BRISBANE, Australia—Twenty-five drama students from the University of Queensland attended Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour presentation at the Queensland Conservatorim Theatre on April 9. They saw China’s 5,000-year-old divine heritage come alive.
Four students shared their impressions of the New York-based Shen Yun production.
“It was nice, pretty spectacular. The actual performances were beautiful, and the costumes [are] really beautiful,” said Emma.
Emma said the stories portrayed needed no introduction as they were so beautifully executed, and the dances spoke for themselves.
“The dancing was lovely. It was really cool hearing some of the stories.”
Story-based dance is one of Shen Yun’s trademarks, such as China’s beloved tale of the dutiful daughter, Mulan Joins the Battle, who took the place of her aging father and went off to war, emerging victorious. The Monkey King Triumphs is a story of a magical monkey who accompanied a Buddhist monk in his search for sacred scriptures.
But for Emma, who had never seen a Chinese show before, her heart leapt to the rythmic sound of Dragon Springs Drummers, saying that the world-class performers “were really cool.”
In this dance, the buoyant, fun-loving spirit of China’s indigenous culture comes to life with an irresistible beat and demanding aerial work. In this spirited portrait of everyday life, vibrant costumes and octagonal drums combine for an unmistakably vivid and festive gathering.
In the group was another student called Emma. She was interested in seeing how an Asian performance would work in Western culture.
“It definitely gives you Asian themes [that] come across very strongly. In this Western country, I didn’t know much about Chinese culture [and] Chinese traditional dance.”
She added that Shen Yun’s coming definitely was valuable to Australian society in order to understand [Asian] heritage and culture.
And Emma’s impression of Shen Yun’s performance? “I'd say, beautiful costumes, beautiful people,” she said.
Lizzy, who is studying for a double major in drama at the university, was interested in the backstage technical production. She thoroughly enjoyed Shen Yun.
“Well, because I’m interested in production, I love the cohesion of costume. I love the dry ice. It was beautiful aesthetically, and as a picture, it was very beautiful.”
As the curtain rose, white clouds drifted across the stage producing a heavenly effect. High-tech digital backdrops of mountains, rivers, and vast Mongolian plains match the dance or a vocalist.
“I really enjoyed that. It was very different and at first I was like, ‘What is this backdrop?’ But I thought it really worked well, and it was really exciting ... interesting and a different piece. I loved the cohesion of it all, it worked really well together.”
Lizzy said she had never seen classical Chinese dance before, but “as soon as the curtain went up the first time, it was like: Wow! How exciting! I sort of caught my breath, it was just so beautiful.”
“I think it’s worth making the effort to come to see it. It’s different, interesting, and probably something that you wouldn’t normally get an experience to see.”
One of the other drama students was Tim who said he was studying for a double degree in arts education with an intention of teaching drama or English in the future.
He said the Shen Yun performance was “visually stimulating.
“There’s lots of colour, movement, and action, not the sort of thing that you get a lot of in Brisbane, particularly with the incorporation of traditional Chinese, or non-Australian belief systems and culture. So from that perspective, it’s really interesting.”
Tim said he really liked the last piece, Knowing the True Picture Offers Ultimate Hope.
This dance brings the performance full circle as the closing scene calls on people to discern the truth of affairs.
“Very colouful, very energetic, and very exciting!” he said.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour. For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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