SAN FRANCISCO—Ms. Bremier, a garden column writer, felt she had journeyed throughout China and it’s history as she watched the final performance of the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) “Chinese New Year Spectacular” performed at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House on the afternoon of Jan. 11.
“It was like a little trip through China and history. I have studied Chinese art and art history, so I had a little knowledge about the dynasties.”
One of the glimpses of Chinese History that Ms. Bremier especially appreciated was, “Mulan Joins the Battle,” a tale where the heroine Mulan fulfills the two Confucian duties, service to one’s parents and one’s country.
“I loved hearing the true story of Mulan. I liked the … [dance] about Mulan respecting her father or elders. There are certain things that came through from the Chinese culture into these various acts that were interesting.”
She loved, “The visits to the various provinces—I think we went to Tibet and Mongolia—and finding they welcome guests with chopsticks and dishes. [‘Mongolian Chopsticks,’] I found that … interesting.
“I learned a lot in each scene. The Chinese people think of certain things as being divinely inspired … I like the folk dancing aspect of it—that was the Tibet scene, I believe [The ‘Dance of the Snow-Capped Mountain’].”
Ms. Bremier was moved by “Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution,” where a father is persecuted for practicing Falun Gong, a traditional spiritual discipline including the principals of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.
“The religious aspect is still in play there … It’s been there for thousands of years.
“I respect that the Chinese people have that, and I respect … I honor, and I know what I believe in, and I know how I feel about that and can totally relate to that—how Chinese people honor and respect and believe in their Buddha.
“The lesson we brought back from this—truth, forbearance, and the compassion are universal virtues in any religion those … would be sought after. I can relate to those.”
She continued, “My sister and I were really impressed with the dancing, of course, and the costumes, and really, the sheer athleticism of the dancers. Very athletic performance but very controlled. But the dancing—the classical dancing, I had no idea it was so complete—that it had [more] tumbling and athleticism than we find in our ballet. But it was all very beautiful and much more like dance than acrobatics. This is a very refined and controlled dance that includes acrobatics and that’s surprising because I don't expect it in classical dance.”
Ms. Bremier was intrigued with the orchestra and the singers. She added, “It [the orchestra] was fabulous. I was surprised that there was so much Western influence in it, and it was … interesting how you blended the cultures in this performance.
“I have to say the singers were fabulous—the tenors especially [Yuan Qu and Guimin Guan], just fabulous … and the soprano [Jianing Xu] and the contralto [Jianing Xu]—what a fabulous voice she had.”
“I like certain opera singers, but these were … the quality was as good as the Italian opera singers that I heard. It was surprising and pleasing. It was nice having the translation and helped understand what their passion was about.”
Ms. Bremier was also enraptured with the colors, she exclaimed, “Oh, beautiful—oranges and peaches and pinks and blues and yellows—its very colorful and lots of sparkles on the dresses and the swirls. The gowns were always swirling and they became sort of an instrument in their own right.
“People are too afraid of using colors—and I think you found great use of color here and a great combination of colors. There was a scene … where we were supposed to see springtime and those colors were just perfect for spring flowers.
“ I liked their use of color—it was exuberant. It was a visual feast—it really was. Lots of color—swirling color and sparkles.
“… I think the color palette is different—I loved the oranges and the reds and the orange-reds. The pale blue and the pinks are different than the blues and pinks that we know here. It was a different saturation of blue and pink.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour.
For more information, please see DivinePerformingArts.org