AUCKLAND, New Zealand—The chief editor of the 10 Auckland Suburban Newspapers, David Kemeys, thoroughly enjoyed the Chinese Spectacular on Friday April 18.
"I thought it was fabulous. I loved it. I loved the dancing. I thought it was graceful; it was beautiful."
"The costuming was lovely. It's graceful, it's pretty, it's colourful. [It] tells a lovely story. It is very moving — nice," he said.
He said he would tell his friends to come along and have a terrific time. "And see something new. See something exciting; see something that's going to teach them something about a culture they probably don't know anything about."
He said people who attend the show are going to have a terrific time. Mr Kemeys attended a VIP function before the show with his wife, a fellow journalist, Judith Tucker.
She said she learned quite a lot about Chinese culture at the Spectacular.
"It was really great; it was very moving," she said.
She said she especially liked the compeers' explanations before each performance. "Because quite often when you go to ballet you don't really know what it all means, so it was really good. I really enjoyed it," she said.
Ms Tucker said she loved the drums. "I thought the drums were very stirring. They were great. But I enjoyed the whole lot.
"I think you learn an awful lot and you enjoy yourself at the same time," she said.
Mr Kemeys said he sees quite a lot of shows in Auckland.
"I do think it was a terrific show, because it was so different from anything I have seen before.
"I think Judith raises a good point that when you have the stories explained to you, before you see the dance and things, you are able to see what the dance and things are about, so it puts it in perspective. I have to say it was good," he said.
Ms Tucker said: "It was a very different experience for us as New Zealanders to see something that we are aware of, but have never seen before," referring to traditional Chinese culture.
"You see things on television and you see things on movies, but it's not a one-to-one experience. To see something that's live, that is a live performance and done so well, it's terrific," she said.
Mr Kemeys said the Spectacular was a good experience.
"I thought that the whole aspect of the show, telling the stories and coming through the years in China just opens up something quite new and rich for you. Because here in Auckland, the Chinese population is very large and to our shame, most of us, I think, just know it as the people who run the restaurant."
He said the show was marvellous to watch.
"I thought the experiences with the slide show in the background with the angels descending, with the gods descending ['Descent of the Celestial Kings'] and the suns and the moons and the archer ['Lady of the Moon'], I thought it was wonderful, I thought it was colourful.
"I thought the sea nymphs ['Nymphs of the Sea'] were pretty cool as well. I thought it was all just blended into a very good and highly entertaining package. I thought it was great."
Ms Tucker said the show was "very professional".
"I thought it was an interesting mix of new media and old culture. That was very good."
She said she was impressed by the technical aspects of the show and particularly the digital backdrop.
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit:
www.BestChineseShows.com.
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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