WATEBURY, Conn.—Shen Yun Performing Arts thrilled the audience on Thursday evening with their new 2012 performance featuring 5,000 years of Chinese culture, ending with a standing ovation and three curtain calls.
Dance teacher Toni-Marie Clemens praised the dancers and the choreography, saying they were “phenomenal.”
“You’re working more on the flexibility and the toning,” said Clemens during the intermission. “I love watching these.”
Shen Yun utilizes a high-tech digital backdrop to transport audience members across the vast land of China, displaying settings like the open grasslands of Inner Mongolia, grand palaces from the Tang Dynasty, and snow-capped Tibetan mountains.
Mrs. Clemens enjoyed the backdrop during the piece Happiness in the Huai Valley, which shows the deep countryside in the summer, with flourishing fields of rice. Two villages gather in a festive folk dance. “With vigorous steps and spinning arms, they express their satisfaction at summer’s bountiful gift,” according to Shen Yun’s program book.
The dance pieces are divided between story-based dancing, ethnic dancing, and folk dancing.
Mrs. Clemens’ husband Terry liked The Choice, a tale from modern China. In it, a young policeman is asked by his superior to beat Falun Gong practitioners, among which is his old friend. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice based on the principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance that is currently outlawed under the Communist regime in China.
“Although the pair meets with earthly tragedy, under Heaven’s watch, goodness ultimately triumphs,” the program book concludes.
“That was a really good story,” said Mr. Clemens.
“The use of the feelings,” said Mrs. Clemens, “and everything is phenomenal.”
Reporting by Alec Wang and Zack Stieber.
Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will perform at the Palace Theater, Waterbury, through Friday, Dec. 30.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts
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