Qi Xiaochun’s masterful erhu solo truly stood out for history student Victor Byenkya at the opening night of Divine Performing Arts Mid-Autumn Spectacular in Toronto on Wednesday night.
“When she was playing it, the music made you feel something. You weren’t just listening to it, you were feeling something and as she was playing it, it felt like a movie, it was amazing.”
“It was genius. It was so good. I can’t explain how good it was”, said Mr. Byrenka. “Everybody needs to come and watch this.”
The Mid-Autumn Spectacular at the John Bassett Theatre of the Toronto Convention Centre was greeted with great enthusiasm by the audience.
“It was beautiful. It was amazing. It really was,” said Mr. Byenkya, “I expected it to be good because I’ve been to a few shows before but not one with Chinese cultural dance and it was amazing. We didn’t expect it to be so good. I was blown away.”
A history major at the University of Toronto, Mr. Byenka has studied some East Asian history, but still felt he had much to learn from the show.
“What I learned about Chinese culture is the emphasis on unity, of people being together and there’s an emphasis on not being selfish, putting your nation and family before yourself,” he said.
Several performances by Divine Performing Arts reflect the values rooted in China’s ancient culture, which placed great emphasis on virtue and inner cultivation. One such performance tells the story of China’s great general Yue-Fei whose loyalty to his elderly mother was only rivalled by that to his country.
Another such performance is Power of Awareness in which passerbyers in a park stand up to protect a mother and daughter from being persecuted by Chinese policemen for practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Byrenka was particularly impressed by this aspect of Chinese culture. “It’s a good culture and I really liked it. Whenever someone came in and disrupted [the unity] the whole community would chase them away.”
But this was not the only aspect of the show he enjoyed. From the Drummers of the Tang Court to the , as well as the opera-style vocal performances .. Mr. Byrenka called everything “amazing”.
“The drums were amazing because the way they were drumming and they were dancing at the same time—I just ... wow … it was crazy, they had dance moves but the dance moves were part of the music. It’s like their dancing were like musical notes. Amazing. It looks like a heavy drum and they were just jumping around—those guys were fit. They have a lot of energy. I have a lot of respect for all the dancers.”
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of China’s most ancient and cherished holidays. The Spectacular expresses Chinese classical dance and showcases authentic traditional Chinese culture. Through background scenery, costumes, and choreography, the Spectacular expresses truthfulness, compassion, and pure beauty. China’s history comes to life in this gorgeous performance that is entertaining, inspiring, and uplifting. The show’s content is presented in both Chinese and English.
