| New Tang Dynasty Television's Chinese New Year | | | | both east and west, fusing ballet techniques with the |
| Spectacular offers a truly tantalizing variety of dance | | | | expressiveness of classical Chinese dance. All the |
| this year, featuring all-new dance troupes and | | | | dancers train extensively in both. Ms. Tsuai says ballet |
| drawing upon 5,000 years of history spanning a vast | | | | helps the dancers develop the skill needed to |
| range of different folk traditions from Mongolia to | | | | execute the classical Chinese movements. |
| Tibet to the Yunnan region of China. | | | | For Ms. Tsuai, what is unique about the Spectacular is |
| Acclaimed choreographer Yung Yung Tsuai has been | | | | not just the dances themselves or the dazzling |
| working with the Spectacular since its inception in | | | | costumes, it is how the dances affect the audience. |
| 2004. Ms. Tsuai came to the United States in 1970 to | | | | For those few minutes that each piece is presented |
| study contemporary dance on a Martha Graham | | | | on the stage, she says viewers will feel they have |
| Scholarship. She stayed on with the Graham | | | | entered a time and place governed by chivalry, |
| Company and still teaches at the Martha Graham | | | | loyalty, and honesty--a place where beauty and |
| School of contemporary dance today. | | | | peace prevail. "We are not just showing people |
| Ms. Tsuai says the Spectacular is a particularly | | | | traditional Chinese culture; we are waking up the part |
| meaningful production for a lot of people because | | | | of them that yearns for beauty and goodness," said |
| "over the last 100 years, much of China's rich | | | | Ms. Tsuai. |
| traditional culture has been destroyed. People have | | | | This is what draws her back every year, sometimes |
| lost their roots," Ms. Tsuai says. "Our performers | | | | as a choreographer, sometimes as a dance teacher. |
| want wholeheartedly to convey their culture and | | | | And, she says, this is what motivates the hundreds |
| traditions to the audience to remind them, and | | | | of dancers who give their lives over to the handful |
| themselves, of who the Chinese are." | | | | of days a year when the show comes to the stage. |
| Hundreds of dancers from all over the United States | | | | "Art is the food of the soul," said Ms. Tsuai. "If you |
| and Canada rehearsed almost every day for over a | | | | see art that promotes peace and harmony, you will |
| year. Yung Yung Tsuai is but one of six dance | | | | bring that home with you. That's what's important. In |
| teachers, all of whom graduated from China's top | | | | the past people lived as if they were in a divine |
| dance schools, resulting in a combined total of more | | | | realm. Daily life wasn't necessarily religious but it was |
| than a hundred years of training and experience. With | | | | very spiritual. When art presents the beauty and |
| so many expert teachers, Ms. Tsui says, | | | | positive side of human nature, it can positively |
| "collaboration is a major part of the project." | | | | influence people in how they relate to others in their |
| Although choreographers use traditional themes and | | | | daily lives. |
| styles, many dances actually combine the styles of | | | | |