(video) Latest collection of feedback for 2009 Divine Performing Arts World Tour

NTDTV via Youtube, Mar. 1, 2009-

Live Orchestra of DPA Show ‘very exciting’, Says Director of Youth Symphony

SAN FRANCISCO— The Divine Performing Arts (DPA) Chinese New Year Spectacular performed at the War Memorial Opera House on Thursday Dec. 8, and Mr. Hogan, director of a youth symphony attending with his wife, was extremely pleased to hear a live orchestra.

“I think the orchestra is excellent. Very well done. Obviously, its very well rehearsed. The conductor looks well accomplished. I think its beautiful. Very nice mixture. I am very glad to see that kind of combination taking place—beautiful.”

They had been expecting to hear recorded music, so they were delightfully surprised: “I think all of the music was very well done,” he continued. “It was all original music … We were very, very pleased to discover that it is a full live orchestra and is at such a high level—very exciting.”

The DPA orchestra performs all-original compositions while combining classical Western and Chinese instruments.

Mr. Hogan said that he was just talking to his friend and mentioned that the combination of the Chinese and Western instruments and music was very inspiring. He said, “It’s very difficult to have … a full orchestra and have them perform at such a high artistic level … It’s wonderful .. We’re very excited to be here.”

He went on to say, “My wife and I both visited China in the past and have been fans of Chinese culture for a long time. That’s why we came here—to have the opportunity to come and enjoy this. It’s wonderful to see them reenact the Monkey King and the other facets of Chinese mythology.”

Mr. Hogan concluded by commenting on the dancing. “Its just spectacular. It’s really very good. It’s really great to see a company at this level—a national and famous company like this—perform.”

- The Epochtimes, Jan 9, 2009

Art School Assistant Director Moved to Tears by Divine Performing Arts

DETROIT— “[The performance] was overwhelmingly magnificent and touching! I cried many tears, and I was inspired.”

This is how Ms. Xue described her feelings while watching Divine Performing Arts New York Company’s first of two performances at Detroit’s Ford Community & Performing Center.

Assistant director of an Oriental art school, Ms. Xue and her husband had also attended the DPA show in January 2008. She said the new programs in this season’s production “even more spectacular” than last year’s.

While a lot of movements in Chinese classical dance are quite difficult, Ms. Xue said, “these young dancers have already reached world class level. This kind of high class show made me admire them very much.

“The performers clearly and precisely expressed the essence of classical dance at a high level. I greatly admire these young dancers for giving such a high caliber and world-class performance.”

The DPA dancers were able to move the audience because they have a strong understanding of Chinese classical dance, said Ms. Xue. She explained that only when dancers truly understand and express the intrinsic substances of dance will they have the power to move audiences.

“In the dance ‘Dragon Springs Drums,’ the male performers expressed great power, skills and strength. Their expressions were rich and earth-shaking.”

She added that the dancers’ thoughts, facial expressions, and inner expressions all touched her deeply.

“The opening program, “The Five Millennia Begins” is so magnificent, so touching. After watching it, I cried. The ideas behind the production, the dance, and backdrops all fitted together perfectly. They all harmonized one another. They made it really easy for the audience to understand—very influential.”

She especially liked the “Yi Ethnic Dance,” a spirited portrait of everyday life among the Yi people, one of southern China’s largest ethnic groups.

“The costumes, dresses, and designed movements in this dance are extremely graceful. The choreographer fully took advantage of the characteristics of the Yi Ethnic apparel. They manifested the dance to be very extravagant. The use of color was very elegant, harmonious, and fitted into the numerous beautiful scenes in the backdrops.”

Ms. Xue praised the creativity of the artistic director and was impressed by the fluidity and coordination of every aspect of the performance.

“The concepts, staging and dancing were in perfect harmony,” she said. “DPA has brought Chinese culture to every corner of the world, sharing China’s 5,000 years of history. This is magnificent. I represent the Chinese people in thanking them.”

