‘Any time anything is difficult, the best dancers can make it look easy’

The audience was abuzz with enthusiasm before, during, and after the Shen Yun show in Seattle.
‘Any time anything is difficult, the best dancers can make it look easy’
5/25/2009
Updated:
6/1/2009

SEATTLE—The audience was abuzz with enthusiasm at The Paramount Theatre on Saturday afternoon, May 23, the venue for the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts Spring Tour 2009, bringing the sights and sounds of ancient China to the stage. Among the audience members were Mr. Haining and his wife Ms. Block.

Mr. Haining, who previously worked in marketing and public relations for a musical performing arts group, said, “I like it very much. It’s very colorful. I love learning about the culture and about the ethnic origin of the Chinese culture.”

Ms. Block thought it was “beautiful,” and also commented on the different ethnic groups of China. “I think it’s great to see the different dances. It gives you different ideas from different areas of China. I think that’s wonderful.”

“And the different instruments too—the musical instruments,” said Mr. Haining.

The couple enjoyed the powerful music created by the erhu, a two-stringed traditional Chinese instrument, known for its hauntingly beautiful sound.

“I loved the [erhu]. That’s beautiful,” Ms. Block said.

Mr. Haining said, “I loved the fact that the dancing tells a story. It gives a background of the culture. [For example] Ascending to heaven …” Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution is a modern-day tale of a father who is persecuted to death for practicing Falun Gong which is based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. This dance presents a message of hope and tells of the traditional Chinese belief that good people are ultimately rewarded, even if not in this lifetime.

“Very stylized. It tells a story of loss and beauty and a life afterwards. Even without words, you can feel it,” Mr. Haining said.

“It’s universal. Through the music, it’s a universal language so even though we don’t speak any Chinese, we understand it because all of the actions, and the drama is very universal. … It is common to all people.”

Ms. Block added, “It’s almost like sign language. Dance is almost like sign language. It’s beautiful, it’s absolutely lovely.  Very graceful—it’s lovely.”

Chinese classical dance is the most comprehensive dance system in the world. It is known for its expressiveness in addition to its training for strength and flexibility. It has its a strict regimen for perfecting bearing and form, and a way of training for skills such as jumps, turns, spins, and extremely demanding aerial techniques, culminating in a complete dance system.

In concluding, Mr. Haining said, “Any time anything is difficult, the best dancers can make it look easy.”

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Spring Tour 2009. For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

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