TORONTO—Glenn Miller, chairman of PenEquity Realty Corporation, enjoyed an experience that was rich in entertainment, learning, as well as inspiration when he attended Shen Yun Performing Arts on Thursday night at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
“It was a wonderful experience,” said Mr. Miller, who has 30 years of experience in the financial and real estate sector including the founding of three financial institutions.
“Stunning performances, incredible costumes, great staging, I love the use of the visuals in the background—high-tech meeting modern dance. It was all brilliant.”
Mr. Miller was referring to Shen Yun’s use of state-of-the-art graphics technology to create vivid animated backdrops that are projected behind the performers.
Stunning images enhance each dance and song to depict China’s vast geography, society, regions, and dynasties across its long history, as well as heavenly realms that transcend the everyday world.
Mr. Miller expressed appreciation for Shen Yun’s grand tour of the Middle Kingdom’s history and culture, something that cannot be seen in China itself under the communist regime. The company’s mission is to revive the authentic traditional Chinese culture, an ancient heritage that has been all but lost under communist rule.
“The history with China and 5,000 years is really quite astonishing, and I was really quite surprised to think that the beautiful dancing that I saw tonight isn’t something that people in China experience, and that was really quite a learning experience for me,” said Mr. Miller.
He highlighted a dance that depicted snowflakes welcoming the return of spring, commending the performers for their skill in spinning and twirling sequined silk handkerchiefs.
“Just the beauty of how they could control those [handkerchiefs], and make them work like a frisbee and catch them at the same time almost like a boomerang—I thought it was brilliant, and the colours were wonderful.”
Mr. Miller was also impressed by the performers’ athletic skill, and was surprised to learn that the techniques seen in martial arts and acrobatics in fact originate from classical Chinese dance.
“The athleticism of the dancers was startling at times,” he said.
“I was also amazed to learn that—my attitude towards this type of dance was always that martial arts preceded the dance—but to learn that the culture of dance in China rooted down more than martial arts, that was quite surprising to me. I didn’t realize that the roots of martial arts came from dance. I could see it, but I never understood that ’til this evening.”
Mr. Miller praised the synchronicity that was displayed as well.
“Absolutely seamless between the music and the dance,” he said. “So obviously the collaboration between the choreography and the composers is something that they worked very hard on, and I was very impressed.”
The Shen Yun program included pieces inspired by myths and legends throughout Chinese history as well as events unfolding today surrounding the peaceful resistance of Falun Dafa practitioners who are persecuted in China.
“Harmony” was the first word that came to mind for Mr. Miller to describe the performance. “Hope” was another dominant theme.
“If I think about the lyrics of the soloists, there was always angst, but there was a solution, maybe a divine solution, but there was always a solution, and hope. … I think the message is hope. For me it was,” he said.
“A show like this … lifts your spirits,” he noted. “There’s always hope, that’s what I’m taking away from it.”
Mr. Miller said he would very much encourage others to come and see Shen Yun.
“I think they'll be inspired by it,” he said. “I would recommend it highly to anyone.”
“They will have a wonderful time,” he added. “It is the best show that I’ve seen in a long, long time.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Cindy Chan
Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company is in Toronto for five performances at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
