CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Jonathan and Alison Bales attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center on March 3, and left the theater discussing the highlights.
Mrs.Bales, a data management manager, had positive things to say about her overall
impression: “It’s fantastic. It’s very entertaining. It’s beautiful, graceful, powerful.”
Mr.Bales, an executive managing consultant, concurred. “Fabulous,” he said, “We were just talking about which our favorite pieces are. There’s so many to choose from,” he said.
“For mine it was surprising. It wasn’t one that I expected, but it’s the scholars with the fans. The fan works. Fantastic. There’s something about the way they used the fans and the snapping closed. It’s phenomenal.” He noticed all the details of the dance.
“There was something about the entire blend of the dance, the fans, the notion of struggling to finish a work, a piece of work, and then being inspired by a spiritual being or whatever that might have been, but getting some spiritual intervention that helps you finish or complete that piece of work. Even the
coloring, I loved the blues and just the feel of it and the mood, the entire mood of the piece.
“I can’t really explain why but that piece, in particular, I just found really appealing. It wasn’t the most powerful, and it wasn’t the most graceful, but there was something about it that I just really enjoyed.”
New York-based
Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, and uses this ancient and expressive art form in its mission to bring 5,000 years of Chinese
civilization to life around the world. In the last two years, this has come to be known as the China “before communism.”
Mrs. Bales said, “For the women, it was the Water Sleeves. One of the very first dances. Graceful. Incredible grace. It was so graceful. That’s the one thing that stands out in my mind about the women dancers. And then for the men, this very last dance, the
Tibetan Dance.”
“And the coordination, the choreography ... the coordination of the dancers. Incredible,” Mr. Bales said.
China Before Communism
Mr. Bales noted how the
performance changed their understanding of China before communism.
Based in New York,
Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by leading Chinese artists and quickly became the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Shen Yun’s
mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture.
“You know, it’s really interesting to me to see the perspective on pre-communist China, the commentary on pre-communist China. And sad, really. That story. Especially the story of the students, the persecution. That was sad to me. And it wasn’t really what I was expecting. [It wasn’t] bad in the sense that I didn’t want to see it. It was more: just you have a very, happy experience and then a very sad story injected into it. But it’s an important commentary,” he said.
Mrs. Bales added, “and knowing that that happens today. It’s true.”
“It’s a really important commentary, so it’s almost eye-opening,” Mr. Bales said.
He appreciated how Chinese history had a divine connection. ”I enjoyed more the historical aspect to it. The fact that I see how their history is drawn upon this notion of being descended from
Divine, divine beings visiting. I find that really fascinating. Very different than an American perspective.”
“And I would just say much more spiritual than, let’s say, Americans,” Mrs. Bales said.
Mr. Bales said, “There’s a lot more history than America has. That’s exactly it.”
Both said they would recommend others see
Shen Yun. “Absolutely,” Mrs. Bales said.
“Most definitely,” Mr. Bales said.
Reporting by Nancy Bao and Yvonne Marcotte.
