Seattle's Paramount Theatre presented the exciting cultural event on Sunday, Jan. 19.
The educational aspects of the show in particular struck Ms. Hightower: "I feel like I am leaving having learned something about China and Chinese culture."
Ms. Hightower's reaction is not surprising since Chinese classical dance is part of the China's five-millennia-old culture, and one which Chinese culture draws from.
She also enjoyed the ethnic and folk dance elements, saying, "I really love that the diversity of Chinese culture was really embraced and celebrated-the Mongolian, the Tibetan, and it shows that within one culture we can have a lot of different people and still work together and still be able to represent that."
The same sense of the world coming and working together is represented in the orchestra. The Divine Performing Arts Orchestra begins with a classical Western orchestra as its foundation and augments this with traditional Chinese instruments, enabling its compositions to at once mine the potential of Western orchestral music and yet be rich in Chinese qualities.
Or, as Ms. Hightower stated it: "And I also loved the collaboration with the western music. In that we also celebrate the diversity of this world."
Overall, Ms. Hightower can came away with a spiritual understanding. She saw that "compassion and hope that can come out of that." She expressed that "the dance and the music and the singing all comes from this higher power, this divine… At the same time, it is also a celebration and a praise and an expression of the body."
Ms. Neils, an actress, had a similar understanding. "It’s really lovely," she shared. "It’s lovely the story telling and the cultural perspective and the information gained about everything–it’s beautiful."
"I studied dance as well in my youth," Ms. Neils explained, even dances from other cultures, like belly dancing. She pointed out some differences in foot positions among dances of different cultures, but also stressed the universality of the program.
"There is nothing new in the world," Ms. Neils said. "Truths are true, whether it is Christianity, wherever it is that truth of love–truth, acceptance, love, gentleness, living peacefully–it is universal."
The Divine Performing Arts 2009 Tour's next stop is Portland Oregon, Jan 20 at 7:30, at the Keller Auditorium.
With reporting from NTDTV
Please see www.DivinePerformingArts.org for more information.