BERLIN—The sky over Berlin was an unexpected blue during the past two days. The weather forecast spoke of rain, but the minute the Divine Performing Arts company touched Berlin soil, the rain slowed to a few refreshing showers that watered the early shoots and the first buds of spring. In the first scene of the Chinese Spectacular, called ShenYun in Europe, heavenly beings descended to earth to the applause of the Berlin audience.
The Divine Performing Arts company gave its first Chinese New Year Spectacular performance in Berlin a year ago. This year the company is on a global tour. Two artist companies will perform in 60 cities in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Asia-Pacific region. During intermission, audience members shared their impressions of the show.
"I realize know how little we know about Chinese culture," said Wolfgang Hilpert, a Protestant pastor. The way the culture is presented to us is absolutely wonderful. The colors are incredible."
"I must admit that I'm fascinated. I am fascinated that they portray religious moral legends and that they have the confidence to share this with us, ... and one can trust that they still want to tell us something. One really must agree with this. It is not only fascinating, but it makes one thoughtful too," Hilpert said.
"One prefers to think that this enchanting group is representative of the true China because it shows, very gently and delicately, a vision of life. I'm very moved," said professor Arnulf Baring. He was pleased by the verbal introductions to the scenes. It made the meaning of the individual scenes easy to understand, he said.
"This is a great idea. It appears as if a fire is burning on the backdrop of the stage. Because the audience was introduced to each scene beforehand, one had an idea about the topic of the individual scenes. I'm very pleased to see this," Baring said.
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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