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Marissa Stone (L) and David Stone (R) enjoy an evening at Shen Yun Performing Arts in Sacramento. (Gary Wang/The Epoch Times)
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Theater and production enthusiasts in Sacramento received a wonderful treat to begin the new year this week, as Shen Yun Performing Arts brought its long-awaited world tour to the Sacramento Community Center Theater on Jan. 2 and 3.
New York-based Shen Yun continues to draw rave reviews wherever it performs from a variety of theatergoers who marvel at the level of dance, innovative choreography, and beautiful costuming, all synchronized with Shen Yun’s original symphonic music.
Peter Baldridge, an attorney from the Sacramento area, found Shen Yun a “very spectacular” experience.
“These dancers are highly skilled,” he added. “Combine that with the costuming, and I thought it was a beautiful production.”
The core of a Shen Yun performance is classical Chinese dance—which has a history almost as ancient as the 5,000 year old culture, according to Shen Yun’s website—and ethnic and folk dance, presenting some of the 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities in China in each performance.
Referring to Shen Yun’s unique presentation of native Mongolian culture in the Mongolian Bowl Dance, Mr. Baldridge noted, “Some of the use of the costuming as part of the choreography is spectacular. It’s very nice. The unison dancing is excellent. That’s very difficult to do, and they do an excellent job.”
Mr. Baldridge has long been familiar with European ballet and found Shen Yun 2013 to be “very different, but really beautiful.”
‘Very impressive’
David Stone, another attorney from Sacramento attending the performance, accompanied by his wife Marissa, also offered an on-the-spot review. Both he and his wife echoed Mr. Baldridge’s praise of Shen Yun and the artist’s ability to synchronize music, dance and brilliant computer graphics in dramatic fashion.
“Very impressive,” agreed Mr. Stone. “The music, the dancing, and the costumes—all in all a very impressive show, something very different that we’ve not seen before.”
“It was interesting to see the technology of the backdrop in combination with the traditional Chinese dancing,” Mrs. Stone extolled, “The modern and ancient coming together.”
When asked how they would describe Shen Yun to friends who had never seen it before, David and Marissa volleyed compliments back and forth as if they were dueling.
David Stone: “Impressive, different.”
Marissa Stone: “Exotic. Colorful.”
David Stone: “Varied.”
Marissa Stone: “Unique.”
Shen Yun continues its tour through Northern California Friday through Sunday at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. San Jose performances were basically sold out as of Friday morning, with just a few hundred tickets available through the weekend.
Shen Yun’s world tour will revisit the Bay Area for several performances in San Francisco. Performance dates and ticket information are available through the Shen Yun Performing Arts web site, www.ShenYun2013.com.
Said Mrs. Stone in closing, “It was a very festive, exotic show, and it was a very lovely start of the year for us.”
Reporting by Gary Wang and Alex Ma
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun’s Touring Company will be performing in San Jose through Jan. 6. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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