ANTWERP, Belgium—"It's a great show, unbelievable," said Marleen van der Heuvel after attending the final performance of Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular at Antwerp's Stadsschouwburg theatre.
The Spectacular concluded its Belgium run Wednesday night at the Stadsschouwburg theatre in Antwerp to high praise from a delighted audience.
"Nice clothes, nice dances, the music is lovely. It's unbelievable," van der Heuvel said.
Van der Heuvel added that her favorite performance was Nymphs of the Sea, where a special fabric is used to imitate water on the stage.
"The last act with the drums, the guys, unbelievable. It's something we are not really used to. I was just telling my friend, it's always shows like Cirque du Soleil, but I prefer this, it's much nicer," she said
School teacher Chris Coetelier praised the show for its faithfulness to Chinese culture.
"This is something really traditional, very well put together and complete," he said.
"The act with the drummers was of course very spectacular, but I always try to pay attention to the postures and hand movements and those were just perfect.
"I haven't found anything to be criticized. I thought it was really magnificent. Beautiful, magnificent, I really loved it. Until now I have found it a complete success, and like it states it really is a renaissance, a revival of the old tradition that was destroyed and lost."
China's traditional culture has been all but extinguished by the Chinese Communist Party through various political movements. Like other communist governments, the Chinese regime violently destroyed religions and cultural traditions that challenged communist ideology.
"I found it very beautiful," said student Ming-wei Yu. "The costumes were very pretty with a lot of glittering. The dances were also very beautiful."
Like van der Heuvel, Yu also favored Nymphs of the Sea. "I thought it was very beautiful."
Yu said she had never seen a show like the Spectacular before. "It is the first time. It's really something I would recommend it, it was magnificent."
Renowned Antwerp tailor, Guy David, was also pleased by the cultural nature of the Spectacular.
"I thought it was magnificent. It is bringing China to Europe and teaches something about its culture. I found it was beautiful, and also beautiful music. The act in which the lady plays the erhu I thought was just beautiful, very beautiful music. This is a show where one can learn something about a culture that we don't really know. That to me is important."
"I thought it was a very very beautiful show, very Chinese, but really truthful," said housewife Hilde Stockman. "The drumming act I liked, and also the act with the water scenes [Nymphs of the Sea] were very beautiful. In fact all of it was very beautiful. I would describe the show as being very genuine."
One older woman from Antwerp said the show was beautiful from "beginning to end."
"This is not something we westerners can do, you know. It is a special show, the music was very beautiful, the singers' voices were very beautiful, very special," she added.
"You cannot compare that with us (westerners). In one word, it couldn't have been better."
Cathy de Wilder, a marketing manager for Medina Factory, a PR firm in the entertainment industry, analyzed the show by its component parts
"I liked the show very much," she said.
"I think the strong assets of the show are definitely the costumes, the colors, the quality of the costumes, also the choreography, the artists themselves: the group dancers were very strong, not only were they very good dancers but also very good performers, very good actors. So in general it was a very very good show."
De Wilder noted that the Spectacular was not spectacular in the sense of flying but in the sense of traditional beauty.
"It is more traditional, beautiful, artistic, and very pure. It's very honest, very pure, and it brings a beautiful story, many stories in fact."
She favored the more musical acts including the drumming acts and erhu soloist Xiaochun Qi. She also enjoyed the singers.
"The singing was very beautiful, strong voices. Very colorful, very beautiful. Very unique to the show were the backdrops, but not only the backdrops but also what was happening 'inside' the backdrops."
Like others, she was grateful to have the lyrics of the songs translated and projected on the backdrops.
Her conclusion: "It was a fully integrated show with lots of strong aspects coming together. It was well done. It's a nice show."
Alex Vermeulen, an IT specialist, was also impressed with the show. "It was very good, very special, not at all what I had expected," he said. "Overall I found it to be very good. The drums at the end I thought were really very good."
Rene, an entrepreneur who only gave her first name, said the show was "Marvelous, a very special experience..."
"The music I specifically liked about [the show]. It was very soft, very relaxing music. I will come back next year when they are performing again, I will come back, really."
Wednesday's was the third and last Belgium performance of the Spectacular before it continues the European leg of its international tour. The show will now continue on to Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
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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