OSAKA, Japan—Ms. Dong, a Chinese who just came to Japan from Dalian, China, about two months ago, watched two Divine Performing Arts (DPA) shows successively at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka on the afternoon and evening of February 18. She attended the first show on her own, and the second one with her family. They all felt it a great honor to watch the DPA show.
“I think it is very beautiful, and each of the programs is especially great. I was not particularly fond of dancing. When watching TV at home, I seemed not to have much understanding of or interest in dancing and music. But when I come here to watch the dancing, I find it uncommonly attractive. After watching the first show, I felt like watching another and each of its programs. This is the second show I have [watched] today,” said Ms. Dong.
She told the reporter, “I had heard of DPA, but had never watched it. It is a great honor to watch it this time.” In fact, Ms. Dong particularly arranged her trip to Japan to watch the DPA show.
“I like the song Finding Myself, very much, and enjoy listening to it, feeling its lyrics [are] amazing. I am also thinking who I am. Besides, the dance, The Udumbara’s Bloom, is very beautiful. I have heard of this kind of flower in China; my friend told me where the flower would bloom. Though I haven’t witnessed it, I have heard of it. Not until I came here to see peculiar beauty of the dancing did I understand the true meaning of the udumbara’s bloom. The udumbara’s bloom is in Buddha’s hand, then spread to each corner of our country and then to all countries.
“I didn’t hear of the bloom before, but this year I have heard of news about the udumbara’s bloom in all kinds of places and also seen their photos. After watching the program, I understand that the udumbara’s bloom everywhere, as well as the dance, is conveying the message that gods and Buddha descended down to the secular world to enlighten us and to offer us salvation. I get just part of the picture, though not the whole picture.”
Through watching the DPA performance, Ms.Dong felt, “The Chinese divine culture is very sacred and extremely beautiful. The backdrops are also very beautiful.” Feeling touched, she brought her family to the show. “I came to the first show on my own. I came to the second show with my family. I brought all my family members here to watch this, which is very good.”
Upon her arrival in Japan, she was told that the DPA performance was very good and beautiful. Therefore, she anxiously looked forward to watching the show.
“I enjoy watching the program The Poet’s Vision, which is indeed very good. Through watching the dance which depicts the poem by Li Po, I came to a genuine understanding of the poem.”
After watching the program Monk Ji Gong Abducts the Bride, Ms. Dong started pondering the Sichuan earthquake. “What connotation did the program imply? When the earthquake struck Sichuan, I was in China and deeply felt it. When watching TV during the break time, I felt like crying. Upon turning on TV, I started crying, feeling that we could have done something in advance. But as the event happened, the happening was not by chance. I failed to have a thorough understanding of it.”
“The program The Monkey King Triumphs drew her attention.
Ms. Dong said, “Such kind of DPA performance is never possible in China. Nor are such programs allowed in China. As for dancing, no other dancing expresses so much elegance, beauty and lasting charm. That is, elegance, beauty and charm are most beautifully conveyed by Divine Performing Arts performances.”
Captivated by the DPA performance, Ms. Dong hoped to encourage her seven-year-old daughter to become a DPA dancer. “It is said that DPA also tours America and London. If possible, I would also like to see the shows there. After watching this DPA show, I plan to have my daughter continue learning dancing. If there is a future opportunity, I would like my daughter to join in DPA.”
Ms. Dong kept saying that what she most wanted to say was that DPA is very beautiful, “enabling me to have a new understanding of dancing and of gods and Buddha.”
She said that in China she had heard of the persecution against Falun Gong, but without a deep understanding of it. When being told that some friends of hers were persecuted because of practising Falun Gong, she thought this was not what China should do. “We should go promoting Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners did a very good job.”
At the end of her interview, Ms. Dong said, “I will come to the show next year.”
For more information please visit DivinePerformingArts.org
Chinese version is available at http://tw.epochtimes.com/b5/9/2/19/n2435794.htm
