ST. LOUIS—Cindy Brown, who owns a company called ‘Shred It,’ which has been winning awards almost as long as the company has been around, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts Jan. 26, at St. Louis’s Fox Theatre. Of Shen Yun’s dancers, Ms. Brown said, “I think they are exceptionally well trained. It’s unbelievable, their moves and the grace that they have.”
The dancers Ms. Brown praised are award winners as well. Several of the New York based performers have won top honors at NTD Television’s International Dance competition which celebrates the best in classical Chinese dance.
“I liked the costuming and the gracefulness of the dancers,” she said.
Ms. Brown said of one dance, “I just felt like I was in the grasses with the dancers. The movement was so graceful.”
She was referring to “Herding on the Grasslands,” in which the Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company dancers evoke images of the Mongolian wilderness. They appear as horsemen, and later portray eagles flying.
In addition to the classical Chinese dance, another hallmark of Shen Yun is the orchestra. The orchestra is unique, in that it uses both Western and Eastern instruments.
“I was surprised when I saw the trombone and some of those horns come out. ... I didn’t think that those were ever used in the Chinese musical world,” Ms. Brown said.
Of their playing, she said: “Oh, they are exceptional.”
Ms. Brown also enjoyed the emcees who introduced the dances. She said they helped her to “understand and believe what they are doing and follow the stories.”
Accompanying Ms. Brown to the Shen Yun performance was Randy Hindman, a business consultant for a large firm in the St. Louis area.
Mr. Hindman enjoyed the show very much, saying it was “Exceptional, exceptional. Very, very good.”
Of the dancers, he said they are “very precise, extremely talented.”
His comments about the music echoed what he felt about for the whole show: “ Very, very good. Exceptional, it’s all exceptional and very good.”
Reporting by Kerry Huang and Sharon Kilarski
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
