CUPERTINO, Calif.—Trained in ballet and tap, Mr. Gallineaux now performs and teaches ballroom and Latin dancing. His delight from having seen the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour show bubbled out as he spoke: “I love tonight’s show—it’s making me smile, see?
“It’s technically fantastic, but also the costume design is amazing—the outfits of the drummers and the snow-capped mountain dancers, I want one of each of those. Actually, the musicians are amazing and the singers are amazing. I feel that the production captures the essence of Chinese spirit,” he said, while laughing.
About this spirit to which he referred, he continued, “There’s an essence of beauty and peace that I’ve seen before in Chinese culture that is really resonating on the stage for me.
“I think a lot of it has to do with China’s history—that it’s a culture that has been around so much longer than our American culture and I think that’s something that’s very special, and that I think more American audiences should take the time to experience because I think it can only do good for us—in Western culture—to understand and stay true to certain essentials”
He said that “to mean well to others, staying true to your spirit, that will allow a culture to exist for many thousands of years. I think we have been on kind of a bad path here in the United States,” elaborating on aspects of the show that DPA aspires to bring towards the audience. The performance brings a message of compassion to imbue the audience with a sense of hope.
Mr. Gallineaux is impressed by the elements in Chinese classical dance, expressing that the presentation and technical skills that were brought forth by the dancers impressed him as well as providing inner meaning behind the dances.
“It’s absolutely amazing—I'll tell you that some of the things that I am seeing the dancers do on stage [that] I think after a few years in the industry, I still haven’t been able to master. Chinese classical dance is so comprehensive [compared with other forms of dance].”
He particularly enjoyed the dance, Dance of the Snow-Capped Mountain, which is a traditional Tibetan folk dance in which the dancers perform with flowing sleeves and perform numerous flips and jumps.
“The choreography I just thought was so well done, the costuming fantastic, stylistically, it was really original. I just felt it represented a lot of the overall exuberance and joy and it was a perfect closing for the first half.
“See, I am still smiling!” he said.
DPA strives to bring the essence of Chinese culture to the stage and he felt that the performance “understood the spirit of dance that makes people happy” which is “not all just about the ego but about giving people a message that when they are in the theater, they feel better than when they came.”
He added, “I am sure anyone on the stage tonight would be a wonderful teacher.”
Please see DivinePerformingArts.org for more information.
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