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Dance From Heaven: The Aesthetics of "Divine Performing Arts" (Part 3) By Xia Dao
(Clearwisdom.net) Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/6/4/86415.html
In modern times, ancient morals and aesthetics are becoming more and more
covered up. Divine Performing Arts, the artistic troupe that comprises New Tang
Dynasty Television's Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular shows, is
resurrecting the ancient morality deeply ingrained in traditional arts. Many
times in history, efforts to recover lost traditions have turned into an attack
on modern arts and produced a negative effect. To bring back lost traditions,
one needs to search back in time and find the classical spirit. One has to
resurrect ethics and morals, and thus renew human life. The dancers must be
individuals who understand fully the relationship between humans and spirit. If
possible, he or she should be someone who is immersed in truthfulness and
compassion. Only in this way can a dancer touch people's hearts. The dance, "The Loyalty of Yue Fei" shows what Loyalty truly
represents in the minds of humans. It is manifested clearly because of the
quality of the dancers. When Yue Fei's mother moves her body with difficulty, we
see in this the weightiness of ethics and morality. Her ancient dress
underscores the deep tradition of these virtues. The body which was wrapped
inside the ancient solemn dress expresses a mother's love with an aesthetic
style. The dancer is as hard as a tree, but also full of strength, softness and
self-respect. The dance is both sad and moving. The young Yue Fei shows the purity of life. His naked upper body flies
through the air, which is as pure as a child. The purity comes from his strong
legs which are wrapped inside his white silk pants, as well as his strong chest
that represents honesty. From this dancer's movements we see the basic human
quality, Truthfulness. The highest aesthetics in the Divine Performing Arts is to bring out again
the true human being, to bring out the morals that humans have lost. Audience
members who can sense this are cleansed. The spreading of Falun Dafa has had a major spiritual impact on modern
society. The art form of Divine Performing Arts - bringing the divine to the
human world - is another major influence, and it brings a challenge to the
modern human being who believes in atheism. How have they carried out this
large-scale undertaking which is against the trend of modern times? Those dances that depict heavenly beings remind people of dances by
Bodhisattvas and heavenly maidens described in the Buddhist literature. In
"Creation," the heavenly maidens dance with small harps on the clouds,
while many gods stand behind them. The spatial and color feeling is like the
Dunhuang frescos. Here, what the heavenly world expresses, besides beauty, is
the peace and kindness of gods. In the dance, a Buddha who leads heavenly beings
to the earth leaves right away, hinting at the urgency of the situation, and of
what the gods must focus on. In "To the Rightful Place," when a
goddess is descending to earth, her loose, white gown and the ring of light
around her head represents a holy image, just like that of an angel or
Bodhisattva. It depicts a glorious heavenly god. In "A Dunhuang
Dream," the heavenly beings correspond to the movements of the arms of the
Buddhas in the background. This tells the audience that gods are everywhere. The
waving arms in the wall create a mystical feeling. Do not underestimate your sense of feeling these scenes are real. They
manifest in other dimensions, yet the reality of the art form can give form to
one's imagination. This reality asks for enlightenment - it asks the world's
people to ponder on and bring out the basic thought they know well about the
truth of the universe. What the Divine Performing Arts does is to open people's
consciences. In this era, perhaps nothing is more brave or suitable than this. Divine Performing Arts bring out real beauty. There is a perfect balance of
background, color, and movements of the dancers. This suggests what real beauty
truly is. There is also a hidden message: beauty is inside truth and compassion;
and beauty belongs to people who understand the real meaning of truth and
compassion. Divine Performing Arts also contains another inner meaning. With thunder and
lighting from the sky, the dance, "To the Rightful Place" contrasts
good and bad, and shows divine judgment, which many people in the 20th century
no longer believe in. It's exactly because people forget that they will be
judged after death that has caused this world to deteriorate. Sometimes when
people do not really believe in gods, fear is a method to make people live
correctly. Although fear of gods can serve the purpose of making people
understand the true situation, Divine Performing Arts only shows a very short,
symbolic punishment through thunder. That is, in the Divine Performing Arts,
compassion is much more important than punishment. Here lies a difference between Divine Performing Arts and "Dancing of
the Fa's Happiness" from Buddhist literature. At the same time when
religions are on the upsurge in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and former
communist countries, Falun Dafa is spreading in the world. In China, the
persecution of Falun Gong is the dark core which is hidden under the surface of
a rising economy. The biggest purpose of the Chinese Communist Party, as Mao said himself, is
to change people. The truth of the dictatorship is hidden beneath this current
period of the capitalist/spending culture. What cannot be hidden anymore is the
disappearance of human conscience. Divine Performing Arts appears at this point
when human beings are in danger of loosing their morality altogether. It is
using traditional Chinese culture to defeat the culture created by the communist
party, the culture that separates humans from their true nature, and it is
waking up the conscience that had been cheated. This is the real meaning of the
thunder. It points straight at the truth of the matter. Falun Dafa can be expressed through dance and music. At the end of this cycle
of human civilization, Falun Dafa makes people think once again of the last
judgment, in which justice itself is the only judge. Dances from various
nationalities come to life again - which means, people are given the chance to
live once again. Heaven as depicted in the dance is so real that people once
again get the sense that this wonderful moment, this last trial, this highest
justice which has been long forgotten by people, will truly happen in the world
again. Gods are merciful, yet awesome. Divine Performing Arts is showing the world
their powerful dance, reminding people of a different way of living and
awakening deeply-buried memories. It is an important message that human being's
dying culture is returning to its wondrous beginning. When dance from the essence of life is created, the world is re-created as
well. The dance which calls to all lives brings us back to the beginning of the
universe, and points us toward a new start and unlimited opportunities. Dance
blessed by Heaven returns us to our true humanity, and meanwhile, human being
have a new beginning. April 24, 2007
Posting date: 6/7/2007 |