(Clearwisdom.net) On March 11 2009, the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) International Company presented its first show at National Chung Cheng University for Chiayi area audiences. National Chung Cheng University is located far from the city center, but the 2500 seats were sold out.

The famous Ali Mountain is in Chiayi, and many people have heard the song "Girls from Ali Mountain Are As Beautiful As Water." After watching "Dance of the Yi," people had a deeper understanding of the broad and diverse Chinese culture.

Yunqing Dance and Music Troupe Directors Honor the Show with a Couplet

Yunqing Dance and Music Troupe is a performing arts group devoted to promoting Chinese traditional music and dance. The artistic director of the troupe, Ms. Zeng Jingfen, saw the DPA for the second time. She said excitedly, "Shen Yun is great! Very good! It's amazing." Her husband, Zeng Deshu, composed a poetic couplet for the DPA during the interview.

Ms. Zeng said, "Tonight's performance is a combination of different performing arts. It is also a combination of truthfulness, compassion, and beauty. It has broad content."

She studied calligraphy, chess, and music with her father, Zeng Zhengdong, and began ballet and folk dance when she was five. At age eight she took up the "Yang Qin," a traditional Chinese musical instrument, and a year later performed with the Peking Opera. She has been an educator in the arts and culture for over 30 years. "[Shen Yun] put a lot of attention into every piece, so [now we have] this outstanding performing tonight."

Mr. Zeng Deshu commented, "[The artists] are highly skilled and have practiced well. [They] have the beauty of ancient culture and also the beauty of creation and inspiration. It can open people's hearts to see the traditional, and [they have] also created a new artistic dimension. It is a very good contribution." He wrote a couplet to praise the DPA (translation): "Divine Beings passed down cultures to ancient Chinese, New Tang Dynasty inspired a new era of art."

Yunqing Dance and Music Troupe is a major company devoted to promoting and performing Huang Mei music in south Taiwan. It was established by Zeng Jingfen and other music enthusiasts like Ha Yiping and Wang Yingli in 1999i.

Art Director of Tengqing Art Works Center: A Real Initiation

"It is a real initiation. The contents of eight major types of art are all included in the show," said Huang Xinrong, the Art and Design Director of Tengqing Art Works Center.


Art and Design Director Huang Xinrong from Tengqing Art Works Center

"My major is in art, too, that's why I am deeply touched," said Huang. He said the show is "not limited to music, painting, and dance. It also has literature and motion pictures. And the backdrop is so real that it corresponds to the the stage performance. The rhythm and content are clearly displayed, so it is very easy for the audience to understand the story."

Mr. Huang, also an artist on the campus of Yunlin University of Technology, said, "Shen Yun has included all aspects of art." He has worked with folk art for many years and has been to the ancient town of Yang Liu Qing (Green Willow) near Tianjin City to do research on the wood carving calendar. "We have presented the story of Mulan before, but Shen Yun used music and a dynamic backdrop to display the story. No dialog is better."

Huang also mentioned that he had read books about the transition and change of Chinese characters being related to culture and history. After seeing "Legend of the Brush," he said he believed other things having to do with writing were also given by the divine beings, such as the ink and paper.