- The Epochtimes

‘Spectacular in any language’ , says Los Angeles audience

LOS ANGELES, California— “The costumes are gorgeous. The choreography is amazing. The cultural history of it all is breathtaking … it exceeded my expectations, absolutely”, expressed Mr. Lundgren at the Los Angeles showing of the Chinese New Year Spectacular on Dec. 30. When asked if he had any favorite dances, he said “the drums, the drums were amazing.”

The Chinese New Year Spectacular is part of a world tour by Divine Performing Arts (DPA) International Company, which will bring classical Chinese dance and music to audiences in over 70 cities this year.

Ms. Lundgren, who was attending the show with Mr. Lundgren was similarly impressed. “The soprano, oh, that voice! … her pitch, her pitch was perfect!”, she exclaimed.

Although Chinese is a foreign language and culture to Ms. Lundgren, she was adamant that this was not an issue. “I don’t care! … There’s music, it’s all the same language.”

Throughout the show, performances were introduced in both English and Mandarin. Mr. Lundgren said he found the English song lyrics digitally displayed on the backdrop, to be helpful. “It was nice, I was reading it, it was good to follow”, he conveyed.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour.

- Source: The Epoch Times, Dec 30, 2008

Divine Performing Arts Debuts in Los Angeles, Enjoyed by Young and Old

LOS ANGELES— The Divine Performing Arts made its debut this Tuesday evening at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium for what will be a 5-day run.

A local Pasadena family, the Niesens, came out to enjoy 5000 years traditional Chinese culture.

Seven-year-old Sydney most liked the dancing, saying that it was “colorful,” while her older brother, Michael, eleven, appreciated “the different types of costumes” that the performers wore.

There mother, Alice, a nurse practitioner, agreed, saying that she also loved the ‘Yi Ethnic Dance’ with silken rainbow-like skirts.

“I love that they are bringing out the Chinese culture and representing things that are important to them.” Alice was particularly moved by the dance called The Udumbara’s Bloom where, as she explained, the dancers “are imitating nature with finger movements and graceful bodies—really beautiful.”

A physician, Charles, said that his favorite part of the show is the music calling it “soothing.”

“It’s different than old Chinese music that I have heard before. It’s a combination of Western and Eastern – I am very soothed by it.”

Savannah, a full-time student at Cal-State Northridge, who watched the show with her boyfriend, said “I love it. Really nice. Beautiful. Honestly, I just like the colors, and the clothes are so pretty. Fantastic, gorgeous, jaw-dropping.”

Liczy, a young girl accompanied by her grandmother, Lois, praised the show: “It’s really pretty. The girls are gorgeous.”

Liczy particularly liked the Yi Ethnic Dance, where young women portrayed the joyful spirit of dance in silken, rainbow-like skirts.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour. For more information please visit DivinePerformingArts.org

- Source: The Epoch Times, Dec 30, 2008

Artist: ‘We’ve enjoyed our evening tremendously’

SAN DIEGO, Ca.—Audience members were delighted by the sounds and visions portrayed before them when they attended the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) International Company’s show on Saturday Dec. 27.

Amongst them were Patricia Kascas with her granddaughter Valerie, both from San Diego. Mrs. Kascas, an artist, owns her own business, shared their joy in what they had experienced and said, “I loved the show! In fact the reason I wanted to come was to see all the colors and the artists and the fabrics. We have come to the Civic Theatre every Christmas, and this is the show I chose this year.”

Mrs. Kascas appreciated the culture and the messages in the performances saying, “I think the culture is fabulous. And the little stories, each is like a play, very interesting. We’ve enjoyed our evening tremendously, and I would recommend it to anyone.”

Valerie also loved each of the performances and had difficulty choosing a favorite, she said, “The show, it was amazing, I liked everything.”

- Source:  The Epoch Times

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour. For more information please visit DivinePerformingArts.org

Artistic Director Pays Tribute to ‘Phenomenal’ Divine Performing Arts Show

CINCINNATI— Dr. Rudnick, the Artistic Director of a performing arts

Dr. Rudnick, an artistic director with a Cincinnati performing arts company, heaped praise on Divine Pefrorming Arts. (Courtesy NTDTV)

school in Cincinnati, attended the Divine Performing Arts show in Cincinnati on Dec. 23, and was effusive in his praise:

“It’s a beautiful show. Beautiful. It’s marvelous combination of dance, drama, music, beautiful scenes, costumes. Exceptionally well done.”

