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Dan Izzard, who spends time helping stage theatre productions in Toronto, said Shen Yun was "amazing." (Teng Dongyu/The Epoch Times)
TORONTO—Dan Izzard works on theatrical productions around Toronto and various organizations. He works on costumes and set design.
“The show is amazing, very good. It’s nice to see that complex dancing. It’s a form that we don’t really have here.”
Mr. Izzard, who works on costumes and set design, commented on the variety of types of dance being performed, describing it as unusual.
Shen Yun stages classical Chinese dance, a discipline passed down mainly through imperial courts over the dynasties. The New York-based company also presents ethnic dances from China’s diverse regions and folk dances of the majority Han ethnicity.
Each of Shen Yun’s three companies that tours the world is accompanied by bel canto vocal soloists and an orchestra that combines both classical Chinese and Western instruments. This variety impressed Mr. Izzard.
“It’s amazing, really good,” he said.
“I was very impressed.”
With his background in costuming, he focused more on Shen Yun’s colourful displays of everything from Tang Dynasty’s “Raiment of Rainbows and Feathers” to phoenix coronets and cloud capes, to the ethnic attire of Manchurians or Dai.
The costumes are incredible, very well done.
“The costumes are incredible, very well done. We’re sitting like four rows from the front. That’s where I like to sit when I go to these shows because I know what goes on behind the stage too. The costumes are very harmonious, everything runs seamlessly from scene to scene, They’re different colour groups, but it’s done very well. Very tastefully done, very good,” he said.
“The costumes are telling the stories. They really are, and the projections at the back help tell the story too. The two meet together. And the dancing is so strong,” he added.
“Your eye just goes [back and forth], it’s one of those shows where you want to see everything, there is so much going on.”
He said he also enjoyed how Shen Yun’s digitally projected animated backdrops interact with the dancers on the stage.
According to Shen Yun’s website, the backdrops are designed to enhance each aspect of the performance, from the colours of the costumes to specific dance movements and props.
“Colouring is amazing, … It’s very vibrant. And all the colours match together, it’s seamless, the whole thing. There’s nothing that stands out, like pulls it away. It just works like clockwork, the whole thing. Very impressed.”
Sitting so close to the orchestra pit, he said he could hear the music well.
“It’s very good, excellent. It’s just running like clockwork … the music is just right on, point on. It tells a story, I don’t speak the language, but its telling a story, even without the narrators, you can follow it through.”
Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will continue on to Mississauga for five shows at the Living Arts Centre.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.
