NEWARK—Vibrant flowing costumes immediately draw the eye when the curtains rise on the first scene of Shen Yun Performing Arts, before one’s attention moves to the richly detailed scene projected onto the animated backdrop.
The interplay between the performers on stage with the dynamic background attracted Adam Redlich, doctor, who saw the performance with his daughter Alisha at New Jersey Performing Arts Center on May 4.
“I love all the wonderful colors and ... mesmerizing themes, and the way that they interacted with the live ballet-type Chinese dance with the background, especially when they go kind of back and forth into the screen and out of the screen,” he said.
The doctor was referring to Shen Yun’s patented invention, which allows dancers on stage to disappear into the animated backdrop as part of the storytelling.
“Sometimes I don’t know where to look on the screen and the wonderful settings in the background or with the wonderful dancers and performers in the front,” Redlich added.
New York-based Shen Yun is the premier classical Chinese dance company, currently touring the world to showcase traditional Chinese culture through a combination of dance, music, and storytelling.
Redlich, who has his own medical practice, said he and his daughter were looking forward to the performance, and were felt “very, very satisfied” after coming out of the theater.
The stand-out feature of the production for Redlich was the concoction of colors mixed into the performance.
The doctor enjoyed looking at all the different colors, such as “the bright colors with all the dresses and outfits, along with the background and the flowers in the backdrop.” He said the colors and visuals produced a serene atmosphere.
The visual spectacle was complemented by the storytelling which took the doctor on an emotional journey.
“There was excitement, there was calmness, there was also sadness at certain points, tragedy at certain points,” Redlich said. “So you were kind of going up and down through a whole bunch of different emotions, so it was a great experience.”
Drawing from China’s 5,000 year history, Shen Yun tells stories through dance that illustrates the heart of China’s divinely-inspired culture. They speak to the values and virtues emphasized by Chinese people over thousands of years, including righteousness, loyalty, and respect.
Such ideas were transmitted uninterrupted generation to generation until the Chinese Communist Party seized power almost 70 years ago, and set out to replace traditional beliefs and ideas with atheistic communist dogma.
Redlich also got a kick out of the company’s gentle commentary on modern social behaviors in the closing piece titled “the Final Moment,” saying it was very amusing and an accurate reflection of real life.
Given there was so much to take in during just one performance, the doctor said one viewing wasn’t enough.
“I feel like we have to come again so that way the next time I can look more at one thing than the other thing,” he said.
