EDMONTON, Alberta—Malcolm Fast bought more that 40 tickets for his friends to attend the premiere of the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular on Monday at Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium.
“[It was] a way of introducing them to something they rarely or never see, this type of Chinese cultural performance. So when I invited people to come, whether they could or not, they were very appreciative of the offer to experience this type of cultural performance.”
This is the second year Fast, a chartered accountant, treated his clients; he did the same when the Spectacular was in Edmonton in 2007.
When asked what his friends thought of the show, Fast said, “I’ve received an awful lot of thank-yous and appreciation from them. Ask me a year from now, by that time I’ll have seen them over the year and have got their impression of all parts of it by then.”
Fast was again impressed with the show this year and when asked what he thought he said it’s “absolutely visually stunning.”
“It’s extremely spectacular, so I enjoyed that. Very visually spectacular and broad diversity. It’s the combination of the beauty, the diversity of the culture and the depth of history that exists in the Chinese culture.” He appreciated the dedication and training that go into producing a show of this caliber.
“Just the training and perseverance that it takes do all these spectacular things are the foundation stones for the achievements.”
Commenting on his favourite pieces, Fast mentioned Ladies of the Manchu Court, Nymphs of the Sea and Lighness and Grace.
“I enjoyed the Manchu shoe dance and there were just a lot of them I really enjoyed tonight. I enjoyed the water dance and the fan dance. The flowing visuals, the dramatic visuals — the way everything flows and makes the air sort of move around.”
Fast spoke of a “message” in some of the performances. “This year it was a much stronger message on the themes of Falun Gong. And for a cultural show, some of the numbers were very strong, obviously deliberately chosen to be strong and heavy and send a very strong message of oppression there. ”
Falun Gong, with its guiding principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance, is a spiritual practice with roots in ancient Chinese culture. It is currently being brutally suppressed by the Chinese communist regime. Fast believes the Spectacular achieves its goal of portraying China’s traditional culture.
“It starts to increase awareness. When I grew up we learned very little about China, very little about the culture there and the same way those who grew up in the Cultural Revolution learned nothing about Canada. And so this is just more of what happens, allowing people to learn about the Chinese culture.”
Fast said he has been to China 10 times but has not seen this type of show.
“This is the most traditional type show I’ve seen. I’ve seen some nice cultural shows in China but not this type.”
The New York-based Divine Performing Arts is winding up the Canadian leg of its international with three shows Edmonton from May 5-7.
In its 2008 tour, the Divine Performing Arts staged 220 shows in over 14 countries on four continents, reaching a total live audience of about 650,000.
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