PORTLAND, Ore.–“It was heavenly. It really was … absolute grace,” Lilita Sale, an artist and sculptor from Portland said emotionally. She was eager to share her impressions after watching Shen Yun Performing Arts at Portland’s Keller Auditorium on Wednesday, April 3.
With a background in ballet, Ms. Sale said she often goes to New York “to see everything in the theater world.” She described tonight’s performance as “pure grace” and “pure love.” “It was just exquisite, it was divine,” she said.
Being an artist, she noticed the rare connection of colors, the grace and elegance of the silks, the grace of the movements and the dancers’ hearts.
She was especially impressed by the Mongolian dance: the green pastures and the girls who came out in the beautiful green-and-white gowns. Ms. Sale was referring to the Mongolian Bowl Dance.
According to Shen Yun website, “Mongolian ethnic dances can be some of the more dynamic and breathtaking numbers in Shen Yun performances.” “Often set to a backdrop of a tall blue sky and vast, open grasslands, these dances emphasize big movements of the arms and their coordination with the wrists and shoulders.”
Ms. Sale also loved the dance in which the male dancers wearing the green-and-brown gowns were in the temple. “They were strong, but yet ever so delicate,” she commented. The artist was talking about the dance called Han Imperial Air.
“Against the backdrop of an imperial court, men of the Han Dynasty parade in dignified splendor. Their demeanor and dress exemplify the strengths and ideals of a bygone era. Among the many things left to history by the great Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220) is its striking attire,” says the Shen Yun program book.
Ms. Sale said that today, in our culture and the world, there is so much violence and so much ugliness. “I want to thank [Shen Yun] for bringing beauty. If I talk any longer, I’m going to cry because it touches the heart. It really does, it opens the heart.”
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the traditional Chinese culture, which communist leaders have systematically destroyed. As a result, the company is unable to perform in China.
Being born in Latvia, which was under communist rule for 50 years, Ms. Sale knows well what suppression means. She said, “When you suppress someone’s right to be free, suppress someone’s thoughts, it comes from fear.”
Ms. Sale reiterated that bullying others, whether it’s in American schools or on a global scale in China, comes from fear: “That’s really sad for people to feel so insecure about themselves that they have to step on somebody else to make themselves look big.
“If they just look within themselves, [they’ll see] they’re big enough, and rather than stepping on somebody or suppressing someone else, just rise to [their] goodness.”
‘Pure Joy’
Ms. Sales said that she tried not to bring ugliness into her life and soul, and that this evening with Shen Yun was so beautiful because it brought joy. Ms. Sale said she was leaving the performance delighted, with a “feeling of pure joy, pure joy.”
“I always like to sit in the front row, center. So I was sitting in the front row, center. Whether I’m in New York or wherever, or at the Met, I sit right up behind the conductor, so I really see into the eyes of the actors and so I’m inside of them.”
Ms. Sale said that tonight she could see the dancers’ souls, their love, their joy for what they’re doing. “As we all [are connected], it’s also a huge connection at the heart,” she said.
She felt Shen Yun was connecting human beings regardless of race, religion, or color. “Buddhist monks and all others are alike on the inside if we live with our hearts. And that’s what this evening was all about,” she said.
Ms. Sale said she couldn’t believe that the performance tonight was not a completely sold-out performance, standing room only. She said she wanted to thank Shen Yun from the bottom of her heart for coming to Portland.
“It was beautiful, and it deserves every seat to be filled. I think that every single person in the world should see this.” She would strongly recommend Shen Yun to her relatives, she added.
With reporting by NTD Television and Nataly Teplitsky
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
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.
