MONTPELLIER—Jade Casquel has studied many kinds of dance and won several major competitions, so she was intrigued to experience an ancient form of classical dance that she had never witnessed before.
Seeing
Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Corum in Montpellier on April 17, the student said of Shen Yun’s dancers, “w
e have the impression that they fly.”New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier
classical Chinese dance company, and takes as its mission the revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.
“I hadn’t studied at all in my classes, so it was really interesting, especially because there are a lot of variations in the pure technique,” said Ms. Casquel. “It was very interesting, and the choreographies are very rich with many artistic aspects like with the arm movements and so on.”
Ms. Casquel said she was amazed at the talent, and the ability of the dancers to make what was near impossible look so natural.
“They are very good. We don’t have the impression that it is difficult. We have the impression these movements are very natural for the human body, when in fact it is not the case at all, these are extremely technical movements which require a lot of work,” she said.
“They fly in the air and it looks like it’s easy and natural for them. So that’s really good. That’s the talent of a very good dancer [to make it look like it is easy],” she said. “It’s very impressive.”
Ms. Casquel said as a dancer, she noticed the footwork especially because it was quite different from her own training. From their toes to their fingertips, the dancers were greatly expressive.
“Their steps start with the flex when they walk,“ she said, referring to the ”yuan chang“ circular steps used in classical Chinese dance. ”We had the impression that it was more the movement of the body rather than a dance with the codes we have in Western classical dance.”
“I found the same thing in the expression, it was alive everywhere, the whole body, we could understand the feeling and so on, so I find that really interesting visually. They were very, very expressive, in their postures, their dance and their movements especially.”
“When
they dance, it looks very natural, you have the impression that it’s not forced at all, et cetera. Well, it reminds you of the divine, because you wonder how humans can dance like that,” she said.
The name “shen yun” indeed means “the beauty of divine beings dancing,” a reflection of the traditional Chinese belief that their
culture is divinely inspired.
Ms. Casquel added she was grateful for the opportunity to experience this
culture.
“I
t is a culture which is different from ours,” she said.
“I think it’s really good to use a show to present an extraordinary culture with a lot of history which can be understood by everyone and which allows people to see the good side, the true side of China.”
Reporting by NTD.
