NEW YORK—Two professors of classical ballet had a good time Sunday afternoon watching Chinese classical dance during a performance of Divine Performing Arts' Chinese New Year Splendor at Radio City Music Hall.
"It was a wonderful combination of the expressive and the technical because everyone is so technically trained as dancers," said James Sutton, associate professor of ballet at New York University. Sutton has taught in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan, and said he is familiar with Chinese dance traditions. He described how men in Chinese opera are traditionally gymnastically trained and exude a sense of fearlessness while women come across as softer and more feminine.
"There is a real separation of the two voices, the male and female, with all the traditions in the dance, and this comes across really clearly," said Sutton after seeing Splendor . "It's educational, as well as entertaining."
"It was spectacular," said Anthony Ferro, associate professor of ballet at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to the dances, Ferro said he enjoyed the music, including the erhu—a two-stringed Chinese violin—performance, and the vocalists.
"The drumming was of course spectacular. I liked the [erhu], that's fascinating to me," said Ferro. "I personally enjoyed the three singing soloists, and their message. There's always the sense of morality, or compassion and the givingness of the human spirit, and that was compelling to me."
"It's very rich in spirit. It's got a lot references to contemporary Asian culture, especially the situation in China," said Sutton. "It's not just giving you cultural snippets, a tour of Asia, it's also giving you some underlying philosophy of what could be done and what really matters … it's quite impressive."
"There was that theme with the three vocalists, keeping your hopes alive through your turmoil or through your depression and so forth, and to me that was compelling to me besides the dances," said Ferro.
The Chinese New Year Splendor continues in New York through Saturday, Feb. 9.
For other shows in the Divine Performing Arts world tour, please visit: http://www.DivinePerformingArts.org/
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese New Year Splendor.
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