SAN FRANCISCO—Moving from the analytical world of business systems to the artistic world of the Chinese New Year Spectacular, Mr. Sell found lots to think about after watching the Divine Performing Arts Spectacular at The War Memorial Opera House.
Mr. Sell had a hard time controlling his enthusiasm: “Oh, it’s delightful. It’s really very athletic and exciting and colorful, and the music’s wonderful, and the dancing is fantastic. ... I love theater and music.”
Mr. Sells sings in and serves on the board of directors of a men’s chorus and says he has a long history in music, chorus work, and theater.
He said that the singers in the show are “excellent, just excellent.” He doesn’t understand Chinese, but that didn’t bother him. “What we have in music is language and orchestration. ... What we can’t change, even through translation, is the sound of the language. That’s presented to us, so that creates its own special feature in the special cultural element of the music. Whether it’s Latin or German or Chinese or Japanese. What we can’t change is the language, the sound of the language. The poetry of the songs themselves is beautiful.”
Thus, Mr. Sell found beauty in the irreducible element of culture. He found the DPA show “very culturally specific. So we’re seeing much more of the dance and music of a broader scope of China than we would see in ‘Aida,’ an opera. It’s quite a different idea altogether.”
His favorite piece was Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution. “It was a very moving piece,” he said. “I found myself becoming quite emotional during that piece.”
The persecution of Falun Gong wasn’t news to him. He had been aware of it before but had not understood the subject matter of this dance. “Falun Gong ... yes, I didn’t understand that this was the same organization or the same understanding of the philosophy that was being persecuted, I didn’t make the connection. Only through the introductions to the pieces do I understand where we’re going with the understanding or the theme of the dance and the music combined. So without the opening narration, I would not probably grasp a great deal of this. So I’m pleased to have that, and of course the little paragraphs from the booklet.”
The dance portrays “an innocent family whose father is persecuted for practicing Falun Dafa, a traditional spiritual discipline,” according to the program.
He explained a bit more about the effect on him of this piece. “The story ended with him aligning with the spirits and going into heaven. The sad part was his family was left behind, [and we are] only satisfied in the understanding that he would go to a better place. … Actually, my eyes welled up; I was very emotionally moved by that piece.”
He quickly noticed the fresh way Western and Chinese orchestral elements were combined. He said, “The combination of the bassoon, which was of course very apparent. It opened with the Chinese gong, but there was a specific percussion that’s quite telling that it’s Chinese, as well as all the timpani and everything else, the Western instruments. That’s actually the dichotomy of what I found interesting, the mix of the Western instruments with the scoring, the Chinese scoring. It’s very pleasing.”
Overall, what he got from the show was “just how gigantic China is, and how these pieces are, well, spread over 4,000 [to] 5,000 years. But also over tens of thousands of square miles of cultural differences and understandings—the scenery changes, the territories change, you know, we’re in the Mongolian plain, and then we’re in the mountains, then we’re in the south. You can see the varying degree of the cultural shift over time and over territory, so it’s just amazing, just delightful.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour.
For more information, please see DivinePerformingArts.org
Mr. Sell had a hard time controlling his enthusiasm: “Oh, it’s delightful. It’s really very athletic and exciting and colorful, and the music’s wonderful, and the dancing is fantastic. ... I love theater and music.”
Mr. Sells sings in and serves on the board of directors of a men’s chorus and says he has a long history in music, chorus work, and theater.
He said that the singers in the show are “excellent, just excellent.” He doesn’t understand Chinese, but that didn’t bother him. “What we have in music is language and orchestration. ... What we can’t change, even through translation, is the sound of the language. That’s presented to us, so that creates its own special feature in the special cultural element of the music. Whether it’s Latin or German or Chinese or Japanese. What we can’t change is the language, the sound of the language. The poetry of the songs themselves is beautiful.”
Thus, Mr. Sell found beauty in the irreducible element of culture. He found the DPA show “very culturally specific. So we’re seeing much more of the dance and music of a broader scope of China than we would see in ‘Aida,’ an opera. It’s quite a different idea altogether.”
His favorite piece was Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution. “It was a very moving piece,” he said. “I found myself becoming quite emotional during that piece.”
The persecution of Falun Gong wasn’t news to him. He had been aware of it before but had not understood the subject matter of this dance. “Falun Gong ... yes, I didn’t understand that this was the same organization or the same understanding of the philosophy that was being persecuted, I didn’t make the connection. Only through the introductions to the pieces do I understand where we’re going with the understanding or the theme of the dance and the music combined. So without the opening narration, I would not probably grasp a great deal of this. So I’m pleased to have that, and of course the little paragraphs from the booklet.”
The dance portrays “an innocent family whose father is persecuted for practicing Falun Dafa, a traditional spiritual discipline,” according to the program.
He explained a bit more about the effect on him of this piece. “The story ended with him aligning with the spirits and going into heaven. The sad part was his family was left behind, [and we are] only satisfied in the understanding that he would go to a better place. … Actually, my eyes welled up; I was very emotionally moved by that piece.”
He quickly noticed the fresh way Western and Chinese orchestral elements were combined. He said, “The combination of the bassoon, which was of course very apparent. It opened with the Chinese gong, but there was a specific percussion that’s quite telling that it’s Chinese, as well as all the timpani and everything else, the Western instruments. That’s actually the dichotomy of what I found interesting, the mix of the Western instruments with the scoring, the Chinese scoring. It’s very pleasing.”
Overall, what he got from the show was “just how gigantic China is, and how these pieces are, well, spread over 4,000 [to] 5,000 years. But also over tens of thousands of square miles of cultural differences and understandings—the scenery changes, the territories change, you know, we’re in the Mongolian plain, and then we’re in the mountains, then we’re in the south. You can see the varying degree of the cultural shift over time and over territory, so it’s just amazing, just delightful.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour.
For more information, please see DivinePerformingArts.org
