QUEBEC CITY, Canada—Residents of Quebec City had the chance to discover the excellence of authentic traditional Chinese culture when Shen Yun Performing Arts graced the stage Jan. 8 at Grand Théâtre de Québec.
Tickets sold out three weeks in advance for the acclaimed classical Chinese dance and music company’s performance in the provincial capital.
Barbara Manivet and Dominique Trépanier were among the enthusiastic audience who had warm praise for the show. Being avid lovers and active dancers of Latin dance and the tango, both felt a strong connection with Shen Yun.
“There is an incredible coordination of all the arts. There is an incredible amount of work from every artist,” said Ms. Manivet, marketing director at Juris Concept, a company that provides tools and services to lawyers for handling management, operations, and marketing.
She had wanted to see a show like Shen Yun for a long time.
“It raises the bar a little higher for the next shows,” she said.
Mr. Trépanier, a psychologist at the University Institute of Mental Health of Quebec (l'institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec), noted that the show was “refreshing” and “very artistic and athletic.”
He complimented the dancers on their skill in performing the challenging movements of classical Chinese dance with energy and grace.
New York-based Shen Yun was founded by a group of overseas Chinese artists with a mission to revive the true traditional culture of China, with a history of 5,000 years, that has been nearly all but destroyed over decades of communist rule.
The focus of the company’s performances is classical Chinese dance, including story-based dances inspired by the myths and legends of ancient China as well as modern-day tales.
Rounding out the program are Chinese ethnic and folk dance along with original songs and musical scores, reflecting the diversity of the Middle Kingdom’s many dynasties, regions, and ethnicities.
One of the features that audiences worldwide often remark on is the state-of-the-art digital projections that provide vividly animated backdrops coordinated with the dances onstage, extending the stage and transporting the audience to different realms.
These backdrops impressed Mr. Trépanier. “The multimedia is well balanced,” he said. “We are always surprised, even though we know that it is always there during the show.”
He especially enjoyed the story-based dances featuring the monks of ancient China, such as Sand Monk is Blessed and When Shaolin Monks Protected The Emperor.
“The myths and the martial arts of the Shaolin Temple’s monk is a childhood dream,” he said.
As explained on the Shen Yun website, martial arts and Chinese dance have a close relationship to each other, and the same technique can be used and adapted for both systems of movement.
Martial arts is executed in a practical and efficient manner for the purpose of combat, while Chinese dance is executed in an artistic manner to serve the purpose of performance and entertainment.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. After playing five shows in Montreal Jan. 3-6, Shen Yun’s New York Company played one show in Quebec City on Jan. 8 before going on to Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and Toronto in its tour of eastern Canada. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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