Peggy and I went to the theater to see Divine Performing Arts when they were here in Kitchener-Waterloo as part of there 20-country world tour. It was very well done and the costumes were amazing.
The show is comprised of 10-20 "mini" performances of mostly choreographed dances but there are a few solo performances of singing. Each one has it's own storyline and context but there wasn't any dialogue so the storyline progressed by the actions of the dancers. It was very well done and I loved all the color in the costumes and backdrops. The dancers are talented and the show was certainly entertaining.
The title of the show is Divine Performing Arts so it sure had its share of Deity and God-like references. Everything was sung in Mandarin Chinese and the hosts who introduced each "mini performance" spoke in Mandarin but also translated what they said into English so those of us who are not multi-lingual could appreciate each performance as much as others. This was all fine and dandy and sure made the performance really feel like a Chinese performance, but that was only half the story.
You probably know that Peggy is Chinese so she understood everything they had said (in both English and Chinese) and grew to dislike the performance more and more as the performance continued on. I didn't find out about her feelings until she shared with me after the show. It turns out that it wasn't an accurate translation when going from Chinese to English. Apparently the show is a means of evangelizing Falun Gong.
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline developed by a Chinese man, Li Hongzhi, that is strictly forbidden in Mainland China.
The reason she didn't like it is because we had used so much of our resources to attend and all they did was tell us we should "open our mind" to this new discipline. We bought the tickets (not cheap, by the way), I came home from work and we went out for supper to start our date together, we dressed up and were looking forward to it ever since I gave her the tickets on Christmas. We were expecting a show of Chinese history and wonderful Chinese instruments rich in Chinese culture but all we received was someone preaching to us to "open our minds" to the Falun Gong Religion.
It turns out all the "mini performances" were traditional stories of the Falun Gong religion helping spread the message. All the songs used the typical Falun Gong lingo so Peggy picked up on it right away. I was oblivious to it until she told me later because the translation into English used terms like God, Spirit, Truth, Inspiration, Peace and other such positive, yet vague, words. Once she told me I was just as upset as she was and even as I write this, I'm becoming more and more angry with them.
I would not dissuade anyone from going to see it if you would like to, but should be made aware that it is a performance geared toward encouraging the practise of Falun Gong, and if you still want to see it, go ahead. If their advertising materials had showed more about its focus on the religion we would have been able to make a more informed decision of whether we wanted to go. At the very least, we would be aware that it focused on the Falun Gong religion so we would have known what it might be.
However, if you don't understand Mandarin Chinese at all and would like to see a well-choreographed colorful performance then by all means, go and see it. Just don't buy anything from the book table after the show.
(Ryanandpeggy.com, January 10, 2009 )
Original text from: http://www.ryanandpeggy.com/divine-performing-arts/
