SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun is ‘Absolutely Captivating’

Feb 02, 2014
SHARE
Shen Yun is ‘Absolutely Captivating’
Kathleen and John Tripp attend Shen Yun Performing Arts at the State Theatre, in Cleveland, on Feb. 1. (Teresa You/Epoch Times)

CLEVELAND—“Unique! Never seen anything like it before,” said retired teacher Kathleen Tripp who attended Shen Yun Performing Arts World Company 2014 production at the State Theatre with her husband, John Tripp, professor at Case Western University.

Mr. Tripp said, “It was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t figure out how they were doing any of it. It was just a sheer act of athletic skill. I was very impressed. It’s all with the timing, isn’t it.”

“Very disciplined!” Ms. Tripp added.

Classical Chinese dancers, award-winning singers, and a full orchestra comprised of both Eastern and Western instruments allow New York-based Shen Yun to bring 5,000 years of Chinese civilization to the world.

Mr. Tripp said that what impressed him most was the synchronicity of the dancers. He said, “Well it was the coordination between all of the dancers. One does it now, and another a second later. It gives a very strange impression. It looks like movement and part of the time it isn’t. They’re all just standing still and moving at different times. Yes, it was beautiful!”

“It all comes from the synchronization. I can only imagine that they must practice this for a long time,” he added.

Ms. Tripp completed her husband’s statement, “Beauty, overwhelming beauty, and synchronization.”

“And I think also—on a very different note because John has expressed much of what I feel about the dancers—I thought there was a tremendous tension between the old China and the new China and I thought that was very interesting,” she said.

Ms. Tripp was referring the latest technology of the digital backdrop as opposed to the depictions of ancient China.

“Absolutely captivating with all the modern technology in the background, with the video aspects and jumping in and out of modern worlds and frogs in the sky and all this sort of thing. And yet we’re looking at fourteenth century perhaps older,” she said.

“And the other thing that this cannot be done in China. That was very shocking to me,” she said.

Traditional Chinese culture has been nearly lost after 60 years of deliberate dismantling by the Communist regime, according to the company’s website. In fact, Shen Yun is not allowed to perform in China.

It’s so beautiful. It must be such a compliment to the Chinese people,” Mr. Tripp said.

Reporting by Teresa You and Andrew Darin

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.