CUPERTINO, Calif.—“The choreography is spectacular! Everything just flowed,” said Mr. Roffelson, CEO and founder of his own hi-tech company. Mr. Roffelson and his companion, Ms. Garcia, had just watched the Divine Performing Arts debut in Cupertino, California.
“Everything is very beautiful and very artistic. I especially enjoyed the number called Welcoming Spring. It was beautiful—quite beautiful.”
Ms. Garcia added, “The dancers almost moved as though they were one, they worked very well together, like they’d been trained for so long together. But I read that they’ve only been together for two years doing this tour. So many shows! They must train a lot. And they don’t look like they get exhausted or tired.”
Divine Performing Arts dancers and choreographers train extensively in classical Chinese dance before presenting their truly unique show. Classical Chinese dance has its own complete set of training methods in foundational skills, a strict regimen for perfecting bearing and form, and means of training for skill sets such as jumps, turns, and flips, as well as extremely demanding aerial techniques, culminating in an enormous dance system.
“Yes, the dances have a lot of energy!” enthused Ms. Garcia, “But smooth, not necessarily with pauses, it’s just smooth, it flows from one step to the next but a lot of going, going, going. They took up the whole stage, the whole stage had something going on, which was really nice.” Ms. Garcia said that she works for a very well known artist's publishing company.
Mr. Roffelson continued, “It was very artistic. It was very beautiful, but in slow motion at times. And the music was very good.” Divine Performing Arts travels with a complete orchestra, the only one in the world that blends both Western and Chinese traditional instruments as part of its repertoire.
“And I was quite impressed by the vocals—each one, incredibly strong. You don’t get to see things like that very often. This was very, very powerful. Then when I looked at the dancers, and the way they moved on stage, it is all different to what we are used to seeing. They almost flowed across the stage. Quite beautiful! That in conjunction with the costumes that they had, and with the choreography of everyone working together, it was just unique. It was quite beautiful!”
“I think that this show was maybe a chance to learn a little bit about Chinese culture and be entertained at the same time. And I think we did. We got both,” said Mr. Roffelson.
“I also liked how they did the media, how the backgrounds brought the people in and then it all came together. It was just all coordinated. It all synced together and flowed. Visually, it was just stunning.” Divine Performing Arts shows feature digital backdrops that include scenes of majestic palaces, sprawling grasslands and cascading clouds, giving each dance added visual depth and grandeur.
“I will tell all our friends that they should come see this show. It was quite enjoyable. When you look at how they work together, it was like watching a flock of birds, like the wind blowing through a meadow. Everything just flows together. It’s very relaxing. Quite nice. We're going to think about this show for quite a while,” said Mr. Roffelson. “It's beautiful, quite beautiful!”
Please see DivinePerformingArts.org for more information.