TAICHUNG, Taiwan—It was another sold-out performace at the Jhungshan Auditorium on March 30 for Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company. It is getting to be that people need to book their seats early to get a chance to see the New York-based Shen Yun, which is bringing about a revival of ancient China traditional Chinese culture through the performing arts.
Executive producer of Ton Horizon, Liu Che-Yang, has been coming to see Shen Yun in Taiwan every year. After seeing this year’s performance with its all-new programs, Mr. Liu said he was delighted. “I have watched Shen Yun every year since it started to tour Taiwan. It’s a very high quality, exquisite performance, that’s for sure.”
Mr. Liu was at the theater with his family. He said that after speaking with his daughter after the show she mentioned that she really liked the dances performed by the males. “She likes the men’s dances, she thinks their movements are powerful, like martial arts,” he said.
Whereas Mr. Liu spoke of the feminine dance Sleeves of Silk, known as “water sleeves” in classical Chinese dance in which long sleeves act as extensions of a dancer’s arms, which linger in the air long after a movement is finished. He said he was especially impressed with the female artists’ soft, gentle, light, and graceful movements in this dance. “I think the most fascinating part of Chinese dance lies in women’s tenderness and subtle charm, which manifests the beauty of classical Chinese art perfectly, just like a Chinese ink painting.”
Mr. Liu received his Masters of Art degree from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He said that though music was not his specialty, having lived in Vienna, he has a high regard for classical music. “I think a performance like Shen Yun’s should definitely insist on using orthodox classical music. Their orchestra really plays orthodox classic music, which I think is wonderful.”
According to the company’s website, Shen Yun’s one-of-a-kind orchestra, with its all-original compositions, blends East and West like no other. The distinctly Chinese sound of ancient instruments like the erhu and the pipa are bathed in a rich sea of Western strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass. The result—two great classical music traditions producing one fresh, unexpected sound.
Mr. Liu also enjoyed Shen Yun’s animated digital backdrops. Using state-of-the-art graphics technology, they create “magical windows to different realms,” states the company’s website. “From vast open grasslands in one dance to the stately elegance of Tang Dynasty pavilions in another; from dusty yellow battlegrounds to tropical beaches to Himalayan peaks to picturesque scenery of the Yellow River Delta—the digital projection infinitely expands and transforms the stage,” something Mr. Liu said was “a new kind of art.”
Reporting by Cheng Wei and Lin Hsin-Yi
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will perform in seven cities in Taiwan until April 8 and then continue to top venues in Australia and New Zealand.
For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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