Tonight I saw an incredible performance – no, not just one incredible performance, but feat after feat of phenomenal artistry. The China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe is composed of talented dancers and musicians, each one visual or hearing impaired, with three additional performers with physical disabilities. Somehow, despite the fact that they performed in the Athens Olympic Cultural Show and a number of other remarkable venues, I hadn’t heard of them. But fortunately for me, my friend Alice got ticket through a friend of hers, and I had the opportunity to see them at the Masonic in San Francisco.
Even discounting their disabilities, the performances were phenomenal – their timing was perfect, elegant, and graceful. The first piece is a bodhisattva piece, with the 20+ hearing-impaired dancers moving their arms as if attached to one body. In another piece Huang Yangguang, a man without arms, uses dance to show how he waters and grows his fields. Following intermission, we were treated to a chinese orchestra, performed entirely by blind instrumentalists. For me, that was the most remarkable – in order for them to play music, they have to hear it and replay it, without the benefit of sheet music to learn from, and despite the fact that they had no conductor (they wouldn’t be able to see a conductor) they were perfectly synchronized. Having spent some part of my youth in various orchestras and bands, it’s hard to stay synchronized even when you do have a conductor!
Anyways, they are in California (mostly LA) doing live performances and publicizing a recent documentary, “My Dream,” about their group. If they come your way, check it out!
