DPA Dancer Inspires Washingtonians

ZHANG:
And just before yesterdays Divine Performing Arts show at the Kennedy Center, principal dancer Michelle Ren made a special stop. She was invited to teach Chinese classical dance at one of Washingtons most well-known dance ensembles. Heres a look at her visit.

STORY:
CityDance Ensemble was founded back in 1996 and has been named a Top 25 To Watch worldwide by Dance Magazine. Five years ago, they set up their own dance school to teach classical ballet and modern dance. When they heard that Divine Performing Arts was coming to Washington, school organizers wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about classical Chinese dance.

[Lorraine Audéoud Spiegler, CityDance Ensemble]:
What the Divine Performing Arts is doing right now to preserve traditional Chinese culture and to bring the best of these young talents that you have to the Washington area and share with us. We had a conversation about the importance of sharing that culture here.

In about an hour the Divine Performing Arts artists demonstrated a part of the forms and skills of Chinese classical dance like kicking from the back, turning in the air after stamping forward, and turning in the air without moving the legs. They also explained how Chinese dance focuses on circle movements and focuses on inner beauty.

[Paul Gordon Emerson, Co-Founder, CityDance Ensemble]:
They make it seem effortless and it takes an entire lifetime of hard work to make something look like its no work at all. Theres that great lesson to be learned for any young dancer, that its hard work that you must devote to anything and those young ladies demonstrated just what elegance you can bring to art through what Im sure was an incredibly long and incredibly difficult process of learning.

Tonight the Spectacular will have its first show open to the public and will be watched by nearly 12,000 audience members at the Kennedy Center.

NTD, Washington, DC.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• divine performing arts
• culture
• Washington
• Kennedy Center
• Michelle Ren