Founder and director of a prominent ballet company, Mrs. Velthuisen was at the Divine Performing Arts New Year show on February 3 at the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Memorial Auditorium.
Dutch-born Mrs. Velthuisen was in awe of the DPA performance - an extravaganza of classical Chinese dance and song founded upon China’s divinely inspired culture.
“Oh, its fantastic—its amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this–the costumes and the dancing. All the dancers are so intense; you can see that they love it… with the backdrops and the projections, its fantastic.” said Mrs. Velthuisen.
Some of the backdrops are created from paintings. Others are digital conjuring stunning vistas of sprawling plains and majestic temples.
“This is so completely different from what I am doing, so I am watching not only the dancing, but also the costumes and how it all [comes] together.”
More than a hundred artists make up the New York-based production.
“It’s so original, so different. I do classical ballet, so for me, it is a complete eye-opener. I have seen it [classical Chinese dance], but not onstage like this.
“The lighting is beautiful. The choreography impressed me enormously—the beautiful combinations and all that—it is amazing. And the dancers—they are fantastic in the way they move. They still have the classical lines...so beautiful. They all work together well. You feel it in the audience when there is good communication between all the dancers.”
A full 40-member orchestra that combines a blend of Western and Eastern composition and instruments accompanies the breathtaking performance.
“Well, I told my husband that I would like to look at [the orchestra], because it is so amazing—I’m wondering how big is the orchestra? It looks like a huge orchestra—it’s amazing, beautiful.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts. Please see DivinePerformingArts.org for more information.
With reporting by NTDTV.
