Ballerina: Chinese Classical Dance Is ’so fluid and so beautiful’

Ballerina Marielle Miller, who found the performers “incredible to watch.”
Ballerina: Chinese Classical Dance Is ’so fluid and so beautiful’
Among the enthusiastic audience was ballerina Mariel Miller. (NTDTV)
2/12/2009
Updated:
2/16/2009
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/0212_14_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/0212_14_medium.jpg" alt="Among the enthusiastic audience was ballerina Mariel Miller. (NTDTV)" title="Among the enthusiastic audience was ballerina Mariel Miller. (NTDTV)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-81017"/></a>
Among the enthusiastic audience was ballerina Mariel Miller. (NTDTV)

WASHINGTON—The New York Divine Performing Arts (DPA) Company’s third performance at the John F. Kennedy Center on Feb. 12 brought the audience to their feet.

DPA performers, many of them young foreign-born Chinese artists, bring China’s 5,000 year history to eager U.S. audiences with such dedication and it shows. They received standing ovations and a curtain call.

Among the enthusiastic audience was ballerina Marielle Miller, who found the performers “incredible to watch.”

Ms. Miller said she had trained under Slava Mesropov, ballet dance instructor at the Ballet Royale Academy in Columbia, MD and Svetlana Kravtsova, owner of L'Etoile Ballet Academy, LLC in Ellicott City, MD. Her dance background, although quite different to what she had witnessed that night, gave her an insight into the training, dance movements and technical skill of the DPA performers.

The dancing was “beautiful” she said commenting on the fluidity of the dancers.

“It is quite incredible to watch them move like that—so fluid and so beautiful, and is incredible to watch, whereas classical ballet (I have been trained by the Russians) has been very stiff and very held. It was incredible to be able to dance with that fluidity.”

She noted the many differences between classical ballet and Chinese classical dance.

“Chinese classical dance is beautiful. It is very [different] from classical ballet. We actually had a master class with Michelle Ren, [lead dancer and choreographer of DPA], earlier this week and it was incredible to see how you use a lot the same muscles, but the accents and the style are very different from classical ballet.

“Chinese classical dance is very much to the front and to the side, which is different use of the hips—it is very circular, very fluid whereas classical ballet is about the lines, the shapes, and the positions.

Ms. Miller said she had been so inspired by the evening, she was keen to experiment with Chinese dance techniques in her own dancing.

“I was really impressed with their abilities to hold their upper bodies. It was quite incredible watching them use their legs and muscles that way and be able to maintain that fluidity which is something that I really want to apply to my classical ballet. It is an incredible technique and seeing it is just gorgeous. It has inspired me to add parts of their techniques to mine, as well especially as I pursue a modern direction.”

‘Appealing to the eye’

Brian Rennex, an Argentinean tango dancer who has also performed at the Kennedy Center, appreciated DPA although for quite different reasons. “It’s gorgeous. Well, just in terms of the show details, the costumes are just fabulous and the choreography, especially with this big group, is just so precise. Everything is just so very beautiful and appealing to the eye.”

Mr Rennex, who is also a physicist and has previously invented a new type of footwear, not only had an eye for the dance expression but also displayed great interest into what the dance conveys and what it tells the audience. “There is the undertone of spirituality and just another way of saying it just plain old goodness. People are being good ... You see in the real world, it’s harsh, it’s hard on people. Yet, it makes life easier if some people are being nice to you. The whole show shows how people can be nice and artistic at the same time. I love it.”

‘Being a strong male’

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/0902130203141892_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/0902130203141892_medium-325x450.jpg" alt="Nicholas Martin said,'They put a lot of emotion into their movements; they smiled a lot.' (The Epoch Times)" title="Nicholas Martin said,'They put a lot of emotion into their movements; they smiled a lot.' (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-81018"/></a>
Nicholas Martin said,'They put a lot of emotion into their movements; they smiled a lot.' (The Epoch Times)
Nicholas Martin, a graduate student at a Washington D.C. university was also glad to have seen DPA, saying it “was outstanding … It really stood out from other things that I have seen.”

He loved DPA’s focus on traditional Chinese culture and was, like many other young males, particularly impressed with the The Monkey King Triumphs because of its connotation to being a strong male. He said that he enjoyed the “fighting parts, like the monkey king, that’s probably the one that stood out the most.”

Mr. Martin did not hesitate to talk about his overall impression of the show, “I would go back and see it again. It’s probably better than anything they have ever seen before.”

Shar Adams contributed to this report.

  Please see DivinePerformingArts.org for more information

 

Related Topics