PASADENA, Calif.—Mr. Taylor, clothing designer/entrepreneur, and his family, were dazzled after seeing the Divine Performing Arts show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on January 3.
Mr. Taylor said, “Wonderful, absolutely beautiful, I really loved the colors and the wide sleeves and the way they are dancing with the costumes, absolutely beautiful!
“My favorite one—it’s hard to say, there were so many I loved, but if I have to say, I think the flower one, with the Buddha, I just thought it was so beautiful, and the girls were so graceful.”
Mr. Taylor was speaking of The Udumbara’s Bloom which, according to the program, “tells of the legendary Udumbara flower of Buddhist lore which blossoms only once every three thousand years. Choreographers took inspiration from the Buddhist Dunhuang caves of Western China as well as Indian dance in the sumptuous display of reverent beauty.”
Referring to the backdrops, Mr. Taylor said: “I was very interested in how the background plays into the show. Like in the last scene when they left from above and came down, and then they came out on the stage, and then they left the stage and went back onto the screen. I thought that was a wonderful combination the way that goes together. I have never seen that before.”
The animated backdrops are designed to complement the dances. Some begin as paintings and some are created digitally.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were both touched by Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution which tells the story of an innocent family whose father is persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong, a traditional spiritual discipline.
Mr. Taylor said: “This was really sad and was so well done, very clear. I am here with my wife and her family so this piece really brought it home for me. When the child was dancing with the parents and then the father fought off the bad guys, it sort of hit close to home. So sad.”
One dance portrays a Tang Dynasty poet, the great Li Bai, having a drunken vision of beauty under a full moon. He said he could relate to many of the dances. “We have all had wonderful dreams or interesting dreams,” he said.
Mrs. Taylor said, “I really enjoyed the format of this production, because not only are you telling the story of China’s history, but you’re teaching, and a lot of times if we just come to a show and think it is good, etc. But this show goes a lot deeper than just seeing a beautiful show. We are learning something that we can share and talk about with other people when we leave, and it’s much more valuable than to say … there were pretty costumes and they danced nicely.
“Tonight we learned about the history, we learned about the struggle, not just the wonderful and beautiful things of China and the history, but we got the whole picture. It’s important to understand how we got to where we are today. When you know the experiences of the past and the values of the past it creates a much richer life today, and unfortunately that’s not shared enough with the younger people, especially in America, and probably in China as well,” she said.
“So, this is a valuable show and it’s worth the money that we paid for just to know that we are learning and people all over the world will be learning from this show.”
Mr. Taylor said DPA members are “preserving Chinese culture through the arts. Through the dance and acting in this show it is preserving the heritage that the Chinese people have had for thousands of years—and this is a wonderful thing.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts International Tour.
For more information, please see divineperformingarts.org
Mr. Taylor said, “Wonderful, absolutely beautiful, I really loved the colors and the wide sleeves and the way they are dancing with the costumes, absolutely beautiful!
“My favorite one—it’s hard to say, there were so many I loved, but if I have to say, I think the flower one, with the Buddha, I just thought it was so beautiful, and the girls were so graceful.”
Mr. Taylor was speaking of The Udumbara’s Bloom which, according to the program, “tells of the legendary Udumbara flower of Buddhist lore which blossoms only once every three thousand years. Choreographers took inspiration from the Buddhist Dunhuang caves of Western China as well as Indian dance in the sumptuous display of reverent beauty.”
Referring to the backdrops, Mr. Taylor said: “I was very interested in how the background plays into the show. Like in the last scene when they left from above and came down, and then they came out on the stage, and then they left the stage and went back onto the screen. I thought that was a wonderful combination the way that goes together. I have never seen that before.”
The animated backdrops are designed to complement the dances. Some begin as paintings and some are created digitally.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were both touched by Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution which tells the story of an innocent family whose father is persecuted in China for practicing Falun Gong, a traditional spiritual discipline.
Mr. Taylor said: “This was really sad and was so well done, very clear. I am here with my wife and her family so this piece really brought it home for me. When the child was dancing with the parents and then the father fought off the bad guys, it sort of hit close to home. So sad.”
One dance portrays a Tang Dynasty poet, the great Li Bai, having a drunken vision of beauty under a full moon. He said he could relate to many of the dances. “We have all had wonderful dreams or interesting dreams,” he said.
Mrs. Taylor said, “I really enjoyed the format of this production, because not only are you telling the story of China’s history, but you’re teaching, and a lot of times if we just come to a show and think it is good, etc. But this show goes a lot deeper than just seeing a beautiful show. We are learning something that we can share and talk about with other people when we leave, and it’s much more valuable than to say … there were pretty costumes and they danced nicely.
“Tonight we learned about the history, we learned about the struggle, not just the wonderful and beautiful things of China and the history, but we got the whole picture. It’s important to understand how we got to where we are today. When you know the experiences of the past and the values of the past it creates a much richer life today, and unfortunately that’s not shared enough with the younger people, especially in America, and probably in China as well,” she said.
“So, this is a valuable show and it’s worth the money that we paid for just to know that we are learning and people all over the world will be learning from this show.”
Mr. Taylor said DPA members are “preserving Chinese culture through the arts. Through the dance and acting in this show it is preserving the heritage that the Chinese people have had for thousands of years—and this is a wonderful thing.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts International Tour.
For more information, please see divineperformingarts.org
