By Gary Feuerberg
Epoch Times Washington, D.C. Staff���
Dec 19, 2007

CLOSING ON STAGE: This year's first show of Holiday Wonders closes on stage at Baltimore's Lyric Opera House on December 18, 2007. (Lisa Fan / The Epoch Times)

BALTIMORE--The audience was treated to a dazzling new performance of Chinese dance, music and art in Holiday Wonders at Baltimore's Lyric Opera House on December 18. The artists are members of the Divine Performing Arts (DPA)--choreographers, vocalists, and musicians dedicated to rekindling Chinese culture's high moments in its 5000-year history.
"Culture is the root of the people," said Peijong Hsieh, production manager and piano accompanist of the DPA. "The times are remembered by the art," she added.

Before the show began, there was much anticipation by members of the audience who had seen the performance last year. "Very touching," said Dr. Chin-Chung Hsu, who is the appointed commissioner by the Taiwanese government and represents the Taiwanese community in Baltimore. "I expect it will be very sensational," he said.

The show begins with a dreamy scene of the Tang Dynasty, which many believe to be China's golden age, and the culture said to be divinely inspired. In "Creation," choreographed by Vina Lee, the Chinese people depicted at the time were, in a sense, closer to God than now when Materialism has descended in modern times.

We saw in the opening scene heavenly beings peering down from above at our world. A Buddha conveys that he will go to earth and bring goodness to humankind, inviting the others to join him. He then appears in the Tang Dynasty as an emperor!

DAZZLING: The audience was captivated by Chinese dance, music, and art in Holiday Wonders at Baltimore's Lyric Opera House on December 18, 2007. (Lisa Fan / The Epoch Times)

The sights and sounds awakened the viewer's senses with a feeling of awe and grandeur as the Divine enters the human world. On earth the same dancers from heaven move in regal, "hard" forms that contrast with their flowing, divine dancing in the heavens.

In "Drummers of the Tang Court," choreography by Michelle Ren, we saw the power of the Tang Dynasty in a different way. Drums played an important role in Chinese culture and celebrations, believed to dispel evil. In battle, the enemy would become afraid at the sound and sight of the thunderous Tang drum. The host, Leeshai Lemish, referred to the drum in Chinese antiquity as a holy instrument.

�"Fabulous," said Larisa Feldsher, when asked what she thought of the night's performances of classical Chinese dances. A native of the former Soviet Union who immigrated to the U.S. in 1980, she was well acquainted with the Bolshoi Ballet and knows good dancing.

Helen Sze McCarthy, Vice Secretary of the World Association of Vietnam, Burma, and Laos, is a "repeater" of these performances. "Every show coming, I am here," she said, apologizing for her broken English. "I wish it would never stop. I would sit here all night."

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