Australia: Local Chinese Praise the Spectacular as True Art and True Chinese Culture

The touring company of Divine Performing Arts completed its fifth performance of the Chinese Spectacular in Sydney, Australia on the evening of April 5th, 2008. Many local Chinese people attended the show and were pleased to talk about their impressions afterwards.

"Displays the tolerance of Chinese Culture"

Elisabeth is originally from Inner Mongolia. She came to Australia ten years ago and works as a translator. She said the Mongolian Bowl Dance displayed the tolerance of Chinese culture and reminded her of her hometown. "It was inspiring and gave people a sense of how the different nationalities were tolerant with each other."

Elisabeth believes the dances "The Loyalty of Yue Fei" and "Lady of the Moon" are masterpieces of Chinese classical dance. "The choreography depicted these two classic stories so well" She added, "And the drum performances expressed courage and strength."

She sighed when discussing how traditional arts were destroyed during the "Cultural Revolution" in China. "During and after the cultural revolution, there was no real art. Just a few dances, or something called 'dances of loyalty' (to Chairman Mao)."

Wonderful Spectacular

After watching the show with her friends, a woman whose father is Chinese commented, "Everything was so beautiful, especially the costumes." She continued, "The show contains a variety of performances; I liked this sense of variety the most. I also enjoyed the drum performances. It was a wonderful Spectacular. We really enjoyed it."

Ms. Xie is visiting her children in Australia. She was very happy to get to see the Spectacular and said, "The drummers are powerful and very moving - very good."

Ms. Xie thought a while and continued, "I felt it was a culture of divine beings, very moving and in harmony. The dances and music are orderly, like one person performing. They must have practised for a long time. The dances, colours, and tones are all perfect."

She commented on the dance, "Awakening," saying, "The message is very good. It tells the principle of how to live. I am very proud of the show."

"Traditional Chinese Culture"

A couple originally from Dalian, China watched the show. The wife, a kindergarten teacher, enjoyed the dances very much.

"I felt the audience tonight has had a good taste of real Chinese art." She said, "They (the performers) displayed a high level of understanding of the arts through their dances. They showed real meaning. I thought it was very good. In comparison, from the perspective of real art, this is better than the dances in Mainland China. This performance displays the traditional Chinese culture."