MONTREAL, Canada—Over the past seven years Canadian author and culture champion Jeannette Moscovitch has purchased dozens of tickets for friends and family to see Shen Yun Performing Arts with her.
Monday night was no exception as Ms. Moscovitch treated her nephew and a friend to Montreal’s 2014 opening performance of Shen Yun at Place des Arts.
The heart-warming beauty of the performance, and its ability to expand the mind motivates her to share the experience, she said.
“Every time I see something new,” she said.
“I have a feeling right through that the [performers] work from their heart.”
Ms. Moscovitch is the author of the post-World War II docu-novel The Expatriate. She is also known for founding Canadian Cultural Programmes, a successful non-profit organization that promotes Canadian literature, art and architecture.
As an advocate of culture, Ms. Moscovitch was proud that Montreal could attract Shen Yun’s world-renowned talent.
“I don’t know how [the promoters] get all these people to come to Montreal and to do such a good job,” she said. “They did a wonderful job today.”
New York-based Shen Yun is a classical Chinese dance and music company with the mission to revive 5,000 years of divinely inspired traditional Chinese culture.
Ms. Moscovitch appreciated Shen Yun’s ability to educate audiences on traditional Chinese philosophy, spirituality, history, ethnic groups, and current events all within the medium of classical Chinese dance and folk dance.
“It’s fantastic [because] we don’t know much about [Chinese culture],” she said.
The story-based dances are also accompanied by a philharmonic orchestra that incorporates traditional Chinese instruments, and vividly animated backdrops.
Ms. Moscovitch said she is always astounded by the sophisticated beauty of the colour combinations in the costumes and backdrops on stage.
“The colours are just beautiful—we think that the French have a sense of colour but I think the Chinese have a greater sense of colour,” she said.
Ms. Moscovitch was also moved by the lyrics of the bel canto operatic songs. Original Shen Yun compositions sung in the Chinese language, the songs are “brimming with philosophical reflection about human life” and contain “deep layers of meaning,” according to the Shen Yun website.
“In the [lyrics] you have a moral feeling that we are not here only to come and go but we are to have a philosophy of goodness,” said Ms. Moscovitch.
“I appreciate that very much.”
Before leaving the theatre Ms. Moscovitch congratulated the performers, and yes, vowed to attend the show again next year.
Reporting by Fu Ming and Justina Wheale
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun’s World Company will perform in Montreal until Jan. 9 before going on to Hamilton. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
