SAN FRANCISCO—As co-founder of Ballet San Jose, Anita Del Grande knows something about dance and she had great things to say about seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House on the night of Friday, Jan. 6.
The male dancers were excellent, she said. “I think they’re exceptionally good.”
“I love that they’re all symmetrical, the same size. And they’re very limber, with the leg coming all the way up,” she said, describing a standard, but very challenging, standing splits posture of classical Chinese dance.
Classical Chinese dance is a deeply rich system of dance developed over thousands of years in China. The central mission of the New York-based company is to revive the art form that has been all but lost in China.
“I think it’s lovely. I have not seen anything [like this] before,” said Mrs. Del Grande. “As I mentioned, we have a big ballet company in San Jose.”
Ballet San Jose, founded in 1985, performs traditional and modern takes on classical ballets with a repertoire of over 120 works.
“We'd love to have them [the Shen Yun male dancers] dancing for our company,” she said.
Mrs. Del Grande’s husband Kevan, is the owner of the Del Grande Dealer Group with eight car dealerships in the Bay area.
He said he loved every aspect of the performance. “I loved the colors, loved the scenery, loved the dancing, loved the traditional dances, and it was beautiful. The costumes were beautiful. The whole performance was outstanding.”
“I think it’s beautiful,” he continued. “The dances are beautiful ... very athletic. The precision is incredible. It’s a wonderful spectacle.”
Mr. Del Grande also appreciated the show’s deeper message.
“They were trying to get a message across to China for freedom,” he said. “It’s wonderful and it’s a good message: Freedom, hope.”
A few of the Shen Yun dance pieces are set in the modern day, depicting Falun Dafa meditation practitioners in China addressing their repression and persecution at the hands of the Chinese state.
“It’s good to be free,” he said, “and to be good and to be kind and not be in a battle and to try to subvert evil and try to push evil out.” Then he added, “Goodness will prevail—absolutely.”
Shen Yun’s New York Company will be in San Francisco until Jan. 8, and then continue on to L.A. Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
Reporting by Alex Ma and Cindy Drukier
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3WTKCEA4tE[/video]
