World Square rings in Lunar New Year with Ratrobats

To celebrate the Year of the Rat, World Square in Sydney will present an artistic program that will take Lunar New Year celebrations to grand heights with the high-flying Ratrobats, a troupe of eight “rats” inspired by the ancient tradition of Chinese acrobats and performers.

Internationally acclaimed cultural ambassador and designer Claudia Chan Shaw has returned to World Square to curate the 2020 program following on from her debut last year of the installation, Three (Not So) Little Pigs.

As an associated event of the Sydney Lunar Festival, World Square will also host an immersive augmented reality experience and a traditional lion dance on poles as part of their Year of the Rat celebrations.

The Ratrobats will take pride of place at the CBD retail destination, standing in good company with other festival installations across Circular Quay and Haymarket.

Made from hard-coated sculpted polystyrene and dressed in brightly coloured costumes, each of the friendly 2.5m-high rats appears in a different pose. While the one rat welcomes visitors to World Square, performing rats are scattered across the precinct, doing handstands, balancing pinwheels, unicycling, with one suspended high above the square.

Savills in festival mode

Savills Australia is proud to announce its partnership with the City of Sydney in celebration of Sydney’s 2020 Lunar New Year Festival, sponsoring the Golden Rooster installation on Circular Quay.

As the biggest celebration of the Lunar New Year outside Asia, the festival welcomes tourists from around the world, as well as Sydney’s multicultural Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian communities for nights of stalls, concerts, street performances and free activities, kicking off 16 days of celebrations from January 25.

Paul Craig, CEO of Savills Australia and New Zealand, said, “Savills is one of the largest property agencies in Asia Pacific, with over 30,000 staff in 70 offices across the region; the Australian and New Zealand business works daily with our colleagues throughout Asia and we are proud to support this significant cultural event in Sydney.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said this year’s celebrations will feature close to 100 community events across Sydney.

“Over the years we’ve seen this festival grow from a small community festival in Chinatown to one of the largest lunar celebrations in the world,” she said.

“Each year this festival just gets bigger and better.”

Jordan Lee, joint state head, Asia Markets, at Savills Australia, said the Year of the Rat was about growth and prosperity – and would be a great time to invest in property.