SACRAMENTO, Calif.—“The performers did a fantastic job,” said Mr. Jeff Dorso, a member of the board of directors for the Sacramento Ballet, said of Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Sacramento Community Center Theater, Jan. 15.
Mr. Dorso is a managing partner at Pioneer Law Group, focusing on large scale developments such as the Sacramento Railyards redevelopment, where he served as counsel and helped the project gain entitlement to over $300 million in public-private financing. Mr. Dorso is also on the board of directors for the Sacramento Zoo and was the chair of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s transition team.
Being well acquainted with dance, Mr. Dorso was delighted seeing classical Chinese dance for the first time as performed by New York-based Shen Yun World Company.
Classical Chinese dance is a vast and independent system of dance, having been passed down through the dynasties, and Mr. Dorso noticed the differences from other forms he'd seen. He noted the dancers were very athletic, and most importantly very expressive.
“I find it very interesting, very engaging,” Mr. Dorso said. The expressions the dancers wore and the movements used had allowed them to communicate a story through the dance, which Mr. Dorso found impressive.
“I thought a lot of the stories seemed to have a lot of meaning but you could communicate them in a short period of time through the dance,” Mr. Dorso said.
Music and dance should always go hand in hand, Mr. Dorso said, and Shen Yun Orchestra’s unique blend of traditional Chinese instruments into a full Western symphony had been a treat.
Shen Yun also uses state-of-the-art graphics technology, which Mr. Dorso found an interesting new way to add to storytelling in dance. The animated backdrops allow the performers to transition instantly from stage to screen, showing scenes from celestial realms to undersea palaces.
The stories told had important significance as well, and Mr. Dorso resonated with Shen Yun’s mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through the universal languages of music and dance.
“I think it’s a fantastic medium to do that,” Mr. Dorso said of Shen Yun’s touring internationally to revive traditional Chinese culture through performing arts.
“Art is one of the lasting legacies for any culture and it’s one of those things I think can provide great insight for the younger generations coming up, and to pass down those traditions through time,” Mr. Dorso said.
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.
