The10th Performance! -- 5/25/2025 Senior Center Performance

Authored by Elena Chen

Group photo featuring(left to right) Chloe W, Grace M, Elena, and Rien

It is our 10th performance at this senior center!

As we walked into the senior center, as expected, there were not as many people as usual. Normally, the whole room would be filled, but today, less seniors were waiting for us. Since it was the day before Memorial Day, many seniors were out enjoying their family gathering. I handed programs to the seniors who were there and had some conversation with them.

At two, Grace Ma announced the start of the performance. This was her first time hosting an Infinity Lab event, but she was very confident, and her voice was loud and clear. She introduced our organization, and welcomed me, as I was first.

I was going to be playing the extremely well-known Für Elise, by Beethoven, on the piano. I self-learned this piece, as my family and I all liked it, and we all knew the seniors would enjoy it a lot. I tried expressing myself as much as possible as I played the notes. At the end of my piece, there was a warm applause from the audience.

Second up was Chloe Wong, who played a piece on the cello, called Jupiter, by Gustav Holst.

After Chloe was Rien, on the piano, playing an Etude by Chopin. I noticed some of the audience closing their eyes or zoning out while he played, likely imagining a peaceful scene by the ocean. He also articulated the notes well, and we all clapped enthusiastically.

Then, it was time for my second piece. I was enjoying playing the Sonate by Mozart, when my hand slipped and played a few wrong notes. I managed to continue and finish the song, though, without any further mistakes. It wasn’t perfect, but I’m proud that I didn’t let the mistake throw me off completely. Performing—I've come to realize after many years of doing so—is just as much about holding it together as it is about getting all the right notes.

After my last piece, Rien came back to the stage with another piano piece. This piece, the Flight of the Bumblebee, is a quick song that Rien controlled perfectly. He also put lots of imagination into the piece, or maybe I did, because I could picture the stings perfectly with the sudden notes of the left hand. His technique was also amazing, and his notes were all really clear.

Finally, our last performer was Grace. She played her piece, The Wind Rises, by Yu Takahashi, on the guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument. This piece not only sounds amazing, but is also a very famous piece in Chinese culture. Everyone was captivated by the guzheng, and the piece sounded amazing too.

Since none of the seniors in the room had a birthday in May, we moved onto the game portion of the event. As we headed to the activity room, Mary, who was turning 100 next month(wow!), approached us and talked for a while. We invited her to perform with us next month, since it's her 100th birthday month, and it's meaningful both for her and for us. She accepted gladly, and told us that to feel wanted is really nice. She wanted to sing two songs next time: Take Me out to the Ballgame, and I Have Been Working on the Railroad. She also said that if possible, she wanted to join our performance every time! We can't wait to hear her sing soon.

As usual, we set up Bingo for the seniors, and managed to play 4 rounds! We rewarded the seniors 5 Bingo Bucks each for attending the game, and they were all thrilled at the chance of free money that could later be used to buy certain items from the Bingo Shop. We started the first game, and pretty soon, one of the seniors had already gotten a straight line. We congratulated him and gave him 5 Bingo Bucks as a reward. After a few more numbers being called, he shouted "Bingo!" again, and this time, I was pretty surprised that he managed to get two bingos in a row. In fact, he was so lucky that after a few more rounds, he called Bingo again, and by now, everyone was thoroughly impressed with his skills. He had already earned 20 Bingo Bucks total, and everyone else had only earned 5. At last, it was the big win, blackout, which rewarded the seniors with 10 Bingo Bucks instead of 5. 3 seniors got blackout at once, and the senior who won three of the Bingos was one of them!! He wasn't the first to call out Bingo, though, and we gave the other senior 10 Bingo Bucks.

The rest of the games were pretty normal, and no more crazy luck was involved. During the last of the rounds, Rien started entertaining the seniors by building a card tower from the remaining Bingo cards. The seniors all chuckled when he precariously balanced them against each other, and were amazed that he managed to stack all of them!

This visit was a nice and funny one, and the thought of the senior almost winning all the Bingos in one game would remain in my head for the rest of the day. I was also excited for the next performance, where Mary had promised to join us to sing.

Performers: Rien Chen, Grace Ma, Elena Chen, Chloe Wong

Host for performance: Grace Ma

Game Hosts: Grace Ma, Chloe Wong,Elena Chen, Rien Chen