STOCKHOLM, Sweden—A standing ovation and three curtain calls were the order of the day as the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular played its final show at Stockholm's Circus Theater on April 3.
Linda Sjoeberg, a massage therapist and a photographer for Stockholm's township, read in the newspaper that the New York-based Divine Performing Arts would stage a show that spanned the 5,000 years of Chinese cultural history.
Since Sjoeberg has a deep interest in China and loves listening to Chinese music, she talked her husband Tony Valdelid, into coming with her to the show.
"I said to my husband that he has to come along because this is supposed to be fantastic. At least I think so, because it feels like that intuitively."
The variety in the Spectacular appealed greatly to Sjoeberg, a frequent theater-goer.
"I thought the show was fantastic, it was really colorful. The music and the language were great. The pictures on the backdrop were amazing. There were many dimensions to look at. I go to quite a lot of theater — plays, operas and such, but this was the best I have seen. I loved drums."
Valdelid, a welder for a small company and a painter who sells his work locally, commented on the unique, ever-changing backdrops in the show.
"The show is cool because it is different. It is partly because there are so many [dancers] on stage and partly because there is a constant change from scene to scene. In the beginning, the first scene, the fog rising from the floor, was also very trendy. One had no idea what was going to happen when the curtain went up. Generally, shows in Sweden, be it plays, theaters, and others, the scenery does not change much."
Valdelid added that he was especially affected by the piece, The Fruits of Goodness.
"The show was really beautiful. Everything was very beautiful. And these lotus flowers, where monks were sitting inside the lotus flowers, made all the hair on my body stand up."
Victory Drums was Valdelid's favorite scene, followed by the Mongolian Bowl Dance. He said the technique and choreography in the two pieces "were the best by far" from anything he had seen in the past.
The performers appeared to be ageless in Sjoeberg's eyes. "They look like children. They look so unbelievably young. I don't know if they are very young or if they are preserved like that."
The couple praised the wide range of skills displayed by the dancers as well as the diversity of the various acts.
"The drums were amazing," said Sjoeberg. "But the opening scene (Nymphs of the Sea) was absolutely beautiful. And then the scene with the snow-capped Tibetan mountains of course, because Tibet is dear to my heart since many years, was amazing. The "Fruits of Goodness," with all these young people, was immensely beautiful."
Not knowing the Chinese language did not detract from Sjoeberg's enjoyment of the show.
"I think that even if one doesn't understand the language, one can still in this mysterious way make a picture of it [in one's mind]. And it is very good that there is a written translation.
"I think because of the body expression and the movements, the dancers confirm much of the message you see before you. You can almost dream back to the time [it happened] when the warriors come on stage, how it was. You enter that world very quickly."
She welcomed the news that the Spectacular would return to Sweden in 2009, adding that she planned to let all her friends know.
"I will send e-mails to everyone I know. They must go and watch next year's show, they just can't miss it. I actually tried to get tickets for the earlier shows, but none were available. Then I heard that there was going to be a show on April 3 and had to get tickets."
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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