Dr. Rudnick is a nationally recognized music educator, conductor, composer and performer. He brought a lot of his students to see the show and was “very, very glad” that he did.

“This is a wonderful introduction to Americans on Chinese culture, tradition, stories, mythology. I think that seeing the show we all come away with such a greater appreciation for traditional Chinese culture, in music, and songs, and all the artists, from the choreographer, the singers, the dancers…. [It is] really performed on a really high level.”

Beauty in simplicity

“It kind of gets me in touch with some more traditional roots. I am a composer and musician. I love the sound of those Chinese folk melodies. I’m thinking about maybe even working on a piece, using some of that Chinese folk melodies based on pentatonic scales, beautiful simple scales but with a lot of emotional power. There’s a simplicity of getting back to this idea of simplicity and elegance that’s present in this marvelous performance that can inspire professional artists like myself. Sometimes in working with a lot of the modern groups, it tends to be very complicated. Things get very complicated. We have fancy instruments and complicated electronics and things like that. But it’s great to go back to simple kinds of ideas and simple forms like Chinese folk melodies. Beautiful! Beautiful! They give us new ideas and new ways of thinking of things.”

Dr. Rudnick said the orchestral music fascinating: “Combining the western instruments, and some western harmony, with Chinese folk melodies, and with the pipa and the erhu. A gorgeous, gorgeous combination. In fact, I must say that I was surprised how beautifully it fit all together. It made perfect sense, beautifully, beautifully together.”

Universal message

“The show’s message is incredibly powerful. We were just commenting with friends of mine here that it’s a message of hope and peace. Heaven knows that we need it in the world today. In fact we all came out of the performance just almost feeling like we were soothed. It was very soothing, very reassuring, soothing.”

“A wonderfully positive message. A message that we don’t often get in America, at least when we come to these cultural events. It’s all about a specific event, a specific composer, and a specific performance. This had an even greater message, a universal message of peace, brotherhood, harmony, and that only added to the beautiful elegance of the entire evening.

Universal appeal

“I just think it’s a marvelous performance and a marvelous production.”

“Everything was beautifully performed. Very well timed. Beautiful movement from the dancers. Everything was very very well done. Perfectly in sync. The musicians played beautifully. Just a wonderful collaboration of bringing so many different art forms together. That’s what I like most about the show. It brings so many wonderful traditional Chinese art forms together, but kind of puts in in a package that an American audience can really appreciate.”

“There is an inner kind of philosophy that comes out in these dance moves and in the choreography. It’s really really wonderful. I personally appreciate it. And there really is an inner story in the outer movements.”

Beautiful costumes and backgrounds

“Beautiful! Beautiful! I really appreciate it! The silk costumes. I appreciate it. The way the costumes were put together. Just very elegant, very beautiful, in a way that did not inhibit the movement of the dancers and the singers.”

“Beautiful images projected onto the stage but in a large format, larger than I’ve seen with a lot of productions. In fact I’m going to take some wonderful examples that I’ve seen here tonight and bring it back to my art school.”

Spectacular communication and collaboration

“This was such a great opportunity for American audiences and modern performers, modern dancers. They look at this, and they can get some wonderful ideas: ‘Wow! There is a traditional Chinese culture of dance and song here, especially when blended with a few western elements, that can give us a whole new idea of pursuing some kind of cultural collaboration.’”

“I think one of the fascinating things about our age is that there’s communication. We get this opportunity to see these wonderful traditional Chinese elements, and to combine them with some of the western elements. And because there’s such a communication in borrowing and lending of ideas now, it really is a spectacular way to bring some of the fantastic elements of Chinese culture into American society. And if you saw the audience members here this evening, you saw that most of them were not of Chinese background.

