SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Displays the Beauty of Chinese Culture

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Shen Yun Displays the Beauty of Chinese Culture
Lachlan Gunn at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Edinburgh Playhouse, Scotland, on Jan. 12, 2023. NTD
EDINBURGH, UK—The Chinese know what it is like to have no freedom of expression, but audiences around the world say that, thankfully, Shen Yun Performing Arts is letting the world know what China could be without communism.

“What’s now happening in China, there’s a lot of people who aren’t very happy about that but they can’t express themselves and I think, through what I’m seeing today, I’m seeing them expressing themselves the way a lot of people in China perhaps would like to express themselves,” said Lachlan Gunn, a company director, after seeing a performance at the Edinburgh Playhouse on Jan. 12.

Shen Yun is based in New York, and despite its efforts to share the beauty of Chinese culture with the world, Shen Yun is not able to perform in China.

“I feel very sad that it can’t be seen in mainland China,” he said.

“But by doing it this way and by what [Shen Yun is] doing today, hopefully more and more people around the world will get to hear about this. The wider this message can be pushed in this wonderful way, the better for everybody.”

Having lived in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, Shen Yun brought back many memories for Mr. Gunn.

“At the same time, it’s very uplifting. I’ve seen Chinese dance before, but never this way! It’s really inspirational, and I particularly like the way that they’ve ’meshed' in the traditional dance with the modern electronics, and that’s something I’ve never seen before, live, and I think it’s fantastic,” he said.

The modern electronics that Mr. Gunn mentioned refer to the digital animation in the backdrop. This is Shen Yun’s own patent and it allows the artists to travel anywhere the imagination can take them.
Shen Yun’s dancers are trained in classical Chinese dance. It is a comprehensive dance form that requires components including bearing, form, and technique, making it very expressive but difficult to master.

“I think it’s bursting with energy. They’re all really clearly passionate, they’re incredibly agile, they’re acrobats, as well as being dancers,” said Mr. Gunn.

The singers with Shen Yun are trained in the traditional bel canto technique. With the Chinese text and its translation on the digital backdrop, audiences are able to understand what is being sung.

“I really enjoyed the tenor, the way he sang very passionately. It was very nice to be able to read the words as he was singing them. It brought it all to life,” Mr. Gunn shared.

“We were told to expect something spectacular and one is always a bit cynical,” he said. “And then all the cynicism went away, and now I’m thoroughly enjoying it.”

Reporting by NTD and Maria Han.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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