PITTSBURGH—“This is history and I really, really enjoyed [it],” Pat Brannigan said about Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company’s performance at Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday evening, Feb. 15.
The mission of the New York-based Shen Yun is to revive traditional Chinese culture by exploring true history from ancient times to the present, through the arts of classical Chinese and traditional ethnic and folk dance, and original orchestral music.
As a costume designer who works at the Benedum Center, Ms. Brannigan said she was impressed with Shen Yun’s costumes. “They’re fabulous, they’re just perfect,” she stated.
Costumes are an integral part of a Shen Yun performance, they use bright colors to tailor and recreate hundreds of new pieces each season, the hand-made garments span China’s dynasties, regions, and ethnic groups, according to the company’s website.
In several of the performances, the dancers wear costumes with very long sleeves. “With the sleeves they just move so beautifully,” Ms. Brannigan said.
Accompanying Ms. Brannigan was Kenneth Scherer, who worked in public relations for an electric utility company before his retirement. He was impressed with the dancers’ precision. “Their precision and their discipline of performance I thought were amazing,” he said.
Reporting by Yang Chen and Cat Rooney.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will next perform in St. Louis at the Peabody Opera House, Feb. 18 to 19.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
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