“It is marvelous to see an event in Music Hall with so many young people who came to see this performance and were just fascinated. They were enthralled.”

“As an artistic director, I feel that cultural opportunities especially for our young people, cultural opportunities that are appropriate in educational, in inspiring and motivating young people. It’s so important to have that. The ability to get an insight and to see another culture, and to get kind of a quick 5000-year history of Chinese culture in a beautiful presentation like this is phenomenal. It’s absolutely phenomenal. We need more of this.”

- Original report by the Epochtimes

Video: Musical Family Enjoy Divine Performing Arts Show in Philly

By  Sarah Matheson, NTD TV,  Philadelphi, U.S –

Divine Performing Arts attract many families who want their children to learn more about Chinese culture.

The Gammarinos in Philadelphia love the arts and really enjoyed the show on Saturday.

[Steve Gammarino, Musician]:
The music was fantastic, the musicians were wonderful. The dancing and acrobatics were incredible. So I couldnt say a bad thing about it

[Carol Gammarino, Former Performer]:
It was exciting, the costumes were wonderful.Their interpretations, the expressions, it was justit was top notch.

[Stephanie Gammarino, Daughter]:
It was really fun. I loved all the costumes. And the performance was awesome.
In never knew how diverse Chinese culture was within itself. It was really awesome to learn so much about it.

- NTD TV Via Youtube

Chinese Music the Ancestor of Chinese Medicine

By Mu Jie, The Epoch Times, Via Divineshows.com-

Pleasant music works to cultivate one’s temperament, to purify one’s mind, and to deliver a sense of beauty. But has it ever occurred to you that the creation of music was originally intended as a medicine to cure?

The origin of music can be traced back to the creation of Chinese characters by Cangjie (2650 B.C.), a legendary figure in ancient China. The Chinese character “Yao,” which means medicine, is derived from the character “Yue,” which means music. The character Yao is composed of two parts: a radical, meaning grass or herb, and the character for music. In addition to carrying the meaning of medicine or cure, this character can stand for music itself, happiness, or enjoyment. Music is therefore the ancestor of medicine.

Cangjie, according to one legend, created the Chinese character Yue based on an historic event, in which Huangdi (Yellow Emperor) defeated Chi You (war deity). In ancient China, soldiers commonly beat war drums on the battlefields to inspire their bravery and gain the advantage.

After the fight between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You, the beating of the war drums knocked Chi You’s soldiers unconscious. To cure the defeated soldiers, the merciful Yellow Emperor created a metal object in the shape of a bell, which is now called a musical instrument.

The middle of the bell-type metal was made of bronze, tied to silk strings on both its sides; the metal object was placed on a wooden frame to play. Based on a shape of seal characters, an ancient style of Chinese calligraphy, the middle part of the character Yue is “Bai,” which means white and symbolizes metal— one of the five elements.

The ancient Chinese believed that everything in the universe, including the human body and even sound, was composed of the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Of the five elements, metal corresponds to the color white. Cangjie invented the character Yue based on this bell-type metal. For what purpose was the metal object created? It was used to evoke a spirit from the dead, or to call back the souls of Chi You’s soldiers. According to legend, after the war, Chi You’s soldiers were lying on the ground, stunned by the war drums. Once their souls were healed, the soldiers came back to life.

Music, therefore, was used for healing. Later, herbs were found to contain healing effects, and one radical was thus placed on top of “Yue” to become “Yao.” As a result, the primary purpose of music in ancient China was to cure people of illness.

Researchers in the field of medicine have been conducting research into medical properties of music. While in his or her mother’s womb, a baby can develop a reaction to music. Of the five human senses, human’s ability to hear is the first one to “be enlightened.” Unborn babies in their mothers’ wombs can listen to the mothers’ heartbeats, breathing, and talking. That’s why modern parents give their babies prenatal education, such as exposing pregnant mothers to music. Clinically elegant and relaxing music helps reduce stress levels, ease breathing and nourish the organs.

