SYDNEY, Australia—The Parade Theatre in Kensington Sydney was packed for the opening show of the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts show on Sunday, April 19. The audience was bathed in the beauty and profundity of the 5,000-year-old Chinese culture.
It was the matinee session, and the first of eight Sydney performances.
Ms. Crowe, a ballet teacher, was in the audience. She said that Shen Yun was something she hadn’t seen before.
Regarding the classical Chinese dance presented in the performances, Ms.Crowe thought that it was “very intricate.”
She noted that classical Chinese dance had unique moves.
Classical Chinese dance has its own complete set of training methods in foundational skills, a strict regimen for perfecting bearing and form, and means of training for skill sets such as jumps, turns, and flips, as well as extremely demanding aerial techniques, culminating in an enormous dance system.
Ms. Crowe teaches ballet to children from the age of three up to thirteen and thinks they would enjoy Shen Yun.
“I think it’s very colourful and the music is very interesting. It’s something you don’t see in Australia.”
Mr. Widerberg accompanied Ms. Crowe. He said, “What I liked was the various styles of dancing and the obvious … physicality of the people and their technique—really good.”
The deeper resonances of traditional Chinese culture imbue a dancer’s movements with rich expressive power. The dancer is thus capable of not only portraying a given figure’s disposition or mood, but even the vivid expressions unique to a certain age, whatever the land or time.
Architect: ‘It’s been very enjoyable and well worth coming’
_medium.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
_medium.jpg "Mark, an architect of a high-rise residential area (The Epoch Times)")
Mark, an architect of a high-rise residential area, was also in the audience.
In the program, Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution, Mark was saddened by the dance scene where a father was persecuted to death for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual practice persecuted in China today.
A family is left distraught as a result of the oppression, but in the end good is rewarded and evil is punished.
“I thought that was one of the strongest stories I could relate to, the modern story. I knew the message already. It was just an interesting way of expressing it in the dance, in the theatre.
“It was quite emotional. It’s sad, but it’s also happy. I think [of] having the mind controlling the body and the spirit. You can withstand a lot of persecution if you have a strong mind and strong belief.”
“I’m enjoying the music and the colour, the overall spectacle of the show. Fantastic entertainment. The singing was great—I enjoyed that. It’s been very enjoyable and well worth coming,” Mark said.
Mr. Stewart was overwhelmed by the Shen Yun performance
“I’ve got tears in my eyes, and they’re coming from the heart,” he said.
“From where I stand, absolutely overpowering. So beautiful. I had to rethink all my knowledge of music, being born in Melbourne and growing up in Australia and Westernised. I’ve not touched any music like this before—just incredible, overpowering.”
The brilliance of the dance, Welcoming Spring, brought tears to his eyes while being interviewed.
“It really hit me. It is a lovely time of year, the rebirth of things. … The whole performance, the production, the music, the dancing, the atmosphere, the colours—everything was just incredibly beautiful.
“I’ve got tears in my eyes, and they’re coming from the heart. It’s my first exposure to anything from that part of the world.”
Mr. Stewart said he had never seen, nor heard of any show like this before.
“This is something revelatory, something new—come out of the blue.”
His daughter bought him a ticket to see Shen Yun as a present for his 77th birthday.
“I wanted to bring Dad when I saw the show being advertised. It’s dad’s birthday tomorrow, so I thought this was something Dad would get a lot out of, the culture and the history, and the music—it was beautiful. I couldn’t add much more than what Dad has already said. Very touching, very beautiful.”
For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
