Audience members at the Brooklyn Saturday matinee show of the Divine Performing Arts applaud warmly.

(Clearwisdom.net) The Chinese New Year Splendor began a two-day tour in New York City at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

The Saturday afternoon performance by the Divine Performing Arts Touring Company at BAM drew audience members from all over the five boroughs. Mr. White, a human resources manager at a major pharmaceutical company, attended the matinee performance with his family.

"I like the way the dancers tell stories," White said. "When I watch Western dance, sometimes it's awfully hard to tell what the story is. Here, you can tell what the story is with the movements, the costumes and the backdrop."

"It's very accessible and easy to follow. It's just stunning beauty," he exclaimed.

White especially liked "Welcoming Spring" and "Dragon Spring Drummers," two dances with very different styles.

When asked why he picked those two, White said as he laughed, "It's yin and yang, I guess!"

"It's the variety--and that's a part of why I like them," he continued. "The female flower dance was just beautiful. The male dance had more drumming and action. It's in the variety."

Although he grew up in the United States, White felt a special connection to the messages conveyed in the programs. "These dances--they did not feel foreign, but very familiar. I felt like I was visiting a different land yet the stories were very human and familiar," White said.

"I thought I was back in my childhood. There's innocence to them that were very nice," he shared.

"This is some of the best entertainment I have seen in several years," he concluded.

His son had been looking forward to the performance. "My Chinese music teacher recommended this show to us," he said. "She is Taiwanese. And a lot of the time there isn't an opportunity to see the real cultural aspect of China."

Regarding the songs in the performance, White felt the spiritual message conveyed by the singers were very powerful. "I like that there is a subtle spiritual message. But it is subtle, yet very important."

Another audience member concurred. "I really liked the singers. With the help of the subtitles, I understood the meaning of their words. I liked the message behind their songs," said Mr. Sebastian, an auditor at a financial services company in New York. Sebastian brought his two parents to see the Brooklyn performance on Saturday.

Source: http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/content/view/9668/