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DENVER—Many audience members were from around the Denver metropolitan area, eager to see Divine Performing Arts (DPA) Chinese New Year Spectacular at the Buell Theatre on Jan. 31.
“I thought the show was excellent!” exclaimed Ms. Sullivan, vice-president of a Denver company. “I thought it had a lot of variety in it. It exposed you to a little bit of the differences of culture … I thought it was very well done.”
This was Ms. Sullivan first time seeing the Chinese Spectacular. “I think that the dancing was phenomenal. I was a little bit surprised because I didn’t know how ingrained their [Chinese] spirituality was with their culture. So I really did not realize that they believed so strongly in going to heaven, which is similar to a lot of our American beliefs," she said.
The orchestra for DPA features both western instruments in combination with Chinese instruments that along with the dances, paints an evocative picture of Chinese traditional culture.
Commenting on the orchestra, Ms. Sullivan shared, “It was excellent! I thought they did a really good job with the music and the way they put the music together for the performances. It was excellent, I love the music, I thought they did a fantastic job.”
“And I personally loved the drumming! I love the sound. I liked the pieces they did with it,” she said.
DPA features memorable drum performances, Drummers of the Tang Court, and Dragon Springs Drummers.
I also loved the dancing,” continued Ms. Sullivan, “I like a lot of variety, and that’s what I got! If you asked the kids, they would say the Mulan part[Mulan Joins the Battle].”
Ms. Sullivan said her "favorite part from the first half was the performance about the father, mother and their plight.”
“It was moving,” said Ms. Sullivan, referring to 'Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution,' which depicts the tragedy unfolding in China, regarding the on-going persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. “I cried. I don’t usually cry but, yeah, it was really moving and really good!”
“It was the way they put it together, you could really feel the emotions of the kind of life that was happy, and that things were good," she said.
"Then the [communist] culture being what it is in China. Not being able to express themselves in the way they want to," said Ms. Sullivan.
She indicated that she had "known" about the repression of various groups of people in China, saying "that there is a lot of repression in China on different spirituality, and looking at things in a different way. Like going in and believing in different religions is really not accepted there, so yes, I know.”
She added, "I have a friend that lives over there."
Ms. Sullivan added that she would long remember seeing DPA: “I thought it was just phenomenal, the whole thing going from beginning to the end. It was Joyous!”
“And I thought that the actors and actresses did an absolutely phenomenal job, and its just very well put together," she said, referring to the dancers.
Her daughter added that she enjoyed how the dancers were able to move and express themselves. She said that she would recommend others to see the show "because they would really like it.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour. Please see DivinePerformingArts.org for more information.
