Into the Light World Tour

Captured during a two-night stand at a Dutch arena, this 100-minute concert special documents Gloria Estefan's lavish 1991 world tour, which underscored the Cuban-American singer's graduation from acclaim as a dance-floor diva to the ranks of female pop superstars. At its best, Into the Light World Tour displays the relentless energy, personal warmth, and crack musicianship that Estefan and her husband, producer, and principal collaborator, Emilio Estefan Jr., had evolved through her old band, the Miami Sound Machine, and taken uptown through her solo career. When the star and her band kick into high gear, percussion simmering and horns blazing in taut, deftly arranged choruses, the propulsive lure of salsa is hard to resist.

Technically, Estefan is a singer with a supple tone but modest range, hardly suggesting the caliber expected of a bona fide diva. Neither does her small, compact frame suggest a dancer's physique, despite the production's reliance on extended dance sequences. Yet she makes the most with what she has, harnessing formidable physical energy and transmitting considerable warmth to her audience. Her material, including both Miami Sound Machine hits and subsequent solo signatures, works best when staying closest to her roots, riding the giddy syncopations of uptempo Latin rhythms, or plying the lambent emotions of traditional ballads. Her exhortations to dance--"Get on Your Feet," "Conga," and "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" being the inevitable faves--work handily with an ecstatic audience.

More grizzled viewers should be forewarned that this, like most recent concert films, isn't purely documentary--apart from backstage sequences that duly flatter the star, the live sound has been liberally sweetened during post-concert production. --Sam Sutherland
Customer Review: A great concert
I never actually saw this video. I was at the concert. The concert was awesome, so if this video does a decent job of capturing it, then it should be great too.
Customer Review: Gloria is the best and so are her concerts
Gloria is the best singer ever. On stage she's a divette. She's the best and so are her shows. The way she sings live is great, and so is her dancing. The band is great too. They know how to play and everybody goes wild in the audience!!!!!!!Always!!!!! I love her with all my heart and soul, 4 ever.....

I want to share some of my reasons for sponsoring New Tang Dynasty Televisions (NTDTV) Chinese New Year Spectacular. Of course, I am Chinese, and the Chinese New Year is part of my tradition and heritage. I love the colorful costumes, beautiful music and dance depicting ancient myths and legends. It reminds me of stories from my childhood. In addition, the cause, the people involved and the performances themselves have touched me profoundly, they have a healing effect in more than one sense.

Most people in the West dont know that traditional Chinese culture has really been destroyed by the communist regime. What people nowadays get in China is very shallow as it has been stripped of all its deeper inner meaning and is laden with communist party culture. So while there are other Chinese New Year Galas, I find that only NTDTV has been able to recreate a New Year celebration that is truly authentic, and at the same time has a charming multicultural flavor. It is performed in dozens of cities around the world, and people everywhere enjoy it tremendously. It contributes to greater harmony and understanding between people and cultures.

Right now Chinese society is in the process of a great transformation as millions of Chinese have quit from the communist party during the past 24 months. China is facing the abolishment of communism and a return to its rich cultural heritage. I believe that the annual NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular is promoting the spreading of traditional Chinese culture globally and helps speed up the rebirth of traditional values in Mainland China.

Another reason why I sponsor this event is because there is a spiritually uplifting energy in these wonderful music performances. It is actually a healing energy. I am a doctor of Oriental Medicine and also have a western degree in Neuroscience. I practice vibrational energy medicine as my profession, and I am very sensitive to healing vibrations. The pure energy produced during these shows is very powerful. During the entire show, I find my mind, body and soul are deeply resonating with the music waves. I realized that this is not just a show for entertainment, it goes way beyond ordinary art performances.

In my practice I am seeing increasing numbers of people suffering from different kinds of mental and physical problems. I believe they are a result of our fast-moving, competitive, materialistic, and stressful lifestyle which causes imbalances in the autonomic nervous systems and blocking mental, physical and emotional energy pathways. Many people, including teenagers, listen to noisy, meaningless and mind-disturbing music, which I feel are also contributing to psychological problems including ADD/ADHD, depression, anxiety, and more. Many studies indicate that mental stress and negative emotions can cause physical diseases. This is already a common reality today.

One of the treatment modalities in my practice is sound therapy. It involves a complex process of playing certain sounds and frequencies to a patient and monitoring their brain activity to determine what is most harmonious and beneficial in changing their condition. Many patients, including stroke victims, have responded extremely well and recovered from a variety of serious problems using sound therapy.

From my many years of working with sound and music I can tell what kinds of sound and music promote healing and well-being. I found that the NTDTV performances have such an effect. I have shared the DVD of last years show with many friends and patients as well.

I plan to close my office on January 9th and take my family to the Los Angeles show at the Kodak Theater. I hope you can see it at a theater near your home. Enjoy the Chinese New Year at its best and have a healing experience! http://shows.ntdtv.com

Jason Liu has a PhD and MD degree in Chinese and Western Medicine. He has a private practice in San Diego, CA. http://shows.ntdtv.comhttp://www.ntdtv.com

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