(Clearwisdom.net) Mrs. Golembeski designs and makes her own furniture and takes inspiration for her work from the arts. That's why she so enjoyed seeing Divine Performing Arts, making its first appearance in Augusta on March 13 at the William B. Bell Auditorium--a program including music, dance, song, and vivid backdrops and costumes.

Mrs. Golembeski called the show, "Absolutely wonderful." Of the dance, she noticed the coordination and the grace on stage. "The women and the men were very, very gentle, and their bodies just flowed," she remarked.

After a trip to China in 2007, Mrs. Golembeski had good things to say about the Chinese people themselves. "I love the gentleness of the Chinese. They are very respectful and they have warm hearts."

She also commented on the visual aspects of Divine Performing Arts, especially the projected backdrops. "Whoever did that with the spirits coming out of the sky--that was magnificent."

She also praised the costumes: "Oh, the colors--they were so well coordinated. They looked [like] silk from where I was sitting. It flowed like a soft summer breeze. It brings out the art in me."

An old friend, Ms. George, a retired school teacher, was with Mrs. Golembeski, and was very happy to have come. Mrs. Golembeski added, "I was dying to go and [Ms. George] came down and got the tickets."

Mr. Richard Isdell, chairman of the Augusta Coliseum Authority, said with a gleam of enjoyment in his eyes, "Great, the colors are wonderful ... the movements, [and] the hand movements. The girls are so pretty. We're really enjoying the show."

He said, "The drums were awesome, the drummers were very good. We're really enjoying it." He added that the costumes, a kaleidoscope of colors, were, "Very pretty, very colorful. I have a little girl here with me and she wants me to buy her some."

He also mentioned the unique Divine Performing Arts Orchestra with both Western and Chinese instruments. "Very good music. I think it's mixing very well. I read that Chinese music only has five notes versus the American seven-note system. It's beautiful, very nice," he said.

Regarding the dance scenes, he said, "I think it's telling a story very well. I like the one when the mountain blew up (Monk Ji Gong Abducts the Bride). Chinese culture is much older than ours is, so they must know a lot more than we know. It's hard for me to explain, just it's very good. Very, very energetic, but very peaceful at the same time. Everybody has lots and lots of movement."

The unique 3-D backdrop is also something many visitors talked about. "Yes, this [backdrop] is different. It's bigger, the colors are more vivid and the way you bring somebody out from the background, I've never seen that before. That's very nice. Yes, it's very exciting they come down and then you see people come out, that's very good," noted Mr. Isdell.

Dr. Cooper saw Divine Performing Arts for the first time in Augusta. She is a distinguished, internationally-known scholar. She has an MBA and a Ph.D. She has taught abroad and now teaches both at a well-known university and on-line. She does cultural presentations for businesses and guides Ph.D. candidates. She has recently published her first novel. Her sister, a retired school principal, calls her "my Renaissance sister."

Dr. Cooper and her cousin and children with the conductor Mr. Chen.

She especially enjoyed the drum dance, "That was special. The amount of weight that [they] would have to take on the back of their necks and to still continue to dance, I thought that was just incredible strength for them to be able to do that."

What touched her most was her conversation with the Divine Performing Arts Orchestra conductor after the show. "He told me he was in exile for religious persecution." Mr. Chen, his wife, and son all practice Falun Dafa. He and Dr. Cooper spoke through a translator.

Mr. Chen said his son was almost persecuted to death. All of his family members were jailed by the communist regime. His son came to the United States and regained his health. He is a composer, and Mrs. Chen is a flutist.

Dr. Cooper appeared to be very moved as she said, "It felt very spiritual. It felt very good. You could feel it." She was moved by the idea of a person being steadfast in his belief.

Source: http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/13671/
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