LOS ANGLES, Calif.—A group of well-known designers in the fashion industry attended a sold-out performance of the world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Nokia Theater L.A LIVE on March 22.
Among them was Dori Schneider, owner of the Dori Collection Beverly Hills. She was born into fashion, coming from a family where her mother was a fashion editor, and was a successful model for designers in New York and Los Angeles prior to becoming a fashion designer.
Together with Ms. Schneider were Toni Yamin, a retired wardrobe consultant, Dore Chodorow, a retired eyewear executive, and Eva Safan, who also retired from the fashion industry.
They were all delighted by the highly celebrated Shen Yun performance.
New York-based Shen Yun is an independent, nonprofit performing arts company. It was formed in 2006 by a group of artists from around the world with the mission of reviving 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through dance and music.
According to the Shen Yun website, “A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops—together creating one spectacular performance.”
Ms. Schneider said that as a fashion designer, “I think [the costuming is] brilliant. I love it. I think it’s wonderful. And we love the color. We were just talking about how much the color and the scenery and how they superimpose the people coming, jumping, and then going up on the screen and then coming back on the stage is quite interesting.”
Ms. Yamin chimed in, “The costumes were definitely speaking to me as well as the vivid colors and it’s just very spring-like and also very calming at the same time.”
“The costumes are just so beautiful and so lush. I’m really enjoying it,” added Ms. Safan.
Each dance in Shen Yun features unique costumes. The costume designers’ objective is “an authentic presentation of the attire that comes from China’s divinely inspired traditional culture,” explains the website. “Every costume in a Shen Yun performance is presented with brilliant colors, displaying a splendid spectacle.”
Another notable feature of Shen Yun is its use of rich, animated digital backdrops to add context and immerse the viewers in each dance. The website explains, “With state-of-the-art graphics technology, Shen Yun’s digital-backdrop team creates vividly animated settings, extending the stage and transporting the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one.”
Ms. Yamin was enthralled by the classical Chinese dance, “I’m a ballroom dancer, but I appreciate what they’re doing up there with their leaps and bounds.”
“I just loved the way these delicate ladies move,” added Ms. Safan.
Shen Yun uses Chinese dance, which has been refined over thousands of years to portray stories spanning the millennia of China’s culture.
“Chinese dance is at the heart of what Shen Yun does,” explains the Shen Yun website. “Known for its incredible flips and spins, and its gentle elegance, it is one of the most rigorous and expressive art forms in the world.”
The performance consists of a variety of vignettes that transport audiences to the scenes of ancient myths and legends, modern stories of courage, and traditional ethnic villages—each in their own way embodying the values of traditional Chinese culture.
Ms. Chodorow said, “I was very touched by the mix of stories. I thought it’s a very gentle mix and very interesting. And it had a good balance.”
Reporting by Flora Ge and Thanh Le
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. 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
