EDMONTON, Canada—A mutual adoration for the arts brought mother and daughter to the Northern Alberta Jubilee auditorium to see the Shen Yun Performing Arts on Tuesday evening, April 10.
Anastasia Rozhdestvensky, a dancer, and her mother Natasha, a music teacher, took in the opening performance and said the experience was “amazing.”
“It was great. Lots of colorful costumes and the dancing was amazing,” said Anastasia. “They make gorgeous pictures.”
“Absolutely amazing,” added Natasha.
As a dancer, Anastasia was impressed with the Shen Yun dancers’ perfect form.
“How clean the dances are. The lines, beautiful pictures, everyone’s doing exactly the same [coordinated movements]. I know how hard it is,” she said.
Being a music teacher, Natasha was captivated by the Shen Yun Orchestra, unique in its blending of Western and Eastern instruments.
“It’s definitely a big bonus to have an orchestra,” she said. “Enjoyable, nice music.”
“Nowadays it’s not very [common] to have a full orchestra in a performance. It’s very beneficial that [Shen Yun] can bring a full orchestra, and they play beautifully.”
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s foremost classical Chinese dance and music company.
With three companies simultaneously travelling the world, Shen Yun is leading a renaissance of traditional Chinese culture through the performing arts.
Anastasia said that the dancers were able to express a broad range of feelings through their movements, and appreciated the distinctly masculine and feminine roles in the performance.
“There’s grace and beauty from the ladies … from the men, lots of strength, lots of stability,” she said.
“You can clearly tell the feelings they are trying to portray.”
Natasha appreciated the universality of the themes expressed in the performance, such as the triumph of good over evil.
“Music and arts is something in our souls,” she said. “It doesn’t have any borders.”
Reporting by Maple Lynne and Justina Wheale.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has three equally large companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will give one more performance at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton on April 11 and then Regina on April 13.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
