TORONTO—Shen Yun Performing Arts offered up more than beautiful dancing and evocative music for the head of fashion studies for one of Toronto's top arts colleges.
"With all the layers of meaning behind the story, it was so much more to take in," said Ms. McNeil-Morin.
"It was splendid. I thought it was visually stunning," she added.
"The choreography, the music, the orchestra, and the singing all added different dimensions and meaning to the stories ... It was so much to take in which made it powerful to watch. You are experiencing it at so many levels at the same time.
"I know that one of the things that I have always been impressed by about Chinese culture is the way that everything has a meaning, and everything has intent, and even a small movement or something about a costume—there are always so many layers of meaning. I think that it's one of those things that you have to be more immersed in sometimes to catch all of it. It's not always familiar to someone who is from the outside, but the more I learn about it, the more I see how everything is done so carefully and so precisely. I have always been very impressed by that."
Ms. McNeil-Morin said her experience of watching Shen Yun was like a painting course she took years ago where the painter would give an interpretation of a work and she would begin to see the layers of meaning within it.
"I saw it in this show too," she said.
"I loved that part of it because you have to really pay attention. The more that you are aware, the more you get out of it ... I know there was a lot of emotion and there was a lot of history involved in the telling of this."
Among the pieces that particularly moved her was Dignity and Compassion, a dramatic dance set in a Chinese prison where a practitioner of Falun Dafa faces cruelty and one prison guard has his conscience awoken.
"That whole piece was very powerful ... I know that this is a truth that's happened and I am sure that a lot of those stories have never been told ... We are not always aware of some of these things. But as long as people learn of this, I think that possibly change can happen and that the truth will come out.
“I hope that that message gets across.”
As a fashion expert, Ms. McNeil-Morin had particular appreciation for Shen Yun's vast collection of original costumes.
"When I said visually stunning, it was very much a part of the costumes. What I love is the way the dancers move together on stage all in these gorgeous colours with all the different elements of the costume."
She noted that the unique elements of many costumes were an integral part of the dance and other props like fans and chopsticks.
"Very much a part of the success of this event was the way the costumes are so effective in capturing your imagination and really being a part of the beauty of the performance.
"For example, the piece Flowing Sleeves, I mean the sleeves were very much a part of the whole story and added so much to the visual. The silk and the way that it flowed—it was stunning and I loved the the color combination."
She also praised the way the costumes worked with Shen Yun's innovative animated backdrops.
"The way the stage and the back drop was done was just beautiful and I felt that in every piece. [Welcoming Spring] was gorgeous with the pink and the green. I felt very lifted by that piece because spring is always so hopeful and I think it really said that."
A fan of costumes, theatre and music, Ms. McNeil-Morin said the show offered her something for all her tastes.
"I love dance and I love costumes and I love theater and I have always loved music and so, like I say, you enjoy it on all of these levels at the same time. And when you have got beautiful quality in every aspect, it adds to a wonderful experience.
"I would encourage people to see it. Partly because it's a form of entertainment that we are not always able to have the chance to see ... and it’s an experience, it’s stunning and emotional at the same time.
"Allow yourself to just be immersed in the experience because it’s a different form of entertainment than what we are always used to seeing. I love the fact that I had the chance to come and see that, to be immersed in it and to learn more about the story and the culture."
Shen Yun Performing Arts completes its current Toronto run at the Canon Theatre on Sunday but is scheduled to return with its all-new 2010 program sometime in January. For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org .
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.
