LONDON—Aileen Pollock, a receptionist from East Grinstead, was pleased that she decided to come to the Chinese Spectacular at London's Royal Festival Hall. "I thought it was brilliant", she said.
Describing the appeal of her favourite act, the Mongolian Bowl Dance, Aileen said, "First the colours of the costumes, I thought they were perfect. And then just the skill they had in doing it, I thought that was incredible", she said, referring to the dancers' ability to dance with three tea bowls atop their heads.
"At first I thought that they had them stuck on their heads, and then at the end, when they took off three, my jaw dropped!" she exclaimed.
Aileen found the group dances in the show intriguing.
"I've never seen this before. There were some things I've seen like Asian dancing where you have groups of people and they move together as a whole group, but you don't get that in Western dancing".
Divine Performing Arts state as part of their mission a desire to revive traditional Chinese culture, and Aileen talked about her sense of this after watching the show. "I was shocked. The thing I was amazed about was just to have a show like that and it's trying to put forward a positive message and a spiritual value. I found that inspiring because you just don't get that as a message anymore.
Ms. Pollock found the show opened a new window into Chinese culture.
"I have a lot of affection for things about China and I hadn't realised the extent to which there was this whole cultural tradition", she said.
If the Chinese Spectacular returns to the UK next year, Aileen said she would definitely be back.
Her sentiments were shared by Lyndsy Platt, an occupational therapist in South London, Welling.
"I heard about the performance through friends", Ms. Platt explained. "I really enjoyed the performance, particularly as there's a mix of performances with some ballet, opera and drumming -- it's very diverse, it's nice."
"I got a sense of traditional Chinese culture being portrayed through dance and movement", she added.
"It's quite a lot to absorb but I have definitely learnt a lot from the performance", said Platt. "I learnt a bit more about Chinese history and culture."
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit:
www.DivinePerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese Spectacular. For our complete coverage please visit:
http://en.epochtimes.com/features/dpa2008/
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