TORONTO—Philip Lieberman, a member of the board of directors of the National Ballet of Canada, expressed his admiration for Shen Yun upon seeing the performance on April 6.
On the afternoon of April 6, Shen Yun’s International Company, one of eight equally large companies touring the world simultaneously, staged its eighth and final performance in Toronto for this year. Despite his regular visits to the Four Seasons as a board member of Canada’s largest ballet troupe, it was Mr. Lieberman’s first time seeing Shen Yun.
“I’ve wanted to see it for years,” he said. “It’s wonderful to be here.”
“The thing that struck me is, first of all, magnificent settings, and the magic of the way that they’re using technology,” he said.
“I think that the orchestra is magnificent,” he said, noting that it’s “a very different instrumentation in the orchestra that I’m used to from the ballet company.”
“The talent is incredible. And again, I love music, and I think the orchestra and the special instruments that are being used really set it apart.”
“The sound is, I'd almost say theological, sort of religious in a sense. There’s religiosity overtone. It’s hard to articulate, but there is something very sort of spiritual in the rhythm of the orchestra,” he said.
“I think it is soulful. Yes, very much.”
“The culture is very diverse,” Mr. Lieberman said, noting that this “shows in the dance.” Shen Yun’s dance performances include classical Chinese dance and Chinese folk dance and ethnic dance.
Mr. Lieberman also observed the spirituality inherent in traditional Chinese culture.
“I think it is very spiritual,” he said.
“I think if you believe in any level of divinity, of something bigger than us, something greater than us—whether it’s a god or gods, some power or force in nature that really creates the divine—one needs to let yourself be guided by that and be humbled by it.”
Mr. Lieberman applauded Shen Yun’s director and the team of artists, highlighting the importance of the message of humility and contrasting it with the divisiveness and materialism of modern-day society.
Shen Yun takes one back to a “humble [perspective], something ‘greater than,’” he said.
