MISSISSAUGA, Canada—Joe Abraham has been in the paint business since 1959, so he knows a thing or two about colour, and Shen Yun Performing arts is a feast of colour—from the wide array of costume styles to the hand-painted backdrops.
“When I saw the colours of the costumes I thought it was just amazing,” Mr. Abraham said after seeing Shen Yun at Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre on April 27.
“I think what was most amazing about it was the colour. Fantastic! I am in the paint business, so when I looked at all the colours, I thought it was just great.”
His grandson, Avery Mollard, was equally impressed.
“It was fantastic! Like nothing I have ever seen before. I could watch it a million times. I am speechless pretty much. I loved it,” he said.
Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded on a mission to revive China’s divinely inspired classical culture, which goes back 5,000 years. That mission finds expression in dances portraying tales of heroic Chinese figures and stories from beloved literary classics. Besides classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun also presents the dances of China’s diverse ethnicities and folk dances from across many regions.
“There wasn’t a dull moment,” said Mr. Abraham. “We will be back next year, I can assure you,” said Mr. Benjamin.
‘I thought it was really cool’
Student Sadie Wells-Liddy is a singer, dancer, actress, and a newly minted superfan of Shen Yun. She also attended the April 27 show at the Living Arts Centre and was blown away.
“Oh my god I thought it was amazing,” she said after seeing the performance.
“I thought the costumes were amazing and the energy throughout the show was so upbeat and everyone was so involved.”
She described the tumbling and flipping techniques of classical Chinese dance—an ancient art form refined over millennia—as “insane.”
“When they did those huge back flips and did splits in midair—that was crazy. That was so cool! I thought it was so amazing,” she said.
She said the entire performance, including the operatic singers and orchestra, with its unique blend of Chinese and Western instruments, was exceptional.
Of the singers, she said: “Their voices were so colourful in their own unique way, and I liked how they had the variation, so you had the soprano, you had the tenor, and you had the alto.”
“Oh my goodness, the whole show was totally cool,” Ms. Wells-Liddy added. “I thought it was really amazing how they brought in all the culture.”
“I feel kind of blessed to have gotten to see that, just to have gotten that experience, so I am really grateful.”
‘It’s quite emotional.’
Wylie and Emma Bakir, who both work in accounting, were determined to see Shen Yun this year, despite being busy.
“For some reason there is always something going on, and then when I read that [Shen Yun] was coming back here, I said that’s it, I am buying a ticket. You have to make time, because his schedule is really busy,” said Mrs. Bakir.
“It was very nice,” she said of the performance. “I really, really enjoyed it.”
“It is quite emotional,” she added. “Because I know that it’s a very old culture, and just the music alone for me is—it’s just that the melody I think, it’s very soft.”
“I loved the dancers, especially the female dancers,” said her husband.
“It’s the vibrant colours, the dance, the way they move, almost like gliding. It speaks volumes of the training and whatnot. It’s great.”
“It’s good, to me it’s pleasant,” he said. “It is a great show to see.”
Reporting by Dongyu Teng and Joan Delaney
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun’s International Company is currently touring Eastern Canada. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
