LONDON—As the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular wound up its afternoon show at London's Royal Festival Hall on Saturday, thrilled audience members heaped praise on the show.
One of these was Anne Bigley, a retired ballet dancer and businesswoman who was highly impressed by the caliber of the dancers.
"I actually trained as a classical dancer and it's so interesting to see the similarities and the differences. I think [Chinese] dances are much lighter than in the western world.," she said.
"But the very interesting difference is the difference in the postures. Whereas we are tucked under here, you are elegant there. We were just discussing this. Absolutely delightful, we're so pleased we've come."
Bigley added that she saw similarities between Chinese classical dance and other dances, such as the tango.
"We've just come back from Argentina where we've just finished watching the tango, and again there are similarities with the style of dancing. We've only been to Hong Kong so it's our first experience of this kind of thing — most impressed."
As a trained dancer, Bigley understands the work and skill that such dances entail.
"I studied for 10 years at the Royal School of Ballet myself, so I know how hard it is to dance and to be as graceful as that."
The blend of Chinese and western instruments was also noteworthy, said Bigley.
"We're also interested in the music because I played the violin, and of course there are so many western instruments but some we don't recognize, and an instrument that looks like a lute (pipa). Most impressed, thank you."
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit:
www.DivinePerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese Spectacular. For our complete coverage please visit:
http://en.epochtimes.com/features/dpa2008/
Feeds