HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—Dr. Church, an artist, art instructor, and art coordinator from a local university was among the audience members who were enthralled by Divine Performing Arts’ (DPA) only performance at the Von Braun Center Concert Hall on Friday, Feb. 6.
“Very beautiful, very very beautiful show. I have studied art most of my life, but I don’t know anything about Chinese art, unfortunately,” said Dr. Church.
She appreciated the work that went into producing a show of this caliber. “My daughter is a theater person, theater teacher, and director, so I have a little bit of appreciation of the work that went into this.
“I thought it was beautiful, spectacular, the dancing was so graceful, so lovely, I think the dancers were more graceful than any ballerina I have ever seen, it was a visual feast, a feast for the eyes.
“I liked that it was based on Chinese literature and legend. I like to study all cultures. As I said, I have studied art almost all of my life, and the stories behind the art are most interesting to me. I have read a little bit about Buddha. I just thought it was all very interesting.
“I think anytime we study other people and learn about each other and learn respect and tolerance for each other’s culture, that’s always beneficial, and I think ignorance brings misunderstanding, and I think all cultures have beautiful things about them.
“The music was beautiful, the orchestra was beautiful. I liked the blend of the Western instruments and the traditional Chinese instruments. I thought it was lovely just a beautiful performance.”
Dr. Church felt the state-of-the-art digital backdrops greatly added to the performances. “Interesting, I liked it; I have never seen that kind of special effect before. I thought it was very effective; I liked it very much.
The breathtaking digital backdrops at each DPA show bring classical Chinese dance into the 21st century, giving each scene an added visual depth and grandeur. Each backdrop is custom-designed to match exactly a given dance’s costumes, story line, lighting, and even choreography.
“When the rocks fell off the mountain I think I jumped a couple of feet, because I was looking at the backdrop, and I didn’t expect the rocks to do anything, and when the rocks tumbled off the mountain it was kind of startling.”
In Monk Ji Gong Abducts the Bride, one of the most beloved figures from Chinese history, monk Ji Gong, has long been remembered for this unorthodox, and seemingly-crazy manner of doing good works. In this tale, he warns a wedding party of an impending rockslide.
As an artist Dr. Church felt the use of colors was amazing, they complemented and enhanced each other. “The colors were fantastic; the colors of the costumes. The costumes made use of a lot of opposites. We study color by the color wheel and when you put two opposites together they intensify each other. I noticed the costumes made use of a lot of that so they looked brighter, and I thought the costumes were absolutely beautiful.”
In summing up, Dr. Church said, “A visual feast for the eyes, its just very beautiful.”
For more information, please see DivinePerformingArts.org
