PASADENA,Calif.—On January 2 and 3, 2009, the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) International Company staged its fourth and fifth shows at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Local celebrities, members of the media, sponsors, and other guests attended VIP receptions before the shows. Li Youfu, President of the U.S. West Falun Dafa Association which hosted DPA, thanked the guests for coming and spoke briefly about the mission of Divine Performing Arts.
“This year, the DPA show will be seen by 800,000 people in 80 cities. Everywhere it has performed, people have been delighted by the pure beauty of the show’s presentation of 5,000 years of Chinese traditional values. DPA has touched people’s hearts and moved them to tears. I think the reason it is able to touch so many people is because we share something universal and are experiencing the true awakening of the divine. It is a blessing to receive the uplifting message of Divine Performing Arts because knowing the true picture offers hope.”
Dr. Li was joined in welcoming the assembled honored guests and thanking the sponsors and business partners by DPA’s principal dancer and company manager, Vina Lee. Vina Lee is a graduate of the Beijing Academy of Dance, and formerly a principal artist with Guangdong Dance Theatre. In speaking about the show she said, “The real reason for the performance is to touch peoples’ hearts, not the presentation of skills. It is the inner meaning of the performance, and the virtue and self-cultivation of the artists. We are presenting the core value of ancient Chinese culture, such as benevolence, faith, rectitude, forgiveness, filial piety, unselfishness, and we are promoting and upholding those values that should be treasured by mankind.”
Guan Guimin, tenor and assistant company manager of DPA, gave a moving speech about his experience and involvement with the company. Guimin was one of China’s most celebrated tenors and was among the first artists to be named a “National First-Class Performer” by China’s Ministry of Culture, and later honored by the Foreign Ministry as an “Outstanding Professional and Contributor.” He has recorded soundtracks for over 50 movies and television programs, and is the recipient of numerous accolades.
In his speech at the reception Guimin said, “Because I practice Falun Gong, I’m unable to go back home. You probably all know that Falun Gong is being violently persecuted in China. I have many fans in China and they all want me to go back to perform for them. Yet, the Chinese dictatorship will not allow me to go back simply because I practice the teachings of Falun Gong—Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance. As you know, the majority of the performers in DPA are Falun Gong practitioners. You also see that our show contains a lot of messages about respecting the divine and believing in higher beings. Only people who believe in higher beings and higher realms have the courage to live morally. If we don’t have morality—if we humans don’t have conscience—then we’re no different from animals. Having a conscience is what makes us different from beasts. And one mission of Divine Performing Arts is to spread the message that we humans must have conscience. And through our performances, we try to tell the world that as human beings, we must have beliefs and follow higher principles.”
The following speaker, Arleen Freeman, President and founder of the Conscience Foundation, applauded Guimin’s remarks. She said, “What we see in this program inspires us and awakens the kindness and conscience that we have inside of us and that’s been missing in our lives. The Conscience Foundation supports the revival of conscience. What is conscience? The innate knowing of right and wrong and the willingness to take a stand for what is right. So think about it, if each of us here today awakens and everyone in the audience who saw the program awakens that forgotten part of ourselves, wouldn’t our lives change? Wouldn’t the world change? Supporting Divine Performing Arts is supporting its message, and it’s a really good way to help the situation before us.” Ms. Freeman offered the audience creative ideas and suggestions about how to support the mission of Divine Performing Arts.
Frank Tsai, Director of one of the sponsoring companies, NTDTV, voiced his solid support of the mission of DPA and the traditional values presented by them. He thanked all the guests for their participation and in his closing remarks asked the guests to think, saying, “What can we do to make the world a better place, how can we incorporate into our lives some of the virtue and beauty we have witnessed tonight. How can we help to create more beauty in us and in the world?”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts International Tour.
For more information, please see divineperformingarts.org