One American scientist discovered that music is composed of waves of resonance, which can both influence one’s feelings and resonate with the human body. Meanwhile, music contains a variety of rhythms, while our body movements tend to follow musical rhythms. In consequence, changes of musical rhythms work to accelerate and regulate our biorhythms. Hence, some capable doctors would carefully select music of various rhythms to cure patients of various symptoms.

Ancient music was classified into Qingyue and Yayue (elegant music), which served the purpose of purifying one’s soul and mind. It was believed that good music had a beneficial effect on the human body. This was why ancient music was always of a slow tempo, for the purpose of letting people calm down. After listening to music, one is supposed to achieve spiritual tranquility instead of emotional excitement that seems to drive people out of their mind. Confucius once said that music should in fact be elegant.

Even in 1950s, people who were fond of music tended to be more easygoing. But now things have changed. There is something in modern music that provokes one’s demon nature. Some people even dance or twist their bodies crazily to the music, seemingly going wild or even lose consciousness with excitement. The demonic music can even cause people to display agitation, feel depressed or tend to lose their temper, which, in fact, brings great harm to health and achieves no healing effect.

The music in the Chinese New Year Spectacular (performed by The Divine Performing Arts, New York)   showcased in recent years is bright, pure, elegant and melodious with a definite classical slant. Listeners have said it touches their hearts— perhaps because it engenders kind thoughts and respect for our higher selves.

Many Spectacular performers have said that their practices are really a process of cultivating their hearts and minds. Positive feedback from audiences has been received—”After watching your performance, my illness is cured.” Perhaps we should credit part of this miracle to music.

- Divineshows.com

Traditional Chinese Music: Five Elements, Five Tones

By Dr. Zhiping Chen, Special to The EpochTimes-

Ancient Chinese music was based on the Five Elements. (Courtesy of NTDTV)

Chinese music is based on the ancient Chinese pentatonic, five-tone musical system. The five tones are classified as: Kung, Shang, Chiao, Chih and Yue.

According to the Chinese theory of the Five Elements, related to Chinese music, the tones are connected to a myriad of cosmological concepts, as well as the inner workings of man.

Chinese do not see it as coincidence that human beings have five internal organs: heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and spleen; and five sensory organs: mouth, nose, eyes, ears and tongue; and five fingers on each hand.

According to Chinese tradition, any of these five tones can affect a human being’s internal organs and might act as a regulatory mechanism. Music can increase metabolism, open thought processes, and regulate the heart. Because everyone’s makeup is different, one person’s internal organs are different to the next person’s, and the music touches people in different ways.

Elements	Metal	Wood	Water	Fire	Earth
Tones	Shang	Chueh	Yue	Chih	Keng
Directions	West	East	North	South	Center
Seasons	Autumn	Spring	Winter	Summer	Change of seasons
Planets	Venus	Jupiter	Mercury	Mars	Saturn
Emotions	Grief	Anger	Fear	Over-excitement	Anxiety

According to the five basic tones, one can detect different influences in the human body.

For instance, Kung-based melodies are classified as noble, Earth-related, and affect the spleen. Often listening to such music makes one tolerant and kind.

Shang melodies are heavy, like metal, unbending. This music affects the lungs; and frequent listening makes one righteous and friendly.

Chueh-based music heralds the arrival of spring and awakens all life anew. This kind of music affects the liver. Listening to it makes one kindhearted and conciliatory.

Chih music is highly emotional, like fire. It affects the heart. But listening to it makes one generous.

Yue-based tunes are melancholy, like placidly running water. They affect the kidneys. Listening to these tunes makes one mentally balanced and gentle, “sad but not hurt,” and “content but not to excess,” as the ancient Chinese saying goes. This is what the culture of Chinese music attempts to convey.

No matter which emotions the music expresses, taken to the extreme, it can harm the body and the flow of qi energy.

Dr. Chen has practiced traditional Chinese and alternative medicine and acupuncture in Seattle, Washington for more than ten years. She is originally from Taiwan and came across the connection between music and health when treating asthma patients. She has lectured on the connection between music and health since 2004.

- Source: The Epochtimes