WASHINGTON—Mrs. Pryde-Haskins, a teacher, loved the Shen Yun Performing Arts presentation of classical Chinese dance, music and song.
Staged in the plush surrounds of Kennedy Opera House on Sunday, August 30, she and her husband were deeply impressed with what they saw.
“I loved the show. I thought the show was a great representation of Chinese culture. There’s a lot of different groups represented. I wasn’t aware there was so many diversity and the different cultures in different regions of China. And I think this show did a great job of representing a lot of different aspects of Chinese culture.”
Mrs. Pryde-Haskins said she learned a lot about Chinese history and mythology in the story-based dances, a trademark of New York-based Shen Yun.
“I learned a lot about the history of the religion in Chinese culture. Which I thought was very interesting because I wasn’t familiar with a lot of it. I thought the show had a very good message about the morals of the stories that were told and the myths about how to live a good life, and things like that. It was a good message.”
The blend of Western and Chinese music, the haunting melody of the erhu and the vocalists resonated in her heart.
“I thought the different instruments, the mixture of Eastern and Western instruments in the orchestra and the erhu was fascinating. I wasn’t familiar with those instruments and it was very interesting to hear how they sounded, how they blended in the orchestra,” she said.
The soloist playing the erhu, Ms. Qi Xiaochun, was deemed one of her favorites. “It was just very beautiful to listen to, very beautiful ... It was very uplifting, very inspiring so, I liked it, I liked it a lot.”
“I loved the baritone; I loved all of the singers. The baritone singer was very, very good. It was just very moving to listen to him.”
Her husband, an audio engineer for television shows, said Shen Yun was “fantastic. Absolutely terrific. My wife and I are very much into dance and we’ve really enjoyed all the dancing numbers, the drumming and the singing. It was all really, really magnificent. Very well done—They’ve done a tremendous job.”
Like his wife, Mr. Haskins was amazed by the emotion the orchestra evoked from a unique combination of Western with traditional Chinese instruments. “It's a sound I’ve never heard before, actually ... I’m amazed at the emotion that can come out of both playing together. It was actually very touching.”
He too enjoyed the erhu virtuoso for a rendition called “Hope,”
“That solo was incredible. Yes, I teared up a little bit. I didn’t realize that you could put so much emotion into an instrument, it’s not fair to say, an instrument that small. But it was quite amazing, yes.
“It’s a very lonely sound, I’ll be honest. It makes me feel very sad but [it was] skillfully played and anything that can pull off that kind of emotion is special. That together with the piano accompaniment, really perfectly captured, ["Hope"] that’s the perfect name for it, actually. Yea, absolutely, it certainly captured hope. It very much did.”
Mr Haskins praised the show. “Absolutely tops. I wasn’t sure what to expect coming in... The dancing, the drumming, the singing, the orchestra, the music performance, it was all just amazingly good.”
He said he wasn’t aware Shen Yun was produced in New York. However, two sketches depicting the suppression of Falun Gong by the communist regime, Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution and Dignity and Compassion, clarified an old Chinese adage that good will be rewarded, even if not in this lifetime.
“It was interesting because yes, there is quite a message of a culture being repressed. And you know, I’m glad it can find expression here. It would be nice if it can find expression back in its native land, but yes, that was definitely a very strong message. You watch it, and it’s just this beautiful artistry, and it’s literally illegal somewhere else in the world. It’s something that boggles the mind.”
He said Shen Yun performing in China “would be a wonderful dream, yes, I would hope it could be performed one day in China.”
Mr. Haskins will be telling others to come see the show and mentioned going to see Shen Yun perform later this week in Greensboro, and then Portland.
NTDTV, a media partner of The Epoch Times, contributed to this article.
Shen YunShen Yun Performing Arts will return to the venue from January 20 to 24, 2010 with completely new programs.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
