CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Robyn Kirk, a dance professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and Syvil Huskey, a first grade teacher, attended the Shen Yun performance at the Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center on May 4, in Charlotte. Both thought the performance was beautiful and inspirational.
Ms. Kirk said, “The dancers are beautifully trained and [it was a] beautiful performance. We also really like the backdrops ... the technologies. I think [the backdrop] was very interesting and works very well, especially when they were doing story telling.”
Shen Yun utilizes state-of-the-art digitally-animated backdrops that interact with the performers on stage. Along with the music from the live Shen Yun orchestra, the backdrops combine with the dancers and singers on stage to transport the audience to different times and places in China.
Both ladies were also impressed with the dancers.
“They were really beautifully trained, absolutely lovely performances. They made it looked very effortless. Of course it was not effortless,” said Ms. Kirk.
Ms. Huskey agreed and thought the dancers moved across the stage as if they were floating.
Classical Chinese dance is the cornerstone of the Shen Yun performance. Through the various movements and techniques which are refined through years of training and practice, the dancers can portray any meaning and tell stories through their expressive movements. Along with ballet, Chinese classical dance is among the most comprehensive dance systems in the world, according to the company’s website.
Being a dance professor, Ms. Kirk understood how difficult it was and the amount of training it took to make the dance numbers look beautiful, graceful, and effortless.
“That was very difficult to do. When they have to stop and when they were standing on one leg, they are not wiggling or anything.”
“They really have lovely performance quality,” she said.
Ms. Huskey also said she could see genuine expressions on the faces of the dancers.
“They seemed to be loving it. You could see that through their expression. They love what they were doing,” she said.
Ms. Kirk said she would certainly tell her students about the Shen Yun performance and hoped they would be able to attend again in the future.
Reporting by Maggie Xie and Thai Ton
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006
