Jan 23, 2009

WESTCHESTER, NY--In Westchester the Divine Performing Arts show was greeted with enthusiasm by Mr. Sturman, a newspaper publisher and radio broadcaster. He attended with his wife and daughter.

Mr. Sturman compared the expressiveness of Chinese dance to other forms he had seen. "It seems that in the precision and the movements, they express themselves so much more than we do. Just one little movement says so much. I liked the flower that blooms every three thousand years [The Udumbara's Bloom], that was a whole story, it was wonderful."

The deeper resonances of traditional Chinese culture imbue a dancer's movements with rich expressive power. The dancer is thus capable of not only portraying a given figure's disposition or mood, but even the vivid expressions unique to a certain age, whatever the land or time.

Mr. Sturman said he would have to think more about the meaning behind The Udumbara's Bloom, "I think this transcends all languages and all cultures...wonderful."

He thought that in the dance 'Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution' he could relate Eastern culture to his life experiences. "We understand the story, those that believe in an afterlife is very similar to what we say, and those that don't, we can understand it anyways."

In this dance, a father is persecuted in China for practicing the traditional meditation system of Falun Gong. A message of hope shines through with the longstanding Chinese belief that good people are ultimately rewarded, even if not in this lifetime.