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VANCOUVER—Gorgeous celestial maidens soaring through a star-speckled sky was an unforgettable scene for Rodney Deakin and his wife Felella, who attended Shen Yun Performing Arts in Vancouver on Saturday.
The couple attended the Jan. 12 matinee performance at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and were dazzled by the production.
“The visual effects were wonderful,” said Mr. Deakin, a retired marine engineer. “We really thought it was quite spectacular.”
“It was beautiful,” added Mrs. Deakin, who especially enjoyed the dance titled Phoenix Fairies, which features heavenly maidens in shimmering costumes.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Featuring a collection of story-based dance dramas inspired by 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture, the company aims to revive China’s traditional culture and art forms.
Mr. Deakin said the combination of the movements in Shen Yun’s classical Chinese and folk dances, as well as the vibrant costumes and animated backdrops was remarkable.
“The overall effect was wonderful,” he said.
“It was very spectacular and the colours and costumes were amazing,” added Mrs. Deakin.
According to the Shen Yun website, classical Chinese dance is one of the most comprehensive systems in the world. Distilled from five millennia of Chinese culture, the dance system is highly expressive.
“Other than complete training in the fundamentals, it also entails systematic training in movements and postures, as well as very difficult jumping and tumbling techniques,” states the website.
Mr. Deakin said the dancers were wonderfully talented.
“They were very athletic as well as being gifted dancers,” he said, adding the Chinese stories and history portrayed in the dances was fascinating.
“[China] is so diverse and has such a long history—5,000 years is quite a thing—when we look at our history its pretty short by comparison.”
Reporting by Ryan Moffat and Justina Wheale.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun’s Touring Company will play five shows in Vancouver Jan. 10-13, while the New York Company will complete its tour of eastern Canada with five shows in Toronto Jan. 17–20. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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