taijiquan. He has been practicing Traditional Kungfu for over fifty years and has been an instructor of Tai Chi at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Peter Wong was a director of the 26th and 27th Board of Directors of the Chin Woo Athletic Association Hong Kong Limited. He is also the appointed Traditional Martial Arts Advisor and Sanshou散手 Advisor（2008-Now) of the Hong Kong, China Wushu Union.

Guardians of the Earth and Sky is presented as part of the Chicago Park District's Night Out in the Parks series, supported by the Mayor's Office and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Night Out in the Parks program presents cultural events year-round in neighborhood parks throughout the city. The Chicago Park District in partnership with 100 local artists and organizations, presents engaging events and performances that enhance quality of life across Chicago and amplify the artistic and cultural vibrancy in every neighborhood. Through multiple disciplines, which include theater, music, movies, dance, site-specific work, nature programs, and community festivals, the series aims to support Chicago-based artists, facilitate community-based partnerships and programs, cultivate civic engagement, and ensure equity in access to the arts for all Chicagoans. For more information, please visit www.nightoutintheparks.com.

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