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AUSTIN, Texas—Business owner Jennifer Davis brought her children and son-in-law to Shen Yun Performing Arts’ opening night at the Long Center after seeing the New York-based company’s revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization the year before.
“They need to see this part of the Chinese culture. We enjoyed it,” Mrs. Davis said.
She praised “the entire show, the production in its entirety.” “The costumes are gorgeous, the music is beautiful, and every dancer is putting their whole heart into it. You can tell they’ve practiced for so long, and it seems like two hours just goes by so fast,” she said in Mandarin.
Mrs. Davis said seeing the culture brought to life on stage gave her a feeling of pride. “My children, who grew up here, they don’t have a chance to experience this broad and deep culture, so I brought them here today to hear some of the Chinese instruments, see different kinds of Chinese clothing; I feel very proud,” Mrs. Davis said.
“It’s all combined, different kinds of dance, I love it,” Mrs. Davis said of the regions and ethnicities of China represented in the ethnic and folk dances.
Her son-in-law Mr. Matt Bryant, a film editor, thought all the traditional Chinese dances were very different, as well as educational.
“It’s pretty eye-opening,” Mr. Bryant said, referring to the fact that such traditional arts aren’t allowed in China today.
Mr. Bryant said Shen Yun’s digital backdrop was an inspiration as well.
“I really liked it, especially … the whole audiovisual aspect of it,” he said. “You have the live performance as well [as] the video going on in the background, and then people would come off the screen and onto the stage. [It] was one of the coolest things. I really, really liked it.”
Shen Yun’s animated backdrop allows the dancers to transform from stage to screen, and transitions the audience to a world where the heavens and earth are one.
“It made it very unique,” Mr. Bryant said.
Reporting by NTD Television and Catherine Yang.
Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will perform next perform in San Francisco through Jan. 8.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.
