PERTH, Australia—Classical dance teacher Jennifer Hill had a great time at the world-acclaimed Shen Yun Performing Arts presentation held at The Regal Theatre, May 1.
“The production elements were absolutely fabulous,” Ms. Hill said. “We loved the screen, the projected images—particularly the moving images.”
Ms. Hill, who teaches classical dance at the Duncraig Senior High School in Perth, said she learned a lot from the New York-based production.
“It was really nice to see a different country’s version of classical dance, I have learnt so much.”
The company website sums up Shen Yun in the following way. “Sophisticated dance techniques, an orchestra joining instruments from both the East and West, beautiful costumes, and a stunning back drop—this is Shen Yun at first glance.
“But digging deeper, one discovers a sea of traditional Chinese culture. Mortals and divine beings merge on stage as one. Principles such as benevolence and justice, propriety and wisdom, respect for the heavens, and divine retribution, all come to life, washing over the audience.”
Ms. Hill enjoyed the series of mini-dramas that portray China’s 5,000-year-old divinely inspired history, almost destroyed under 60 years of communism.
“The story telling was great, just enough information to make sense without it being too much information. We had a great time.”
Ms. Hill said she knew some of the humorous stories, such as the Monkey King.
“But some of the other stories I didn’t know at all and they were wonderful,” she said. “We particularly loved the one about the boy that came out of a meat ball. Never heard that before, that was wonderful. And it was nice to see a real mixture of stories, cultural ones as well as some of the ones we have heard about like the Monkey King.”
She also enjoyed spiritual aspects contained throughout the performance.
“We loved the connection to the moon and the underwater and the outer space. And this idea that spirituality is encompassing everybody, it’s not something you have to do at a monastery with a monk. It was very much specific to every individual in the story.”
She said Shen Yun is an excellent way of showcasing Chinese culture.
“It’s specific to Chinese people of Chinese heritage all over the world. It’s not specific to what is happening in China now. I think the show really shows that nicely, these lovely traditional stories - there are all these different issues and we only get a snippet of this here in Australia on the news.
“And it’s nice to see something that gives a really broad perspective of Chinese culture and Chinese stories.”
As a professional dance teacher, Ms. Hill gave her perspective on classical Chinese dance.
“I loved the dancing it was really interesting to see that when the dancers spin they are often turning with their faces pointing to the ground so that they get more movement out of the tops they’re using.
“It was lovely to see the big formations and the pattern changes with the use of different groups and changes in tempo, and the formation that changed and moved and used all the stage.”
She enjoyed the whole artistic and creative production and concluded saying, “From the artistic perspective it was lovely. We loved the visual elements as well as the costuming and the quality of the sound. It was a great show.”
Reporting by Jian Guo and Raiatea Tahana-Reese
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
