OTTAWA—Shen Yun Performing Arts successfully concluded its five-show run on Dec. 23 in Ottawa, the first Canadian stop of the premier classical Chinese dance company’s 2012 world tour.
It was the company’s sixth visit to the nation’s capital and though the weather included freezing rain on Wednesday and bitterly cold temperatures on Friday, it did not deter warm audiences from coming downtown to the National Arts Centre.
Friday’s performance was a full house and the week of shows attracted 8,500 theatregoers.
New York-based Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the divinely inspired cultural heritage of China through presentations of authentic traditional performing arts. The company tours the globe with an all-new production each year.
This year’s show included 22 pieces featuring classical Chinese dance, Chinese ethnic and folk dance, virtuoso singers, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art digital backdrops, and original compositions performed by a unique orchestra combining traditional Chinese and Western instruments.
Former cabinet minister David Kilgour came to see the show for the sixth consecutive year.
“The dancing was over the top, it was so good, and the costumes were the best I’ve ever seen. The singing was beautiful. It’s becoming a major part of the cultural scene in Ottawa,” Mr. Kilgour said.
Ottawa city councillor Marianne Wilkinson noted that “[Shen Yun] shows you a lot of different types of dancing and movements and things that we don’t see normally in North America.”
