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Elena Tokareva Baltovick praised Shen Yun Performing Arts' cultural choreography when she attended the Escondido performance. (Jane Yang/The Epoch Times)
ESCONDIDO, Calif .—A ballet teacher who studied with world famous Prima Ballerina Alla Osipenko praised the dancers of Shen Yun Performing Arts when she saw them Dec. 29 at the California Center for the Arts. “It’s really, really good. It’s very clean, everybody’s very clean, everybody’s very together. Amazing tech work! I’m enjoying it very much,” said Elena Tokareva Baltovick.
The choreography also won praise from the dancer. She said, “Good choreography. It’s very specific, targeted towards cultural—cultural choreography, meaning Chinese. It’s definitely Chinese, and it’s representing its culture and country very well.”
Some of Shen Yun’s dances are narratives from Chinese history and legends. Ms. Baltovick found the storytelling clear. She said she found the “stories very good, very readable. It’s easy to understand and you don’t even have to look into the program.”
Male and female masters of ceremonies introduce each dance or song, and that added to her enjoyment, she said. “I like how the announcers come and talk about the dance and what’s about to happen, it’s very nice.”
Every element of the performance inspired her praise. She said she plans to adapt ideas from the digitally projected backdrops in her own art: “Amazing. I think it’s amazing, and here I am thinking to do something like that for myself, so I think it’s a great, creative idea. It’s very nice.”
The handmade silk costumes also charmed her. She said, “Lovely colors, beautiful costumes—everything is very well thought out, and a lot of work, there’s a lot of work and time that was put into this.”
Ms. Baltovick began studying dance in Kiev when she was 9 years old. She graduated cum laude from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music and Ballet Pedagogy, and now runs the ballet program at Danceology Performing Arts Campus in San Diego.
She said the performance was “a wonderful production. It’s very entertaining.”
Reporting by Jane Yang, James White and Cheryl Casati.
Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will be heading to Escondido for performances at the California Center for the Arts from Dec. 28 to 31.
New York-based Shen Yun has three companies that tour the world each year on a mission to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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