HOUSTON, Texas—Steven Bell, a professional pianist and sound engineer, was impressed with Shen Yun Performing Arts when he saw the performance on New Year’s Day.
“They did everything right and I liked it,” Mr. Bell said.
“Everybody should come and see it,” he said after seeing the afternoon performance at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.
The traditional instruments in the Shen Yun Orchestra were compelling for him and the sound transported him back in time. The Shen Yun Orchestra is quite unique in that it combines traditional Chinese instruments into a Western classical orchestra.
“The music was good, as far as getting a theater presence, as far as getting that reality sound, as far as being able to go back in time, because you have the real instruments there,” he said.
“You could actually feel it and you could actually sit there and go [to back in time],” he said.
Shen Yun, a classical Chinese dance company, was founded in 2006 in New York to revive China’s traditional culture that was rooted in the teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
Mr. Bell said that the live performance had an impact that could never be captured on video.
“It is a feeling that’s actually alive,” he said. That feeling is “about knowing who you are, being able to release and be free inside,” he said
“Sit back and allow the other culture to come inside of you,” he said.
Mr. Bell, who plays jazz, gospel, and classical music, has also been practicing martial arts since he was a child so he also appreciated the physicality of the dancing.
According to the Shen Yun website, “many types of performing arts were influenced by martial arts movements, techniques, and flips. The original forms of many classical Chinese dance movements were similar to those of martial arts.”
Mr. Bell also liked how the dancers interacted with the state of the art animated backdrop, as well as the choreography in the dances.
“Everything was synched, … that choreography was tight,” he said.
His wife Nico summed up the experience:
“It was just a great performance ... For someone who hasn’t seen it before, it’s definitely something that they would want to come and be a part of.”
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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.
