The Young People’s Concert Series aims to bring unconventional entertainment to South Delta this season.

With producer Michelle Jones at the helm, she’s taking the concert series beyond the classical Western-influenced music and dance shows lined up in previous years.

This season, she wants to bring in more multicultural performers, from traditional Chinese music to banghra dancers.

“Vancouver and Richmond really showcase that (multiculturalism) a lot more. People feel they need to travel to Vancouver to experience something like that,” says Jones.

This is Jones’ fourth year producing the Young People’s Concert Series, which takes place at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre on the last Saturday of the month from September to May.

On Saturday, Sept. 27, the season opens by featuring four performance groups: Sincere Lam’s Guzheng Ensemble, Delta Secondary’s Bhangra Dance Team, Richmond-based Urban Dance Company, and Odissi dancer Sitara Thobani.

“This year we’re just hoping to bring in a lot of different acts, new faces, and ones audience members have told me they really enjoy,” says Jones.

Sincere Lam’s Guzheng Ensemble performs traditional and contemporary Asian music using the guzheng (also known as a Chinese zither), a plucked, string instrument that, says Jones, makes “beautiful, beautiful music, and it’s very powerful.”

The DSS Bhangra Dance Team is a highly dynamic, energetic group of junior and senior students who have performed at community events such as Ladner May Days.

Soloist Sitara Thobani undertook intensive training in India to specialize in Odissi dance, says Jones, a soft, expressive style of classical Indian dance that has been passed through generations. She adds, the style is experiencing a revival by making it’s way to the modern stage with the help of international performers like Thobani.

As well, the Urban Dance Co. will showcase their belly dancing and Polynesian dancing skills as soloists and in pairs.

Says Jones, “I think it will be a great experience, a really rich cultural experience that I think the community will really enjoy.”

Next up for the concert series will be a Celtic-themed evening on Oct. 25. Jones has lined up the South Delta-based Clarion Highland Dancers, a young group called the Fraser River Fiddlers, and the O’Connor Irish Dancers from Ladner.

Following that the community can anticipate a jazz-themed night in November.

But if it’s an opportunity to hear the sounds of a Chinese zither and enjoy the moves of a bhangra dancer you want, the first concert of the season takes place Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre (1172 56 St.). Tickets are $5. For more information call the Delta Arts Council at 604-943-9787.

n kthiessen@southdeltaleader.com