NEW YORK—Eric Trump, the third child of real estate magnate Donald Trump, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater on Thursday, and called the performance a “really fascinating production.”
Mr. Trump is the executive vice president and is in charge of real estate development and mergers and acquisitions at The Trump Organization, which is based in Manhattan. He is also the founder and head of the Eric Trump Foundation.
“It’s really great culturally. Fantastic acting, fantastic dancing,” he said. “Really a tremendous amount of talent.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture after it was nearly destroyed by six decades of communist rule, according to the company’s website. The show displays the inner spiritual core of China’s culture, which encompasses the virtues of benevolence, kindness, and honor. The dances draw upon the vast history of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization.
These cultural aspects are “very different” and “very unique,” Mr. Trump said. “It keeps you very engaged. It’s really been a nice show.”
At the nucleus of every Shen Yun performance is classical Chinese dance and music, but also includes various ethnic and folk dances.
“Every scene had a different flair,” Mr. Trump said. “It kind of starts … in the beginning of time” and then “goes through various different dynasties to modern time.”
Classical Chinese dance also has an extensive array of techniques—jumps, spins, flips, aerials and other very difficult tumbling moves. These supplement and enhance the dance’s expressive powers while adding vigorous physicality.
The performance is “interjected with just great piano playing and opera,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Shen Yun’s vocal soloists. The vocalists sing the pieces in Chinese language but use the bel canto technique.
“There are a lot of great different scenes,” he said
Shen Yun, which translated from Chinese means “the beauty of heavenly beings dancing,” was formed in 2006 and has toured the world across cities in five continents.
Reporting by Gary Du and Jack Phillips.
New York-based Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will perform at New York’s Lincoln Center through Jan. 15.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
