TAIPEI—Divine Performing Arts (DPA) has sold 20,000 tickets in five days in Taiwan, evidence of the show’s increasing popularity in the culturally rich country.
The New York-based DPA, arguably the world’s premier Chinese performance company, will launch its extensive 2009 international tour in Philadelphia on December19, going on to play 260 shows in 80 cities on 4 continents.
The number of DPA performances in Taiwan has increased from 25 in 2008 to 37 in 2009. With New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) as one of its presenters, the show will play in cities across the country including Taipei, Hsinchu, Tainan, Taichung, Chiayi, and Kaohsiung.
“When DPA came to Taiwan initially, people did not know about it and bought medium-priced tickets,” said Chang Rui-lan, secretary general of NTDTV’s International Cultural Association. “After two years of shows, DPA is now well-known in Taiwan.”
At the heart of the show is Chinese classical dance, an art form containing an extraordinarily rich vocabulary of movement and expressiveness that has a way of touching the hearts of the audience.
“The performers’ movements, their expressions, the entire stage, and the exquisite costumes are all impeccable – it is truly a divine performance,” said Li Sung-Mao, a renowned photographer in Taiwan and mainland China, after watching the show in March 2008. “People cannot help but be moved by such a good performance.”
This season, DPA will perform with three touring groups featuring Chinese classical dance, ethnic and folk dance, and story-based dance, incorporating tales from both ancient and contemporary China.
