VANCOUVER, Canada—The audience’s excitement at Shen Yun Performing Arts on Sunday was electric, says Lily Korstanje, managing director of Magnum Projects, one of Vancouver’s most respected real estate project marketing companies.
“I could feel the energy, the heat, and the enthusiasm rising in the audience—I think that’s the true sign of success,” she said.
Ms. Korstanje attended Shen Yun at Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Sunday afternoon and said she found the experience moving.
“I was actually thrown by the beauty, the spirituality, as well as the energy that was emulating from the performers, from every detail,” she said.
“It was overwhelming—way more than what I had expected, even though I heard a lot of good things about it.”
New York-based Shen Yun was created in 2006 by a group of passionate overseas Chinese performing artists who came together to revive China’s traditional culture through the medium of classical Chinese dance.
This divinely inspired traditional culture was all but destroyed under the Chinese communist regime’s various violent movements, such as the Cultural Revolution.
Ms. Korstanje said the dedication and passion of Shen Yun’s performers was truly inspiring.
“The engagement of the performers really shows their passion. … You see on the faces of the performers how engaged they are, how excited and dedicated and believing in what they are doing. That was certainly very clearly conveyed to the audience,” she said.
Shen Yun’s story-based dances aim to express the essence, core values, and spiritual richness of traditional Chinese culture, which was thought to have been bestowed on humans by the gods.
Ms. Korstanje said the dancers’ talent expressed their mission and beliefs beautifully.
“They were so gracious, and in their artistry they make it look so simple. The women are like gazelles, just jumping like light fairies and it just kind of goes with that idea of the divine—I think that is the word—simply divine.”
