SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Hollywood Producer: Shen Yun ‘Reflects Chinese Culture’

Mar 25, 2014
SHARE
Hollywood Producer: Shen Yun ‘Reflects Chinese Culture’

LOS ANGELES—The world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts’ March 22 evening performance was sold out to an anticipated, enthusiastic audience at the Nokia Theatre LA LIVE.

Among the audience was Avi, a producer of major motion pictures films including Ironman, Spiderman, and X-Men, among many others.

After watching the Shen Yun performance, Avi said, “It’s great. I think it’s really great.”

Established by a group of leading classical Chinese artists in 2006, New York-based Shen Yun is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing 5,000 years of Chinese culture and civilization to life through music and dance. It has quickly become an international sensation, with four companies simultaneously touring around the world.

The Shen Yun website explains, “A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops—together creating one spectacular performance.”

Avi was delighted by the overall performance, “The totality, the background, dancing is very good, costumes are very different. It’s very enjoyable, interesting.”

According to the Shen Yun website, “Chinese dance is at the heart of what Shen Yun does. Known for its incredible flips and spins, and its gentle elegance, it is one of the most rigorous and expressive art forms in the world.”

In a variety of vignettes, China’s 5,000 years of culture, replete with ancient myths, legends, and modern stories of courage, is presented on stage.

Avi particularly enjoyed The Steadfast Lotus, about a mother and daughter in modern-day China who face persecution under the communist regime for their belief in Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. “The piece that has more of a story was more attractive for me, the mother and the daughter, I can really relate to that,” he said. “It’s all symbolism. It makes sense.”

“[Shen Yun] reflects Chinese culture,” Avi said.

Music is an important component of Shen Yun, with each dance accompanied by the Shen Yun Orchestra. The orchestra is unique in that it combines Chinese instruments with a Western-style symphonic orchestra.

“The sound produced is uniquely pleasing to the ear. The ensemble at once expresses both the grandeur of a Western orchestra and the distinct senses of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization,” the website explains.

The Shen Yun Orchestra impressed Avi. “The live orchestra is great,” he said. “It’s very good.”

Reporting by Jenny Liu and Thanh Le

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

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