Deaf, Blind and Mute transforms into 1,000 Arm Chenrezig
In 1987, the China Disabled People’s Performing Arts Troupe was formed. They are a professional performing arts troupe made up of 106 performers with hearing and/or visual impairments or physical disabilities. For the next 20 years, the 106 performers worked hard to turn professional in 2000. By 2004, they gave up their government allowance, began supporting themselves… and started raising money for charities! So beautiful no matter what angle you look at it from.
Aged between 14-19, they slowly-but-steadily learned the art of dancing through sign language with other trainers. To make up for the lack of one or more of their senses, they put in more time, effort and have immense determination. Determination is the key for all success for anyone.
For any one dance that they perform, they can spend up to one year practicing it for an average of 6-10 hours a day! Each move that they make is practiced about 100 times!!
They have acquired international recognition and have performed in highly-recognised venues such as Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Center (for Bill Clinton), the Opera House in Sydney and “The Egg” in Beijing. They have performed in more than 60 countries (10 times in the USA alone), been invited to perform at events such as the closing ceremony of the Paralympics in Athens (2004) and Miss World 2004 pageant… and was designated as “UNESCO Art for Peace” by the Director-General of UNESCO!
They have many, many beautiful performances but my favourite is called the “Thousand Hand Bodhisattva (Guan Yin)” dance. The dancers are perfectly timed and choreographed. Their body, arm and hand positions move swiftly and are always in perfect formation.
I have added the video below of 21 of the 106 performers. All 21 of them have a hearing impairment but they dance flawlessly and precisely synchronized to a Zhang Jigang-choreographed dance. Zhang Jigang is an internationally-acclaimed Chinese choreographer and a Chinese Lieutenant General.
This is a must watch video. It’s wonderful to watch them depict the beautiful 1,000 arm Avaloketishvara (Chenrezig/Guan Yin).
Would you ever know that they’re officially considered disabled?
Tsem Rinpoche
The Performance
Or view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/AvalokiteshwaraPerformanceBuddhaofCompassion.flv
Performers Practicing
Or view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/ThousandHandBuddhaDisabledPeopleAssociationChina.flv
An Interview with the Lead Dancer
http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/ChineseBlindAndDeafArtistsPerformInBeijing.flvOr view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/ChineseBlindAndDeafArtistsPerformInBeijing.flv
Absolutely beautiful!!!
Very graceful indeed. Kechara has its own pride and joy dancing troupe – the Dakinis. Yeh yeh yeh!
1000-armed Kuan Yin is a most beautiful dance. It’s amazing how Buddhism is so entrenched in Chinese psyche and culture. Even one of its most recognizable cultural expression is inherently Buddhist and for the Chinese to accept Buddhism is the most amazing thing and it says more about Buddhism than abou the culture adopting it.
Chinese has over 5000 years of history and they inherently think they are superior to other cultures. Hence, they considered their civilisation is the center of their universe by calling their kingdom, the middle kingdom (chung kuo). A resilient and unified culture for centuries, their are proud and arrogant especially towards all things foreign. For Buddhism to have infiltrated China, they must have seen something sublime in the teachings of the Buddha. The Chinese scholars must have realised the universality of Buddha’s teachings.
Buddhism was initially a scholar’s faith as only the scholar could comprehend its scriptures that define this new faith. However, over time and with the appearance of many practical teachers who emphasise the humane aspects of Buddhism, Buddhism became mainstream, entrenching itself into the mass consciousness of the Chinese people.
Avalokiteshvara, an abstract and male Bodhisattva embodying compassion of Indian Buddhism became female, maternal and developed into the female white-robed Kuan Yin. There are many stories that explain the origin of Kuan Yin but whatever it is, the female, gentle, compassionate, strong, protective and maternal Kuan Yin, deified as the Goddess of Mercy is now an easily recognizable symbol of indigenous Chinese Buddhism.
I watched their performance at Bukit Jalil a few years back when they came to perform. It was truly wonderful!
Really amazing dance….
This is such a beautiful dance…..and what makes it even more beautiful is that all these dancers are not normal people like us, who can hear the music and dance to the beat. They have hearing problems.
And yet, there performance is even more remarkable and beautifully synchronised than any normal dance troup.
Yes, Rinpoche is right, determination is the key to success. All they need is just more time and effort to be put in the practice and they excel beyonds our expectation!
Just beautiful!