NEW YORK—"The show is spectacular, I mean amazing," said Amerigo Fabbri, the Dean of Pierson College at Yale University, after attending the final performance of the Chinese New Year Splendor at Radio City on Saturday.
"It's very spiritual and that's its beauty, its gracefulness. There's so much we should learn from it. We should learn more about different cultures and especially Chinese because it is actually really, really, old," said Fabbri, who attended the show at the invitation of his brother.
"They're doing a great job bringing together the history of Chinese culture. The sound effects, the visual effects, the special effects, the singing, and the dancing—it's just amazing."
Fabbri spoke of the importance of preserving culture. "Performing arts have always been, for every culture, the cornerstone for reviving traditions and bringing real change to society. I really hope that it will succeed in this case, because we must not forget about ourselves or about our past. That's the worst thing we could do."
"We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to those people who have given their lives for their country and those who will come after us."
Fabbri said his favourite performance was the "Power of Awareness" and the virtues it portrayed.
"It was all beautiful but the most touching, the closest to us as human beings, not just Chinese or Americans or Europeans, was "The Power of Awareness." Throughout the world, democracy`s principle is one of good versus evil and speaking up for good values, being truthful, being honest, being of good faith, and at the same time, showing compassion.
"And I love the three words all together, truthfulness, compassion, forbearance. This will always be everywhere at any time in the world."
Fabbri is also a professor of modernist literature. Asked to comment on the traditional Chinese cultural elements portrayed in the show, he particularly referred to a dance segment that depicted the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese communist regime in mainland China.
"In terms of western civilization, you would have the gods in heaven, and how they relate to earthly life, and how you have the three women in prison and how one of them gives her life for the other two—these are great, great elements of the culture that are certainly conveyed by the show." He also felt that having seen the Splendor will help him in his work.
"We have a big Chinese community, a big Asian community in general. Many of my students are Asian students and a good number of them are from China. So this will cause some conversations, it will help me understand better where they come from and their roots.
"It will help me with my colleagues, sometimes when we talk about problems and issues we do it with a mindset that is grounded in our society. Sometimes our society is not always correct in evaluating situations. Students coming from Asia, China, Japan, Korea etc face a big challenge in this world and we need to, all together, my colleagues and I, be ready for them to help them adjust to this world because we understand their world.
The Divine Performing Arts international touring companies land next in Germany and Japan.
For information on all upcoming shows, please visit: http://www.divineperformingarts.com/
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese New Year Splendor.
Feeds