GEELONG, Australia—The Shen Yun Performing Arts tour stopped on Geelong’s shores for a time that was too brief for many audience members, who enjoyed the performance’s beauty and grace.
Ms. Quirk and her daughter, Sherine, both dance teachers, had many things to say about the show from both a technical as well as an artistic point of view.
“I’m a dance teacher and also a student, so I’m constantly learning. I’ve been a dance teacher for about 10 years and I have danced for 25 years. What impressed me was that they actually brought the stories into the dance, and I think [that] as somebody who hasn’t been associated with this type of dancing before, or really gotten into the cultural dancing, it was a really big learning curve for me. So it was great to come and not only learn about the traditional dance, but [also] about some of the stories, and then you’ve got the costumes, which just made everything so beautiful as well. So it was just absolutely fantastic,” Sherine said.
Sherine also commented on the technical aspects of the dances, many of which featured props such as fans. “Using handheld props is just so difficult to learn and to teach people, so it’s absolutely amazing they can hold so many things in their hands and still get the technique right, make it look beautiful, and not drop them. It’s just amazing because I know how hard it is.”
Currently Sherine teaches contemporary dance, jazz, tap, song, dance, and theatrical dance. When asked if she could pick a favourite program out of the show, her answer was one echoed by many other audience members, but with a deeper appreciation of the technical requirements: “To tell you the truth, the whole thing impressed me. Every single thing. There was something … a part of every single dance that just stood out. For example, the use of the fans, the pink fans, the flow of the material coming off them, and the dynamics of the choreography to go with that. … It was all so soft here, and then you had the little flutter of the fans and the flicking, and then it came around to open up into a flower. That one, that bit absolutely stunned me, it blew me away, it was just so gorgeous.
“And also when I talk about the dynamics, the use of the screen and bringing the characters from the screen onto the stage was just awesome. ... It was fantastic. Mum and I were there just going, ‘Oh, my goodness, look at this, look at this, look at this!’ And the men with their jumps and their technique. I know it’s a little bit of a different technique from what we do here in Australia, but their lift and their height … just wonderful! I had no idea [of] the origin of some of those flips and some of those jumps. I thought they were just in, you know, normal dancing, but I never knew they originated from all of this.”
Ms. Quirk teaches dance to children, and she was equally impressed. “It’s just so vibrant, so together, it was all a beautifully told story all the way through. And to actually see the cultural side to everything impressed me, because we don’t know enough really about other peoples’ culture, and it all brought it through. It’s beautiful. I loved it. The flow of it, just the movement. It moved me.”
Sherine also found the music very expressive. “It’s more expressive than normal dance, I say normal dance as in Australian dance or contemporary and things like that. I think that the music matched the stories, especially in the one in the present day with the man that was taken away from his family [Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution]. It nearly brought me to tears ... and part of that was the music as well, because it just highlighted the dance. Everything just went together perfectly, and it just made this huge impact.”
“It really did gel, didn’t it. But because it all gelled together, with music and the dance, it was just magical,” agreed Ms. Quirk, who explained that sometimes music seems to take away from the dance.
“It invoked so much mental imagery that it’s almost overwhelming. Because your mind’s going 100 miles an hour and you’re watching everything. It almost indulges the five senses. You’re enveloped by everything. It takes you with it. It’s like it grabs you and takes you away,” added Sherine.
“You’re drawn right into it, and if you’re not a believer, you end up believing,” said her mother.
Sherine also spoke about the lyrics and narrative from the act Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution, where a man is taken away from his family. “I think that the message is that even though bad things do happen, there is always hope, and there is always something better to work towards. And I think that one in particular really grasped that story. ... Have hope, you know, work towards it, and you’ll find a better place. It seems that so much happiness and hope can come out of such sadness and devastation. And I think that’s a beautiful way to be.
“It’s been very, very inspirational. It has shown me things that I haven’t seen before. So it’s always learning, especially when you’re a teacher, you’re always learning. I’ll be back next year,” Sherine concluded.
For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
Friends Read Free