For the past three days, Sydneysiders have experienced traditional Chinese dance performed by the Divine Performing Arts group in New Tang Dynasty's 2007 Chinese New Year Spectacular.
The Spectacular has toured around the world since January, performing more than 70 shows across four continents to date. In Australia alone, full house performances in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney proved that Australian audiences were well accepting of Chinese culture.
"It was the most spectacular and beautiful performance I've ever seen, and I'm really glad that the Chinese culture was there so that I can experience it today," said Cheryl Dykes. Ms Dykes came to watch the show on its premier night at The Capitol Theatre in central Sydney.
Les Sanders from 99.3FM also attended that evening and shared similar sentiments, he said: "The performances are amazing; we can't get over the visual impact of seeing such tightly knit choreography with absolute precision nobody puts a foot wrong, it is absolutely perfect.
"There are a lot of legends discussed in the show, so you do learn a lot…and it is very educational; there is a lot of deep insight into Chinese culture and heritage," Mr Sanders added.
The cultural heritage of China spans more than 5000 years and is said to be a semi-divine culture brought to man by heaven. Much was lost though when the Chinese Communist Party took power. But today, the Divine Performing Arts is capturing the essence of true, traditional culture and bringing it to audiences around the world.
With a variety of performances such as the Mongolian Bowl Dance, Ladies of the Manchu Court, Resounding Drums and Mulan, the Spectacular touched audiences in different ways.
Beth Nasser, from Canberra, shared how much she liked the costumes and learning about the culture through it. "The costumes are just elaborate and beautiful and show the free movement of the dancers; at the same time bringing the culture into the dance through the costumes, particularly the Tibetan dance with the sleeves representing the khatagh and the aprons representing the traditional Tibetan aprons," she said.
For Chris Hynes of Manly, he has studied ancient and traditional Chinese culture before. Coming to the Spectacular on its last performance day, Mr Hynes, a management consultant, was interested in learning more about the culture and discovering more about its values.
"I think Australian people are pretty egalitarian and we are interested in other cultures around the world and learning more and so it is great for us to have the opportunity to see a show like this," he said. "Obviously there are stories there, the myths and the legends. From that point of view it is interesting to learn some of the key values that underpin the Chinese culture." Mr Hynes further added: "I think today, one of the dangers is really getting caught up in all the hype and what's going on in the corporate world and materialism, and those traditional values of loyalty and respect bring us back to focus on what's really important in life and the importance to appreciate what's around you, particularly in the way of nature, and also to be in touch with your feelings and be in touch with other people and show compassion towards other people, knowing that everyone is different, there is acceptance."
With the last Spectacular show in Sydney, the Divine Performing Arts will now be going to New Zealand, Korea and Taiwan.
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