Welcome to Heartbeat and its rhythmic journey through the many glorious dynasties of Chinese history. In this show, we invite you to sample the rich heritage of Chinese percussion as experienced through a journey of the mind. Like our two preceding Action-Musicals, Heartbeat’s simple story and message allow the show to entertain you through visually exciting action and dance forms without the need for much language-specific dialogue.

In portraying Chinese cultural history in Heartbeat, I chose to use reasonably accurate representations of the general art forms, costume design, and hair styling of the many important periods of China. However, I specifically avoided matching certain dance forms to any period in Chinese cultural history because, in the absence of video records dating back so far, any such correlation would be entirely speculative.

All the combinations of percussion music, dance, and stage design seen in Heartbeat merely assert that the history of these Chinese art forms is rich indeed.

Very few people in the West have much understanding and appreciation of Chinese percussion music because Chinese culture has admittedly contributed little or nothing to the modern development of percussion throughout the twentieth century. Nevertheless I believe that the countless combinations of percussion music and the varieties of drum dances will be refreshingly different. I truly hope that it will dazzle and entertain you in a way never experienced before.

Dennis Law, MD