BOSTON—Dr. Miles, from a Midwest University, was treated by friends to the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) Chinese New Year Spectacular at the Boston Opera House Jan. 11. Her immediate response was: “Oh, it was marvelous. Just absolutely wonderful. So visually beautiful. Every time they came up, you went, ‘Oh, look’ … awe-inspiring.”
She continued, “It was like getting a very painless history lesson. You felt like you learned something at the same time as being artistic. I find China confusing because there are so many different ethnic groups. My friend is from northern China. But I can’t keep straight all the different ethnic groups. And I feel like I learned something. So it was fun.”
Her favorite was Welcoming Spring a festive, floral fan dance. Quick footwork, crisp movements, and stunning bursts of color form the basis of these womens’ fan dance and its sense of sheer delight. “It was beautiful and visual. The colors were just gorgeous,” Dr. Miles said.
“We were up relatively high, in the middle, and you looked down and it was just so beautifully put together. It was like a painting.”
For Dr. Miles the unique message was: “Feeling like you get in touch a little bit with other people’s culture and history and, really, the universality. Because, in this country we don’t know much about China, they’re sort of stereotypes [to us]. The messages were very much universal messages. And you can say, ‘Oh, that’s like here! That’s the way people are all over’.”
Please see DivinePerformingArts.org for more information.
