Freedom and artistic expression almost go hand in hand, with the conclusion of New Tang Dynasty Television's (NTDTV) Chinese New Year Spectacular show in Australia at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney – there was ample food for thought about the importance of such a performance.
Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM, Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney said: "It's not only Chinese, but there are plenty of white Australians, plenty of people. I think it's important to mix and it's important to work together."
In fact there were many different audience members that originate from former communist backgrounds that were particularly touched and even speechless about the content of the programme.
Dr Ozdowski the former Human Rights Commissioner and Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner was born in post-war Poland into a Catholic family. "My early memories are of ruins, shortages and Stalinist oppression. I witnessed the Poznan insurrection of 1956. My early memories are also of stories of an independent, pre-war Poland and of struggles against Nazi occupation." Being no stranger to oppression, he has lived in Sydney since 1973 and asserted his appreciation and support of the cultural demonstration. There were two aspects that Dr Ozdowski noted:
"There are two very important things. The first thing, it was good to see second generation Chinese being able to show the culture at such a high level. So what it really means is that the Chinese culture lives also outside of China and that the second generation of people who left China are able to identify the present culture with the rest of the world and it was really good, it shows how strong the culture is."
Moreover, Dr Ozdowski added: "The number one dance [was] where you had a man dressed in black costumes with red sickle and hammer and it was very, very influential because it reminded me of Poland and the communism there and it was, really was very expressive. So I really enjoyed it very much watching that particular play." Originating from North America with mainly second generation Chinese, the Divine Performing Arts group, the main force behind the Spectacular, has a mission to explore and to rediscover the essence of true, traditional culture. Thus it creates and performs pieces that centre primarily around classical themes and divinely-inspired culture. It aims to present to audiences works that express pure goodness and beauty.
Judit Mechtler, an Australian of Hungarian origin who has lived in Australia for 11 years, expressed a heartfelt admiration of the performance as a parent and also from a post communist perspective considering her haunting past.
"[It was] very touching because I have had a hard time with it myself too. When I was at school, my mum and my [dad], they were in the Communist Party. In Hungary, the same thing went on."
Ms Mechtler brought her two young sons, Lasclo (8 years old) and Viktor (5 years old). She recommended: "Bring the children because it's a great experience to see other nations things. I think it's so beautiful, I've never ever seen such a beautiful theatrical performance like this before. And they also loved the Chinese opera singer. They loved that and I loved it too because I think it's very very unique…and Chinese people have a really good discipline."
The two sons particularly stood out in the crowd in their perfectly fitted dark suits. "That's the tradition for theatre. That's how you respect the show. You can't come here in shorts and T-shirts. That's theatre dressing," said Ms Mechtler.
Senior citizens, Martin and his wife Ellen, were speechless and expressed in hand signage language with an "ok" hand gesture. He eventually assuredly said: "We are lost for words. It's superb – much better than we expected. It's all just a show but this is superb. They should come here more often because next year we are going to have another Chinese New Year."
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