SEATTLE—Divine Performing Arts (DPA) International Company opened at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 19 winning the audience’s admiration with its lavish cultural show.
Mr. Knap, who attended the show, teaches western, rock and roll, jazz, and blues musicians how to market their CDs along with other aspects of the business side of the music industry. He described the colors of the costumes as “just mind-boggling.”
“Where do you get the color? Where do you get the dye to make these amazing colors? You don’t see them except in a movie—you don’t see them in real life that much,” he said.
According to DPA, apparel has always been an important part of the divinely-bestowed 5,000-year history of Chinese culture. Much care is taken in researching the outfits and scouring the world for just the right materials.
Mr. Knapp was impressed by the DPA orchestra with its unique blend of Chinese and Western instruments, calling it “a hybrid of Chinese music with western music coming together. That was sort of new ... I liked that part.”
He said his favorite aspects of the show were the drumming, the colors of the costumes, and learning from the MCs that gymnastics originated from Chinese classical dance.
“For me, I didn’t know that background of gymnastics were based on Chinese movements. So, I paid more attention to that after the announcement was made,” Mr. Knapp said.
“The drumming is very unique—the synchronization in that all of them play the same together. I used to be a drummer when I was a kid and that is hard to do.”
DPA is a New York-based performance company founded by leading Chinese artists is seeking to revive China’s traditional culture and present it to audiences around the world through Chinese classical dance and music.
Mr. Knap was curious about the backdrops, asking, “How do they do the background because it is done so beautifully. Is it a combination of film and digital?”
DPA’s state-of-the-art animated backdrops are designed to match the costumes, storyline, lighting, and even choreography of the performances. Some of the backdrops start as paintings, others are digitally produced and some have animation added.
In conclusion, Mr. Knap said that people of all ages would appreciate the show.
“All this is for all ages and everybody would enjoy it from a seven-year-old to 70-year-old. So you should bring everybody—it was so much fun.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour.
For more information, please see DivinePerformingArts.org
