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Linda Emberley and friends were very impressed with Shen Yun, on Friday night, at Living Arts Centre on Jan. 20. (Allen Zhou/The Epoch Times)
MISSISSAUGA, Canada—Shen Yun Performing Arts played to a full house, on Friday night, at Living Arts Centre, and audience member Linda Emberley was very impressed with the performance.
“The show I thought was lovely. The costumes were fantastic, and the use of the stage and the props was very effective,” said Ms. Emberley, a communications manager with Xerox. She does the communications for the company’s global centres.
Having done 20 years of ballet, she knows a thing or two about dance, and she was delighted with the classical Chinese dance showcased in the performance.
I loved it, loved it, excellent. You can tell that [the movements] are challenging and very technical. The synchronization is wonderful.
“I loved it, loved it, excellent. You can tell that [the movements] are challenging and very technical. The synchronization is wonderful, when the groups are out there.”
Chinese classical dance, an art form still mostly new to the West, carries the essence of Chinese cultural expression in its movements, postures, and aesthetics. Audience members are routinely awestruck by the agility and synchronicity of the dancers.
“I think they did a superb job. Really great job,” said Ms. Emberley.
“I think they told a great story on stage,” she added, referring to the story-based dances that depict legends and tales from Chinese history.
The Shen Yun Orchestra is unique in that blends Chinese and Western instruments, creating a fresh, harmonious sound, something Ms. Emberley also enjoyed.
“The orchestra was great. They looked very young too. I liked it. I wasn’t too sure what to expect but it was good,” she said.
New York-based Shen Yun is known for its elaborate costumes. According to its website, Shen Yun’s costume artists collect countless designs of traditional attire, and use bright colours to tailor and recreate hundreds of new pieces each season.
“The costumes were different, but very colourful, very graceful. They go with the movement and the props that they are using,” said Ms. Emberley.
“It was just lovely,” she said of a piece called Sleeves of Silk, which uses extra long sleeves known as “water sleeves” in classical Chinese dance.
“Very clever and beautifully danced.”
She said she “learned a lot” about traditional Chinese culture from having seen the show.
“The whole night is a whole book,” she said, adding that she would recommend the show to her friends.
“I’ll tell them to go. I would tell them it’s interesting, it’s a different perspective, and as far as dance goes, I mean that’s what you should be looking for all the time—something different and out of the box.”
Reporting by Allen Zhou and Joan Delaney.
New York-based Shen Yun tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture and stages performances of mainly classical Chinese dance. International Company, one of Shen Yun’s three equally large companies, will stage three more shows in Mississauga before leaving Canada until it returns for shows in the West in the spring.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.
