SEATTLE—Ballet and classical Chinese dance are both phenomenal dance styles. Melissa Snoen, the owner and the Artistic Director of The Ballet Workshop, found the dancers of Shen Yun Performing Arts to be inspirational and incredibly athletic.
“I think [
Shen Yun] is phenomenal. The strength and athleticism of the dancers was unreal. The congruency between the whole company is just all striking. They are brilliant,” said Ms. Snoen.
She also noticed that Shen Yun’s
artists are in great shape. The athleticism necessary to execute the tumbling techniques takes hours upon hours of practice.
“Incredible energy. Just so much elegance and
strength and power in every dancer on stage,” praised Ms. Snoen.
Shen Yun is based in New York, and its
mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese culture. Shen Yun is also the only performing arts company that uses authentic classical Chinese dance.
“I think it’s so important. In the ballet world, it’s kind of the same thing. We’re holding on to thousands of years of tradition and making sure it doesn’t completely change because of time’s changing, so I think the company’s mission is incredible,” remarked Ms. Snoen.
Shen Yun puts on an all-new production every year. As a dancer, Ms. Snoen could see the dedication of the artists to their mission.
“I’m a dancer too. You can tell they’re very passionate about what they’re doing, and you can feel it emoting through. And the artistry of the
costuming and the set design and the
music, it’s a beautiful meshing of arts,” she said.
Through dance and music, the dancers and musicians tell stories from
Chinese history. Classical Chinese dance is incredibly expressive, allowing for amazing storytelling.
“The way they story-tell and then use their
athletic abilities as dancers combined together is just so phenomenal—brilliant,” said Ms. Snoen.
She added that it was both “impactful” and unforgettable.”
Ms. Snoen believes that tradition is valuable and should be preserved.
“Tradition matters. It’s really important and [allows us to] grow and change, but if we lose everything we’ve learned from the past, it could be detrimental,” said Ms. Snoen.
Shen Yun’s presentation of China focuses beauty that was present before communism. Chinese people once displayed
values like loyalty, a deep respect for the divine, and faithfulness.
“I just think that the love is the center of it all, and that if we lose that human-to-human connection and love, that it’s detrimental to society. And I think that seems like the overarching message of what they’re trying to present,” observed Ms. Snoen.
Reporting by Sunny Chen and Maria Han.
