(Clearwisdom.net) Divine Performing Arts, accompanied by a live orchestra, performed their Chinese New Year Spectacular for Denver audiences at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. The three shows on January 30 and 31 included two evening performances and one matinee. The show celebrates traditional Chinese culture, including Chinese classical and folk dance, Chinese song and music, and themes of beauty, harmony, and spirituality.
One audience member attending the show was Sophia Park-Song. Ms. Park-Song is a faculty member in the music department of the University of Colorado at Denver.

"I thought it was absolutely wonderful! I really, really enjoyed it! So many emotions went through my mind and heart as I was watching this because I was born here, but I'm of Korean ethnicity. So I'm bi-cultural; so as I was watching this it was just really quite exciting to see the two cultures come together. [I] believe that the dancers... were trained here, yet we got to see an authentic Chinese performance.

"First of all, I want to say that your orchestra is just fabulous! I think that the orchestra members are just incredible! And I loved the colors that came out of the orchestra. I was just very much dazzled by the sound. Beautiful quality! Great choice of music to emote what was [occurring] on stage. So I thought that was very well coordinated. The choice of music was just superb!

"But, I think what struck me about this performance, so much, is that there was so much depth. And it wasn't just a performance to walk away from and say, 'Wow, that was just great,' but it's a performance that left you with reflection, to [make you] think. There was a wonderful theme that ran through from beginning to end, and it seems to be very typical of what I see in Asian philosophy in general. And a lot of the beauty was just all in the unspoken. It was just amazing to me! I thought throughout the dance, 'How you could communicate such depth without ever having a word?' There was just so much that came across without words. Tonight was an example of how powerful art can be."

Ms. Park-Song was asked what she meant when she said so many emotions went through her mind and heart. "One of the things that struck me was how humble the culture was about knowledge and their history and their heritage. [It spoke] a lot about the deities, which I thought was a very interesting part of this program. I think it was what was so powerful."

She went on, "I was talking a little about the philosophy and the theme. Of course, in Buddhism there is this idea of the circular theme; there is always this continuity, and I think that was very much apparent in the theme you adopted for the whole program. There was the beginning that started out, with all this from the deities, and this kind of knowledge, and incredible modesty of all this heritage and then seeing how that carried on from thousands of years ago and to how that is transcending into the modern day right now. And you showed that in just a matter of an hour and a half. And I thought that this was really quite incredible. But like I said, the message that was communicated without words--what a wonderful way to use art. That's ultimately what we try to do as artists, to use that as a means to communicate something much more powerful than sometimes what words can express."

Ms. Park-Song shared the message she takes away from the show, "As I'm leaving this evening, you had a big banner up at the very end, (that got me) thinking about hope and the future, trying to think about those wonderful gifts that came from a tradition a long, long time ago and to not forget that it's still in the process of living, that we are still evolving. And I think that this is what I'm taking away from this. In other words, today in the fast moving society that we live in, we're not really given the time to reflect on exactly where the origin of these ideas come from. And really it goes back in history, from thousands and thousands of years ago. And just remembering, and being humbled, by the fact that this is not new knowledge, but something in history to be carried on and something to keep in mind, and to always aspire to live on with a lot of hope."