Ontario's education minister took in the Divine Performing Arts Chinese New Year Spectacular on Saturday and said she thoroughly enjoyed the show.
"I'm very much enjoying the show," said Minister Kathleen Wynne during the intermission. "The color, the athletic ability and the precision of the dancers, it's very compelling and very beautiful."
"I love the drummers," she added. "I think that the drums strike a very deep place in all of us. I think it's wonderful."
The minister said she enjoyed learning specific Chinese traditions through the spectacular and that she saw connections between the dance and music in the Spectacular and other cultures. "It's quite interesting."
"I really believe that experiencing arts happens on a number of different levels. It happens on an intellectual level, but it's a physical and emotional one as well. I've enjoyed it on everyone of those levels." The Spectacular, a world-class production performed by the New York-based Divine Performing Arts Company, features an international cast of dancers, singers, and musicians devoted to reviving the authentic traditional culture of China and bringing it to new heights of excellence.
The show's programs draw content from the myths, legends, and other extraordinary stories of China from ancient to contemporary times, spanning China's 5,000 years of history.
Integral to the extravaganza of aesthetic beauty and grace are themes of courage and righteousness, loyalty and filial piety, honesty and trustworthiness, compassion and faith—themes that are true to the reverent and divinely inspired traditional culture of China.
"I think its very worthwhile seeing. I'm very glad I'm here. It's just wonderful, said Wynne, and thanked the organizers and everyone involved in the Spectacular.
The Saturday matinee was the second of five shows in Toronto. After Toronto, the Spectacular will continue on its global tour, which includes an 11-day run at the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York, called the Chinese New Year Splendor.
The Spectacular returns to Canada in the spring to play in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary. By the end of its tour, it will have played to a total live audience of 650,000 in over 60 cities and 14 countries.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts shows that will perform in over 60 cities worldwide in 2008. To find a show near you, please visit www.bestchineseshows.com.
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