(Clearwisdom.net) On February 9, 2009, Divine Performing Arts (DPA) took the stage at the Robinson Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Five thousand years of China's divine culture and the pure and beautiful performance received high praise from arts professionals and brought a brand new level of art to the people of Arkansas.
 Audience |
Dance teacher from Thailand: DPA dancers are great
Dancer and choreographer Yolly Seedtibood from Thailand praised DPA with admiration and said, "The dances are absolutely enchanting. I was totally intoxicated. All the dancers are great.
"I think we should promote the show more widely, because not many people know about it." She kept saying, "I love it [Chinese classical dance]; it is very beautiful." She also thought that DPA's choreography has a very unique style.
 Dancer and choreographer Yolly Seedtibood from Thailand |
Yolly used to have a dance company in Little Rock, and she taught in the "School of Asian and American Dances" for ten years. She told the reporter this was the first time she had seen such a high class traditional Chinese cultural performance overseas. She said, "I love it!"
Yolly's grandfather came from mainland China. Her ethnic heritage is mixed. She and her father migrated to Malaysia, then to Thailand. Later she was adopted by a US Air Force family and has lived in the US for 27 years. Yolly learned Thai dance as a child and later became a dance teacher and choreographer.
She spoke highly of the meticulous skills of the dancers, "Their movements are so light and smooth. There's so much culture behind the dances, and there is so much history and so many legends. Very interesting."
She liked the costumes very much, "My favorite was 'The Mystical Phoenix'; I loved the purple and blue skirts. I also loved the costumes in the dance 'The Udumbara's Bloom.'"
As for the singers, Yolly said their songs are excellent and very touching, "The words of the songs were very meaningful, very beautiful. The words touched my heart and made me cry. They made us remember our home."
Folk dance performer: The Chinese dances are much richer in content
Catherine is a folk dance performer. She and her husband drove an hour and a half to come to the show. She said she saw an advertisement billboard last year in Los Angeles on Good Friday, and this year she saw an advertisement in Little Rock, so they decided to come.
Catherine said she really loved the costumes, the dance movements, and the choreography, "Mostly I love the word 'Divine,' because it tells us there are higher beings than human beings."
She told the reporter, "Chinese dances are much richer in content and complex. There are so many different movements; you see one dance, but you won't know what the next one will be like. The music is also very unique."
 Folk dancer Catherine and her husband |
Catherine's husband, Bill, is a retired real estate agent. He said, "I have seen the display of China's five thousand years' traditional culture. This is really good, very inspiring for the American people. The Chinese Communist Party suppresses the people; the Party is very different from China's traditional culture."
Bill said he liked the dance "Drummers of the Tang Court" most: "The show helped me understand that each nation has its own culture, style, and different flavor, very beautiful. I like the show very much. I can't wait to see the next half."
Folk musician: Dancers and orchestra were in perfect harmony
Stan Powell is a folk musician. He and his wife could hardly conceal their excitement after the show. It happened to be Stan's birthday, and he said the show was his best birthday present, "We are so lucky to be able to see the show this evening. Everything was so perfect and so beautiful, very unique. The Chinese culture is fascinating, very enjoyable, very enchanting."
 Folk musician Stan Powell and his wife |
He highly praised the choreography of the dances, saying the variety of formations was very colorful, and the movements of the female dancers were very elegant and beautiful. He was also very impressed with the colorful costumes.
"I'm a musician, and I really enjoyed the accompanying music. The Chinese and Western musical instruments played very well together," he said. "The drum beats are very rhythmic; the dancers and the orchestra are in perfect harmony. All these things were very impressive."
He said there were more than 40 musicians in the orchestra, playing different instruments and in different arrangements, and yet they could play in such unison, which he thought was outstanding.
Stan said that there were over 50 ethnic minority nationalities in China, and each has its own characteristics. He thought the show combined these characteristics beautifully. He said the "Mongolian Chopsticks" dance was very "cool": "I never thought chopsticks were musical instruments, but they sounded like musical instruments, and yet they were just chopsticks. Very interesting. I learned a lot."
Stan also spoke highly of the two sopranos. "The words are very meaningful; it concerns our humanity and our life, very inspiring. The words of the songs brought peace, happiness, and hope."
Former dancer: The choreography gives an excellent sense of layers
Su Xiangyun practiced dancing for many years. She said after the show, "All the female dancers have very good figures; the male dancers are very skillful." She told the reporter that all these things reminded her of the time when she was a dancer.
 Su Xiangyun, a former dancer |
She said the accompanying music was excellent and the Western and Chinese musical instruments played very well together, in perfect harmony, "We always used recorded music for our dances, but this show has a live orchestra. The effect is very different."
Su Xiangyun said the choreography displayed an excellent sense of layers, such as the dance with flowers blooming. "It gave a very good feeling of layers, very vivid and natural."
